The Institute of Ismaili Studies is delighted to welcome Dr Alessandro Cancian and Dr Asma Hilali as Research Associates in the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍ic Studies Unit.
Dr Cancian completed his PhD in anthropology from the University of Siena, with a work on the Shi鈥榠 theological colleges (hawza 鈥榠lmiyyas) in Syria. Previously, he obtained an MA in History at Ca鈥 Foscari University, Venice, concentrating on religious history and literature of Iran and Persianate Cultures, 厂丑颈鈥榠蝉尘See Shi鈥榓., Sufism聽and Zoroastrianism between Iran and South Asia. He also obtained his BA in Oriental Languages and Cultures at Ca鈥 Foscari University, Venice. Dr Cancian is a review editor for the Journal of Shi鈥榓聽Islamic Studies, has edited and published articles and papers, contributed book chapters and encyclopaedia entries and delivered lectures. He is currently working on the Shi鈥榠 mystical exegesis of the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍Muslims believe that the Holy 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍 contains divine revelations to the Prophet Muhammed received in Mecca and Medina over a period of 23 years in the early 7th century CE. More, their influences and reception in modern times, and the sources of religious authority in contemporary 厂丑颈鈥榠蝉尘.
Dr Hilali studied Arabic Language, Literature and Civilisation at the University of Tunis. In 2001, she received the scholarship of the Chancellor of the Universities of Paris, in Letters and Human Sciences, for her PhD project at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Paris). She completed a PhD thesis, entitled 鈥淭he theory of authenticity in Hadith sciences between the first and the sixth century of Islam鈥, in 2004. From 2005 and 2008, Dr Hilali held a post-doctoral fellowship at the Graduate School of Asia and Africa in World Reference Systems (GSAA) at the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. The fellowship allowed her to engage in research while also teaching at the Orientalisches Wissenschaftliches Zentrum (OWZ). In the first half of 2010, she lectured on 鈥淚mages en Islam m茅di茅val: confrontation des textes religieux et de l鈥檌conographie鈥 (Images in Medieval Islam: Confrontation of Religious Texts and Iconography) at the University of Paris IV (Sorbonne) in the History of Art and Archaeology. Since 2008, she has worked on the edition of the oldest extant manuscripts of the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍, which were discovered in Sana鈥檃 within a CNRS project (France).
The 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍ic Studies Unit now comprises eight full-time Research Associates, all of whom have diverse interests, making it one of the largest and most focused teams in the field.
