[INDOLOGY] Call for Papers: Young Researchers' Indo-Persian Conference--4th Edition: Patronage in Persianate India--June 12th-13th 2026

[Raffaello De Leon-Jones Diani]

 Dear all,

It is our pleasure to announce the 4th edition of the Young Researchers'
Indo-Persian Conference, which will be held in Marseille (France) in June
2026. This year's focus is on Patronage in Persianate Indi Please find
below (and attached) this year's call for papers.


4th Young Researchers’ Indo-Persian Conference:
Patronage in Persianate South Asia


June 12th-13th 2026
at
Centre de la Vieille Charité,
2 Rue de la Charité, 13002, Marseille (France) and Online

Organized by:
Victor Baptiste (EPHE-GREI) and Raffaello De Leon-Jones Diani (EHESS-CESAH)


While in today’s world cultural production, whatever be its definition, can
emerge from a variety of sources—from music-industry-crafted so-called
“plants” to obscure single-person bands on the underground scene—many of
the surviving cultural pieces produced in Persianate South Asia, were the
result of courtly or individual patronage. This holds true in different
fields such as literature, music, gastronomy, science and architecture.
Poets, musicians and scholars were a staple of any South Asian court and
depended on sovereigns or wealthy individuals for their livelihood: a
privileged relationship with such providers was, as a result, actively
sought out.
Though it is well-known that patronage played an important part in the
development of cultural artifacts in Persianate South Asia, this year’s
conference aims to better understand its economic and political
implications The Mughals, for example, are largely understood to be patrons
of the arts, sponsors of translations and music connoisseurs: however,
recent contributions have highlighted the social, political and economic
dimensions of patronage (Katherine Butler Schofield:2020; Sunil
Sharma:2017; Ebba Koch:2001).
Such questions that may be asked are the wages that court-sponsored artists
might hope to receive, the training and overall turnover rates that could
have existed. Furthermore, why would sovereigns, such as the Mughals in our
example, need to extensively engage in court patronage of the arts? What
meaning, if any, can be found in the development of specific styles of
painting, music and architecture? To what extent does the influence or lack
thereof of a given painting style, musical mode or poetic idiom translate
political relationships between regions? This enquiry is of course not
limited to the Mughals or even the political sphere: merchants and other
wealthy individuals are known to have engaged in patronage or sponsor of
texts, buildings or other cultural endeavors. One such example can be found
in Śantidās Jhaverī’s financing of the Cintāmaṇi temple in Aḥmedābād in the
17th century.
We welcome contributions that engage with explicit patronage of cultural
artifacts, be they textual, architectural, musical or material. As the
conference deals with Persianate South Asia, as defined by Richard M. Eaton
(2019) it covers the period going roughly from 1000 CE to 1750 CE, and
welcomes contributions focusing either on patrons and artists active within
Islamicate polities or directly engaging with Persianate or Islamicate
cultures in South Asia.

Conference format:

The conference will be held at the Vieille Charité, in Marseille (France)
and will take place in hybrid format, both online and on site, allowing
presenters to participate from wherever they are in the world. Presenters
will be given 30 minutes to present their paper. Presentations can be given
in French and in English, provided any support, such as a PowerPoint, is in
English. True to our intentions to make this conference as accessible as
possible, there are no fees to either attend or present at the conference.
This conversely means that, owing to a limited budget, we are not able to
finance accommodation or travel expenses.

Paper submission:

Abstracts are to be submitted in English to the following address:
indopersian.workshop at gmail.com. They should not exceed 500 words and are to
be submitted by *November 28th, 2025*. Candidates whose abstract has been
accepted will be notified by *December 18th, 2025*.


Best,
Raffaello De Léon-Jones Diani
Doctorant à l'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) - Centre
d'Études Sud Asiatiques et Himalayennes (CESAH)
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