Conference on ‚Ismailis and Empire: Politics, Religion and Culture, ca. 1800 to Present‘7.11.2025 {en}

Date: 10 Nov 2025 to 11 Nov 2025
Location: Aga Khan Centre & Online

This conference seeks to explore Ismaili Muslim communities – in their regional, political, and cultural diversity – since the nineteenth century, focusing on their experiences under modern empires and in the post-colonial world. While much is known about the contributions of the Ismailis to empire- and state-building in earlier periods, there has been less research on their history, culture and identity in the context of modern imperial rule and its lasting effects. This conference aims to fill that gap by bringing together scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds to discuss Ismaili communities, their history, religious and cultural traditions, identity and institution-building in relation to modern empires and the post-colonial world.

Conference Programme

Day 1, 10th November

10:00 – 10:10 Welcome Remarks
10:10 – 10:30 Introductory Remarks
Faisal Devji, University of Oxford (UK)

10:30 – 12:30 Panel 1: Imperial Encounters, Identity and Communities
Chair: Omar Alí-de-Unzaga, IIS

The British Empire’s First Afghan War (1838–42) and the Ismaili Imamate: The Untold Story of the Ismailis of Afghanistan amid Invasion and Resistance,
Yahia Baiza, IIS

The Challenges of Interaction of the Central Asian Ismailis with their Imam during the Colonisation Period
Hakim Elnazarov, IIS

Transimperial Ismaili Struggle and Resistance: Communities at the Nexus of Empires and States (Late 19th–Early 20th Centuries)
Murid Shah Nadiri, University of Oxford (UK)

Between Empire and Peace: Religious Renewal and Identity Formation in Gorno-Badakhshān
Zamira Dildorbekova, IIS

14:00 – 15:30 Panel 2: State, Sovereignty and Citizenship
Chair: Alex Henly, IIS

Heritage as Branding a Consciousness: Transforming the Khoja into Omani Citizens
Amal Sachedina, University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley (USA)

Delusions of Grandeur: The Political Ecology of Mountains, Land Rights and Social Protest in Gilgit-Baltistan
Nosheen Ali, Raachi (Pakistan)

Ismailis after Empire: Decolonisation without Sovereignty?
Taushif Kara, King’s College London (UK)

15:45 – 17:15 Panel 3: Socio-Literary and Intellectual Imaginings
Chair: Nosheen Ali, Raachi (Pakistan)

Allama Iqbal and (Re)Tracing the Lineages of a ‘Persian Metaphysics’ in an Age of Empire
Soumen Mukherjee, Presidency University (India)

The Shangri La Diaries: Foreign Travellers in Hunza Valley
Shafqat Hussain, Trinity College, Hartford (USA)

Dilemmas in M.G. Vassanji’s Novels: Examining Coloniality in Shaping the Identities of East African Khoja Ismaili Muslim Communities
Farouk Mitha, University of Victoria (Canada)

Day 2, 11th November 2025

10:15 – 11:45 Panel 4: Law, Governance and Communities
Chair: Orkhan Mir-Kasimov, IIS

Land, Law, Loyalty: Syrian Ismaili Settlers and the Limits of Ottoman Colonialism
Amaan Merali, Berlin Graduate School of Muslim Cultures and Societies (Germany)

Female Empowerment: ‘Khoja’ Engagement with their Imam’s (Aga Khan III) Vision as Reflected in the Community’s Rules and Regulations
Laila Halani, IIS

The Constitutional Form in Ismaili Law: Modernity and Continuity
Arif Jamal, National University of Singapore (Singapore)

12:00 – 13:30 Panel 5: Authority, Legitimacy and Empire
Chair: Gurdofarid Miskinzoda, IIS

Constructions of Religious Authority: Community, Legitimacy and Empire
Wafi Momin, IIS

The Daʾudi Bohras and the Empire, 1800–1850
Vineet Gupta, Vanderbilt University, Nashville (USA)

Contemporary Ismailis and the Empire(s): A Counter-Intuitive Narrative
Daryoush Mohammad Poor, IIS

14:30 – 16:30 Panel 6: Ismailis at the Crossroads of Empires
Chair: Daryoush Mohammad Poor, IIS

‘Greater Khurāsān’ during the Period of British and Russian Imperial Rivalries and the Fate of the Ismaili Community
Dagikhudo Dagiev, IIS

An Exploration of Bohra-Ottoman Interactions across Empires, c. 1880–1924
Michael O’Sullivan, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (USA)

The Ismailis of China: At the Crossroads of Empires
Amier Saidula, IIS

Muslim Cosmopolitanism in the Colonial and Post-colonial Eras as Reflected in a Bohra Personal Archive
Sumaiya Hamdani, George Mason University (USA)

16:45 – 17:15 Concluding Reflections: Ismailis and Empire
Farid Panjwani, Aga Khan University (Pakistan)

17:15 – 17:20 Closing Remarks

Further information: https://www.iis.ac.uk/events/ismailis-and-empire-conference/.

Source: ANN: Conference on ‚Ismailis and Empire: Politics, Religion and Culture, ca. 1800 to Present‘, H-Net: Humanities & Social Sciences Online, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 US.