6-7 July, 2027
Organizers:
- Stephan Conermann, Spokesperson and Principal Investigator, Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of Bonn, Germany
- Behnaz Mirzai, Professor of Middle Eastern History, Brock University, Canada
A two-day multidisciplinary conference, “Enslaved Muslims and Muslim Enslavers: Islam, Politics and Slavery,” will be held July 6–7, 2027, at Brock University in collaboration with the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies, University of Bonn, Germany. The conference will explore the impact of political Islam on the enslavement of various ethnic groups from the medieval period to modern day and will include the enslavement of Muslims taken to the Americas during the Atlantic slave trade.
The conference will bring together scholars to address slavery and Islam in comparative studies to foster a deeper understanding of the political, social, religious and historical dimensions of the ‘Islamic factor’ within the slave trade and to reveal its complexity. This conference offers an inter-disciplinary framework that transcends regional studies of slavery by including the Americas, Africa, the Middle East and beyond.
Proposals will be reviewed by the conference committee. Presented papers will be published in a special issue of an academic journal or edited volume.
Please submit a proposal (350 words) and a brief CV with relevant publications to Dr. Behnaz Mirzai: bmirzai@brocku.ca. The deadline for submissions is 30 June 2026.
Brock University is located in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, at the centre of Canada's Niagara Peninsula on the Niagara Escarpment in Canada.
https://brocku.ca/about/explore-niagara/
