Giorgio Levi Della Vida Series in Islamic Studies

The Giorgio Levi Della Vida Award is given to outstanding scholars whose work has significantly and lastingly advanced the study of Islamic civilization. The scholar is selected by a committee appointed by the Chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles, meeting under the chairmanship of the Director of the Center for Near Eastern Studies.

The award carries with it a bronze medal, together with the obligation to present a formal lecture as part of a conference held at the University. The recipient of the award chooses the theme of the conference and selects the other participants. The conference proceedings are published in the Giorgio Levi Della Vida Series in Islamic Studies. Below is a list of past conference proceedings, ordered from the first to the latest publication.

1. G.E. von Grunebaum, ed., Logic in Classical Islamic Culture (Undena Publications, 1970), honoring Robert Brunschvig

• Robert Brunschvig, Logic and Law in Classical Islam
• Josef van Ess, The Logical Structure of Islamic Theology
• Muhsin Mahdi, Language and Logic in Classical Islam
• Seeger A. Bonebakker, Poets and Critics in the Third Century A.H.
• Abraham L. Udovitch, The "Law Merchant" of the Medieval Islamic World

2. G.E. von Grunebaum, ed., Theology and Law in Islam (Undena Publications, 1971), honoring Joseph Schacht

• Joseph Schacht, Theology and Law in Islam
• W. Montgomery Watt, The Great Community and the Sects
• Walther Braune, Historical Consciousness in Islam
• Gerhart B. Ladner, Reform: Innovation and Tradition in Medieval Christendom
• George Makdisi, Law and Traditionalism in the Institutions of Learning of Medieval Islam
• Fazlur Rahman, Functional Interdependence of Law and Theology

3. G.E. von Grunebaum, ed., Arabic Poetry: Theory and Development (Undena Publications, 1973), honoring Francesco Gabrieli

• Francesco Gabrieli, Religious Poetry in Early Islam
• Wolfhart Heinrichs, Literary Theory: The Problem of Its Efficiency
• Benedikt Reinert, Probleme der vormongolischen arabisch-persischen Poesiegemeinschaft und ihr Reflex in der Poetik
• Lois Giffen, Love Poetry and Love Theory in Medieval Arabic Literature
• James T. Monroe, Hispano-Arabic Poetry during the Caliphate of Córdoba: Theory and Practice
• Shmuel Moreh, The Neoclassical Qasida: Modern Poets and Critics
• M.M. Badawi, Convention and Revolt in Modern Arabic Poetry

4. Speros Vryonis, Jr., ed., Islam and Cultural Change in the Middle Ages (Undena Publications, 1975), posthumously honoring G.E. von Grunebaum

• Muhsin Mahdi, The Book and the Master as Poles of Cultural Change in Islam
• Georges C. Anawati, Factors and Effects of Arabization and Islamization in Medieval Egypt and Syria
• Alessandro Bausani, Muhammad or Darius? The Elements and Basis of Iranian Culture
• Anwar G. Chejne, Islamization and Arabization in al-Andalus: A General View
• Robert I. Burns, Spanish Islam in Transition: Acculturative Survival and Its Price in the Christian Kingdom of Valencia, 1240-1280
• Annemarie Schimmel, Turk and Hindu: A Poetical Image and Its Application to Historical Fact
• Speros Vryonis, Jr., Religious Change and Continuity in the Balkans and Anatolia from the Fourteenth through the Sixteenth Century

5. Amin Banani and Speros Vryonis, Jr., ed., Individualism and Conformity in Classical Islam (Undena Publications, 1977), honoring Shelomo Dov Goitein

• S.D. Goitein, Individualism and Conformity in Classical Islam
• Amin Banani, Conversion and Conformity in a Self-Conscious Elite
• Franz Rosenthal, "I Am You" – Individual Piety and Society in Islam
• Avrom L. Udovitch, Formalism and Informalism in the Social and Economic Institutions of the Medieval Islamic World
• Richard Ettinghausen, Originality and Conformity in Islamic Art
• Speros Vryonis, Jr., Cultural Conformity in Byzantine Society
• John F. Benton, Individualism and Conformity in Medieval Western Europe

6. Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid Marsot, ed., Society and the Sexes in Medieval Islam (Undena Publications, 1979), honoring Franz Rosenthal

