Heba Mostafa received her doctorate from Cambridge University’s Department of Architecture in 2012, where she also taught courses on Islamic art and architecture. She previously held positions at the American University in Cairo and the Arab Academy for Science and Technology. She holds a B.Sc. in Architectural Engineering from Cairo University (2001) and an MA in Islamic Art and Architecture (2006) from the American University in Cairo. Between 2012 and 2014 she was the Sultan Post Doctoral Teaching Fellow/ Visiting Assistant Professor at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the Department of Art History at the University of California, Berkeley, in the areas of History of Islamic Art, Architecture, and Urbanism. Between 2015-2016 she was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Kunsthistorisches Institute in Florence where she explored the role of narrative in shaping sacred space in early Islam. Between 2014-2017 she was Assistant Professor of Islamic Art, Architecture and Urbanism at the Kress Foundation Department of Art History at the University of Kansas. She is currently Assistant Professor of Islamic Art at the Department of Art at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on the early development of Islamic architecture with an emphasis on the interaction between the political and religious in the articulation of early Islamic authority within the mosque, palace and shrine.
As a monument with a disputed function and iconography, the Dome of the Chain is something of an ... more As a monument with a disputed function and iconography, the Dome of the Chain is something of an art historical conundrum. Constructed by the Umayyad caliph ʿAbd al-Malik b. Marwan (r. 685–705) in 692 on the Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem, it reportedly commemorates a chain tethered to the heavens that aided the Prophet King David (Dāʾūd) in the dispensation of justice. By the sixteenth century, however, the Dome of the Chain became associated with other sites of Davidic commemoration such as the Qurʾanic Mihrab of David (Miḥrāb Dāʾūd) referred to in Qurʾan 38:21–26, and was believed to be located in the western citadel of Jerusalem. Through an analysis of the Arabic primary sources, this study situates the history of the Dome of the Chain and the Qurʾanic Miḥrāb Dāʾūd within the context of the Davidic repertoire and commemorative practice in Islam. By examining changing trends of Davidic commemoration in Jerusalem from the seventh to the sixteenth centuries, this study reveals trajec...
As the mosque evolved in response to the contested authority of Islam’s early rulers, the depende... more As the mosque evolved in response to the contested authority of Islam’s early rulers, the dependency of this authority upon the public audience in the mosque gave rise to a series of changes that occurred within the qibla of the mosque. By considering the congregational mosques at Kufa, Basra, Damascus, Wasit, and Madina between 630 and 715, and revisiting the development of their qibla spaces, three changes are presented as embodiments of this shift. This includes the development of the minbar as a platform for the khuṭba (Friday sermon) and of the enclosure screen (maqṣūra) in front of the qibla for the caliph, as well as the provision of direct access to the dār al-imāra via the qibla wall. By situating these developments within the context of contested religious and political authority in early Islam, this study challenges paradigms of formal influence in the interpretation of mosque architecture.
Muqarnas: An Annual on the Visual Cultures of the Islamic World, 2016
As the mosque evolved in response to the contested authority of Islam’s early rulers, the depende... more As the mosque evolved in response to the contested authority of Islam’s early rulers, the dependency of this authority upon the public audience in the mosque gave rise to a series of changes that occurred within the qibla of the mosque. By considering the congregational mosques at Kufa, Basra, Damascus, Wasit, and Madina between 630 and 715, and revisiting the development of their qibla spaces, three changes are presented as embodiments of this shift. This includes the development of the minbar as a platform for the khuṭba (Friday sermon) and of the enclosure screen (maqṣūra) in front of the qibla for the caliph, as well as the provision of direct access to the dār al-imāra via the qibla wall. By situating these developments within the context of contested religious and political authority in early Islam, this study challenges paradigms of formal influence in the interpretation of mosque architecture.
