A conference that took place at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 9-10 April 2026
The director of the academic project — In the Presence of Sanctity: The Sacred Geography of Yemen — Dr. Alexander Knysh, is pleased to announce the completion of a two-day international conference Yemen: History, Religion, Culture and Conflicts that took place at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan 9-10 April 2026. This academic event, which sought to combine the advantages of a conference and a workshop, was made possible by the generous grant of the Templeton Religion Trust (TRT), awarded and administered via the Program in the Study of Mysticism (PRISM) based at Tampere University in Finland, and the Office of Research and Sponsored Projects (ORSP) at the University of Michigan.
Conducted in a hybrid format (in person and online), the conference featured twelve papers related to the themes mentioned in the conference title. The audience consisted of the faculty and students of the University of Michigan and other Michigan universities and representatives of the local Yemeni community, including members of the National Association of Yemeni Americans (NAYA). The organizing committee plans to publish the proceedings of the conference in the De Gruyter Brill book series Studies on Modern Yemen or with Bloomsbury Academic.
