The African Studies Center (ASC) sponsors conferences, lectures, exhibits, film series, and cultural performances throughout the year. These events are designed to foster understanding of Africa among members of the U-M community and the public and to advance the exchange of resources and knowledge between U-M and its partners in Africa.
In addition to our yearly programming, ASC considers funding requests to cosponsor lectures, events, performances, and activities that coincide with the our mission to promote a broad and deep understanding of the region. Request to cosponsor an event»
GISC Conference. Nature & Islamic Creative Expressions
February 6-7, 2026 | Cahoots, 206 E Huron St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Friday, February 6, 2026
9:30 AM-4:30 PM
Off Campus Location
Nature & Islamic Creative Expressions
February 6-7, 2026
Cahoots, 206 E Huron St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Visit https://myumi.ch/9p8xx for full conference details.
The Nature and Islamic Creative Expressions conference, organized jointly by Aliyah Khan, Director of the Global Islamic Studies Center (GISC) and Associate Professor, and Christiane Gruber, Professor in the Department of the History of Art and founder of Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, will be held at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on February 6-7, 2026. A dozen scholars and practitioners of global Islamic art and narratives will examine Islam’s relationship to the natural world over the centuries and consider how Islamic thought and Muslim traditions offer alternative solutions to today’s ecological challenges.
We study and leverage the intersections of ecology and spirituality by drawing on the deep knowledge of diverse fields, including art history, Islamic philosophy and theology, Muslim cultural studies, literary studies, architecture, and community activism in locales from the Ottoman Empire to Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and Trinidad. Our aim is to identify what historical and contemporary Islamic perspectives on nature offer to unfolding global conversations about the earth and our shared and symbiotic human, animal, and plant futures, thus building sustainable futures and potentially interrupting the Anthropocene.
Featuring the work of:
Christiane Gruber | University of Michigan, Organizer
Aliyah Khan | University of Michigan, Organizer
Omolade Adunbi | University of Michigan
Katherine Bartsch | University of Adelaide, Australia
Patricia Blessing | Stanford University
Gohar Dashti | Visual Artist
Anna M. Gade | University of Wisconsin, Madison
Sune Haugbølle | Roskilde University, Denmark
Charlotte Maury | Louvre Museum, Paris
Mohamed Amer Meziane | Brown University
Amanda Phillips | University of Virginia
Elizabeth Rauh | The American University in Cairo
Saleema Waraich | Skidmore College
Friday, February 6, 2026: Past and Present
Welcome (9:30AM-10AM): Christiane Gruber and Aliyah Khan
Morning Panel 1 (10:00AM-12:00PM): Collecting, Draining, and Drowning in Water
Patricia Blessing, “Indoor, Outdoor, and in Between: Water in Ottoman Mosques”
Elizabeth Rauh, “Draining Eden: The Ecocide of the Iraqi Wetlands”
Aliyah Khan, “Muharram in the Caribbean: Drowned Model Tombs and the Oceanic Return to Karbala”
Moderator: Charlotte Karem Albrecht, Director, Arab and Muslim American Studies Program
Lunch (12:00PM-1:30PM)
Afternoon Panel 2 (1:30PM-3:30PM): Plant Vitalities
Amanda Phillips, “Perfection in Bloom: Ottoman Writing About Flowers, 1650-1750 CE”
Christiane Gruber, “God's Greenhouses: Agricultural Mosques and Phyto-Aesthetics in Rural Anatolia”
Charlotte Maury, “Visual Representations of the Vital Force of Plants in Islamic Art and its Relation to Animality”
Moderator: Paroma Chatterjee, Chair, Department of the History of Art
Saturday, February 7, 2026: Futurities
Morning Panel 3 (10:00AM-12:00PM): Green Futures
Saleema Waraich, “From the ‘City of Gardens’ to ‘Smog Capital of the World’: Ecological Dystopias and Imaginaries in Lahore, Pakistan”
Mohamed Amer Meziane, “Who Makes the Anthropocene: Islam, Ecology, and the Environmental History of Orientalism”
Gohar Dashti, “Geometries of Belonging: A New Look at Nature Through an Eastern Perspective”
Moderator: Aseman Talebi, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of the History of Art
Lunch (12:00PM-1:30PM)
Afternoon Panel 4 (1:30PM-3:30PM): Oil and Desert Ecologies
Omolade Adunbi, “The Art of Oil Resistance in the Niger Delta”
Katherine Bartsch, “Ephemeral Mosques: Mapping a Network of Faith in Australia’s Unforgiving Desert Interior”
Sune Haugbølle, “Neom/Nature: Regreening and Sociotechnical Imaginaries in Saudi Arabia”
Moderator: Sena Duran, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of American Culture
Break (3:30PM-3:45PM)
Closing Remarks (3:45PM-4:30PM): Anna Gade
To read about the papers being presented, speaker bios, & to register to attend, please visit: https://myumi.ch/9p8xx
The Nature and Islamic Creative Expressions conference is free and open to all University of Michigan students, faculty, staff, and the public. All sessions will be held at the Cahoots Ann Arbor Event Space, 206 E. Huron St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104.
This conference is brought to you by the Global Islamic Studies Center and the Department of the History of Art, and cosponsored by: the Institute for the Humanities, the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, the Department of American Culture, the Arab and Muslim American Studies Program, the Program in the Environment, the Center for Middle Eastern & North African Studies and the Islamophobia Working Group.
