BRISMES at Manchester

I attended the BRISMES 2009 conference last weekend. It was a well-organised conference, with several interesting papers. It was interesting to hear Dale F. Eickelman in conversation with Muhammad Shahrur. I gave an iMuslims themed paper, timed against the men's singles final at Wimbledon(!). Mainly discussed Web 2.0 and Islam, and Iran. Co-speakers on the panel were Edmund Herzig on ISNA, and Mohamad Zayani on transnational Arab media: plenty of good questions, mainly asking me about all the stuff I cut from the paper due to lack of time. Also chaired 'Islamic Movements in Focus' - 8.30 on a Sunday morning (some good papers, and people actually turned up at that time!). I helped promote the HEA Islamic Studies network. The day concluded with a visit to Old Trafford - very cool place for academic visit. There were several good Arab restaurants near to the conference, which I took advantage of - stocked up with enough Turkish coffee for a month or two as well, so should stay awake while blogging late at night.