• Franz Rosenthal, Fiction and Reality: Sources for the Role of Sex in Medieval Muslim Society
• James A. Bellamy, Sex and Society in Islamic Popular Literature
• S.D. Goitein, The Sexual Mores of the Common People
• Noel J. Coulson, Regulation of Sexual Behavior under Traditional Islamic Law
• Wilferd Madelung, Shi`i Attitudes toward Women as Reflected in Fiqh
• J.C. Bürgel, Love, Lust and Longing: Eroticism in Early Islam as Reflected in Literary Sources
• Annemarie Schimmel, Eros – Heavenly and Not So Heavenly – in Sufi Literature and Life

7. Malcolm H. Kerr, ed., Islamic Studies: A Tradition and Its Problems (Undena Publications, 1980), honoring Albert Hourani

8. Richard G. Hovannisian and Speros Vryonis, Jr., eds., Islam's Understanding of Itself (Undena Publications, 1983), honoring W. Montgomery Watt

9. Richard G. Hovannisian, ed., Ethics in Islam (Undena Publications, 1985), honoring Fazlur Rahman

10. Georges Sabagh, ed., The Modern Economic and Social History of the Middle East in its World Context(Cambridge University Press, 1989), honoring Charles Issawi

11. Amin Banani, Richard Hovannisian and Georges Sabagh, ed., Poetry and Mysticism in Islam: The Heritage of Rumi (Cambridge University Press, 1994), honoring Annemarie Schimmel

12. Richard Hovannisian and Georges Sabagh, eds., The Thousand and One Nights in Arabic Literature and Society (Cambridge University Press, 1997), honoring André Miquel

13. Richard G. Hovannisian and Georges Sabagh, eds., The Persian Presence in the Islamic World (Cambridge University Press, 1998), honoring Ehsan Yarshater

14. Richard G. Hovannisian, ed., Religion and Culture in Medieval Islam (Cambridge University Press, 1999), honoring George Makdisi

15. Irene A. Bierman, ed., The Experience of Islamic Art on the Margins of Islam (Ithaca, in press), honoring Oleg Grabar

16. Irene A. Bierman, ed., Text and Context in Islamic Societies (Ithaca Press, 2004), honoring André Raymond and Josef van Ess

17.  Irene A. Bierman, ed., Working papers, published as separate volumes, from the conference honoring Mohammed Arkoun

• Mohammed Arkoun, From Islamology to the Critique of ‘Islamic’ Reason
• Ahmed Dallal, Other Enlightenments? The Tradition of Reform in 18th-Century Islamic Thought
• William Chittick, The Place of Intelligence in Islamic Philosophy
• Gudrun Krämer, Reflections on Justice in Modern Islamic Thought

18. Michael G. Morony, ed., Universality in Islamic Thought: Rationalism, Science and Religious Belief (I.B. Tauris, 2014), honoring Wilferd Madelung 

19. Ismail K. Poonawala, ed., Turks in the Indian Subcontinent, Central and West Asia: The Turkish Presence in the Islamic World (Oxford University Press, 2017), honoring Clifford Edmund Bosworth 

21. Carol Bakhos and Michael Cook, eds., Islam and its Past: Jahiliyya, Late Antiquity, and the Qur'an. Oxford Studies in the Abrahamic Religions (Oxford University Press, 2017), honoring Patricia Crone

22. Susan Slyomovics, ed., Ordering Imperial Worlds: From Late Medieval Spain to the Modern Middle East  (Edinburgh University Press, 2023), honoring Zeynep Çelik

Recipients of the Giorgio Levi Della Vida Award:

1. Robert Brunschvig, 1967
2. Joseph Schacht, 1969
3. Francesco Gabrieli, 1971
4. Gustav E. von Grunebaum, 1973
5. S.D. Goitein, 1975
6. Franz Rosenthal, 1977
7. Albert Hourani, 1979
8. W. Montgomery Watt, 1981
9. Fazlur Rahman, 1983
10. Charles Issawi, 1985
11. Annemarie Schimmel, 1987
12. André Miquel, 1989
13. Ehsan Yarshater, 1991
14. George Makdisi, 1993
15. Oleg Grabar, 1996
16. Josef van Ess, 1999
16. André Raymond, 1999
17. Mohammed Arkoun, 2002
18. Wilferd Madelung, 2007
19. C. Edmund Bosworth, 2010
20. Roger Owen, 2012
21. Patricia Crone, 2014
22. Zeynep Çelik, 2019                                                                                                                                                                  23. Michael Cook, 2024                                                                                                                                                                  24. Hossein Modarressi, 2024