2013 Levi Della Vida Award for Excellence in Islamic Studies

The G. E. von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies (CNES) at UCLA is pleased to announce that the 2013 Giorgio Levi Della Vida medal for excellence in Islamic studies will be awarded to Patricia Crone, from the Institute for Advanced Study. In addition to her many publications, Professor Crone has been a major influence in the field of early Islamic history. Her research on the political, religious, and cultural environment in which Islam began and how it transformed, and was itself transformed by, the regions that the Arabs conquered has been groundbreaking. This includes her foundational work as a political, social, and military historian, and the later foray into the history of ideas, the Qur'an and the cultural and religious traditions of Iraq, Iran, and the formerly Iranian part of Central Asia. In addition, she has innovatively introduced to the field the systematic and rigorous scrutiny of the sources upon which early Islamic historiography was traditionally based, as well as the significance of extrinsic sources.

The Giorgio Levi Della Vida medal will be presented to Professor Crone at a one-day scholarly conference held at the UCLA Faculty Center on Monday, October 28th, 2013. The theme of the conference, which was chosen by Professor Crone, will be "Islam and its Past: Jahiliyya and late antiquity in the Qur'an and Tradition."

Click here for conference website and registration.