A fear of oblivion (athazagoraphobia) is defined as the fear of being forgotten and forgetting. T... more A fear of oblivion (athazagoraphobia) is defined as the fear of being forgotten and forgetting. This panel is interested in probing the myriad and subtle ways cultural and intellectual production are shaped by this fear. What is the relationship between physical and epistemic erasures? What are the primary forces and parameters that shape a response to this fear? How do cultures, in the act of erasure, subsume rival ideologies? How is erasure, as a primary vehicle for provoking such anxiety, interlinked with historical trauma? How does this fear shape memorialization and commemoration across cultures? We invite papers that explore these questions in any arena including literature, cultural studies, history, art history, intellectual history and psychology. Please send your abstracts (300-400 words) by 11 February 2018 to: Manar Makhoul: ManarMakhoul@gmail.com Heba Mostafa: h.mostafa@utoronto.ca For abstract details please visit: https://mesana.org/annual-meeting/cfp_programmatic.html#panel We will notify successful participants by 13 February 2018. Please keep in mind all participants will be invited to submit their abstract electronically and must have a current MESA membership to do so. Please follow MESA regulations in the conference call: https://mesana.org/annual-meeting/call-for-papers.html
As a monument with a disputed function and iconography, the Dome of the Chain is something of an ... more As a monument with a disputed function and iconography, the Dome of the Chain is something of an art historical conundrum. Constructed by the Umayyad caliph ʿAbd al-Malik b. Marwan (r. 685–705) in 692 on the Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem, it reportedly commemorates a chain tethered to the heavens that aided the Prophet King David (Dāʾūd) in the dispensation of justice. By the sixteenth century, however, the Dome of the Chain became associated with other sites of Davidic commemoration such as the Qurʾanic Mihrab of David (Miḥrāb Dāʾūd) referred to in Qurʾan 38:21–26, and was believed to be located in the western citadel of Jerusalem. Through an analysis of the Arabic primary sources, this study situates the history of the Dome of the Chain and the Qurʾanic Miḥrāb Dāʾūd within the context of the Davidic repertoire and commemorative practice in Islam. By examining changing trends of Davidic commemoration in Jerusalem from the seventh to the sixteenth centuries, this study reveals trajec...
As the mosque evolved in response to the contested authority of Islam’s early rulers, the depende... more As the mosque evolved in response to the contested authority of Islam’s early rulers, the dependency of this authority upon the public audience in the mosque gave rise to a series of changes that occurred within the qibla of the mosque. By considering the congregational mosques at Kufa, Basra, Damascus, Wasit, and Madina between 630 and 715, and revisiting the development of their qibla spaces, three changes are presented as embodiments of this shift. This includes the development of the minbar as a platform for the khuṭba (Friday sermon) and of the enclosure screen (maqṣūra) in front of the qibla for the caliph, as well as the provision of direct access to the dār al-imāra via the qibla wall. By situating these developments within the context of contested religious and political authority in early Islam, this study challenges paradigms of formal influence in the interpretation of mosque architecture.
Muqarnas: An Annual on the Visual Cultures of the Islamic World, 2016
As the mosque evolved in response to the contested authority of Islam’s early rulers, the depende... more As the mosque evolved in response to the contested authority of Islam’s early rulers, the dependency of this authority upon the public audience in the mosque gave rise to a series of changes that occurred within the qibla of the mosque. By considering the congregational mosques at Kufa, Basra, Damascus, Wasit, and Madina between 630 and 715, and revisiting the development of their qibla spaces, three changes are presented as embodiments of this shift. This includes the development of the minbar as a platform for the khuṭba (Friday sermon) and of the enclosure screen (maqṣūra) in front of the qibla for the caliph, as well as the provision of direct access to the dār al-imāra via the qibla wall. By situating these developments within the context of contested religious and political authority in early Islam, this study challenges paradigms of formal influence in the interpretation of mosque architecture.
A fear of oblivion (athazagoraphobia) is defined as the fear of being forgotten and forgetting. T... more A fear of oblivion (athazagoraphobia) is defined as the fear of being forgotten and forgetting. This panel is interested in probing the myriad and subtle ways cultural and intellectual production are shaped by this fear. What is the relationship between physical and epistemic erasures? What are the primary forces and parameters that shape a response to this fear? How do cultures, in the act of erasure, subsume rival ideologies? How is erasure, as a primary vehicle for provoking such anxiety, interlinked with historical trauma? How does this fear shape memorialization and commemoration across cultures? We invite papers that explore these questions in any arena including literature, cultural studies, history, art history, intellectual history and psychology. Please send your abstracts (300-400 words) by 11 February 2018 to: Manar Makhoul: ManarMakhoul@gmail.com Heba Mostafa: h.mostafa@utoronto.ca For abstract details please visit: https://mesana.org/annual-meeting/cfp_programmatic.html#panel We will notify successful participants by 13 February 2018. Please keep in mind all participants will be invited to submit their abstract electronically and must have a current MESA membership to do so. Please follow MESA regulations in the conference call: https://mesana.org/annual-meeting/call-for-papers.html
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