Accommodation: If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange. Email: -- islamicstudies@umich.edu
February 6-7, 2026
Cahoots, 206 E Huron St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Visit https://myumi.ch/9p8xx for full conference details.
The Nature and Islamic Creative Expressions conference, organized jointly by Aliyah Khan, Director of the Global Islamic Studies Center (GISC) and Associate Professor, and Christiane Gruber, Professor in the Department of the History of Art and founder of Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, will be held at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on February 6-7, 2026. A dozen scholars and practitioners of global Islamic art and narratives will examine Islam’s relationship to the natural world over the centuries and consider how Islamic thought and Muslim traditions offer alternative solutions to today’s ecological challenges.
We study and leverage the intersections of ecology and spirituality by drawing on the deep knowledge of diverse fields, including art history, Islamic philosophy and theology, Muslim cultural studies, literary studies, architecture, and community activism in locales from the Ottoman Empire to Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and Trinidad. Our aim is to identify what historical and contemporary Islamic perspectives on nature offer to unfolding global conversations about the earth and our shared and symbiotic human, animal, and plant futures, thus building sustainable futures and potentially interrupting the Anthropocene.
Featuring the work of:
Christiane Gruber | University of Michigan, Organizer
Aliyah Khan | University of Michigan, Organizer
Omolade Adunbi | University of Michigan
Katherine Bartsch | University of Adelaide, Australia
Patricia Blessing | Stanford University
Gohar Dashti | Visual Artist
Anna M. Gade | University of Wisconsin, Madison
Sune Haugbølle | Roskilde University, Denmark
Charlotte Maury | Louvre Museum, Paris
Mohamed Amer Meziane | Brown University
Amanda Phillips | University of Virginia
Elizabeth Rauh | The American University in Cairo
Saleema Waraich | Skidmore College
Friday, February 6, 2026: Past and Present
Welcome (9:30AM-10AM): Christiane Gruber and Aliyah Khan
Morning Panel 1 (10:00AM-12:00PM): Collecting, Draining, and Drowning in Water
Patricia Blessing, “Indoor, Outdoor, and in Between: Water in Ottoman Mosques”
Elizabeth Rauh, “Draining Eden: The Ecocide of the Iraqi Wetlands”
Aliyah Khan, “Muharram in the Caribbean: Drowned Model Tombs and the Oceanic Return to Karbala”
Moderator: Charlotte Karem Albrecht, Director, Arab and Muslim American Studies Program
Lunch (12:00PM-1:30PM)
Afternoon Panel 2 (1:30PM-3:30PM): Plant Vitalities
Amanda Phillips, “Perfection in Bloom: Ottoman Writing About Flowers, 1650-1750 CE”
Christiane Gruber, “God's Greenhouses: Agricultural Mosques and Phyto-Aesthetics in Rural Anatolia”
Charlotte Maury, “Visual Representations of the Vital Force of Plants in Islamic Art and its Relation to Animality”
Moderator: Paroma Chatterjee, Chair, Department of the History of Art
Saturday, February 7, 2026: Futurities
Morning Panel 3 (10:00AM-12:00PM): Green Futures
Saleema Waraich, “From the ‘City of Gardens’ to ‘Smog Capital of the World’: Ecological Dystopias and Imaginaries in Lahore, Pakistan”
Mohamed Amer Meziane, “Who Makes the Anthropocene: Islam, Ecology, and the Environmental History of Orientalism”
Gohar Dashti, “Geometries of Belonging: A New Look at Nature Through an Eastern Perspective”
Moderator: Aseman Talebi, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of the History of Art
Lunch (12:00PM-1:30PM)
Afternoon Panel 4 (1:30PM-3:30PM): Oil and Desert Ecologies
Omolade Adunbi, “The Art of Oil Resistance in the Niger Delta”
Katherine Bartsch, “Ephemeral Mosques: Mapping a Network of Faith in Australia’s Unforgiving Desert Interior”
Sune Haugbølle, “Neom/Nature: Regreening and Sociotechnical Imaginaries in Saudi Arabia”
Moderator: Sena Duran, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of American Culture
Break (3:30PM-3:45PM)
Closing Remarks (3:45PM-4:30PM): Anna Gade
To read about the papers being presented, speaker bios, & to register to attend, please visit: https://myumi.ch/9p8xx
The Nature and Islamic Creative Expressions conference is free and open to all University of Michigan students, faculty, staff, and the public. All sessions will be held at the Cahoots Ann Arbor Event Space, 206 E. Huron St., Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104.
This conference is brought to you by the Global Islamic Studies Center and the Department of the History of Art, and cosponsored by: the Institute for the Humanities, the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, the Department of American Culture, the Arab and Muslim American Studies Program, the Program in the Environment, the Center for Middle Eastern & North African Studies and the Islamophobia Working Group.
Accommodation: If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange. Email: -- islamicstudies@umich.edu
| Building: | Off Campus Location |
|---|---|
| Location: | Cahoots, 206 E Huron St, Ann Arbor, MI 48104 |
| Website: | |
| Event Type: | Conference / Symposium |
| Tags: | african diaspora, African Studies, Arab And Muslim American Studies, Area Studies, Art, Art History, Arts of Islam, Global Islamic Studies, Visual Arts |
| Source: | Happening @ Michigan from Global Islamic Studies Center, The College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, History of Art, International Institute, Program in the Environment (PitE), Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, African Studies Center, Department of American Culture, Arab and Muslim American Studies (AMAS), Islamophobia Working Group (IWG) |
