‘Europe in the Middle East’ Postdoc Fellowship, Germany

Published by austin

Deadline: 15 January 2013
Open to: scholars of art history, history, literature, museology, philology, political philosophy, political science, religion and sociology who want to carry out their research projects in Berlin
Fellowship: monthly stipend of 2.500 € plus supplement depending on their personal situation

Description

The Berlin-based Forum Transregionale Studien invites scholars to apply for 10 postdoctoral fellowships for the research program Europe in the Middle East – The Middle East in Europe (EUME).

As a rule, the fellowships start on 1 October 2013 and will end on 31 July 2014. Postdoctoral fellows will receive a monthly stipend of 2.500 € plus supplement depending on their personal situation. Organisational support regarding visa, insurances, housing, etc. will be provided. Fellows are obliged to work in Berlin and to help shape the seminars and working discussions related to their research field. The working language of EUME is English.

EUME seeks to rethink key concepts and premises that link and divide Europe and the Middle East. The program draws on the international expertise of scholars in and outside of Germany and is embedded in university and extra-university research institutions in Berlin. It supports historical-critical philology, rigorous engagement with the literature of the Middle East and their histories, the social history of cities and the study of Middle Eastern political and philosophical thought (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and secular) as central fields of research not only for area or cultural studies, but also for European intellectual history and other academic disciplines. The program explores modernity as a historical space and conceptual frame.

The program puts forward three programmatic ideas:

  1. supporting research that demonstrates the rich and complex historical legacies and entanglements between Europe and the Middle East;
  2. reexamining genealogical notions of mythical ‘beginnings’, ‘origins’, and ‘purity’ in relation to culture and society; and
  3. rethinking key concepts of a shared modernity in light of contemporary cultural, social, and political entanglements that supersede identity discourses as well as national, cultural or regional canons and epistemologies that were established in the nineteenth century.

EUME supports and builds upon the following interconnected research fields:

  • Cities Compared: Urban Change in the Mediterranean and Adjacent Regions: This research group is directed by Ulrike Freitag and Nora Lafi, both of the Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin. It contributes to the debate on plurality, citizenship and civil society from the historical experience of conviviality and socio-cultural, ethnic, and religious differences in the cities around the Mediterranean;
  • Islamic Discourse Contested: Middle Eastern and European Perspectives is directed by Gudrun Kraemer, Institute for Islamic Studies, Freie Universitaet Berlin. It analyzes modern Middle Eastern thought and discourses in the framework of theories of multiple or reflexive modernities;
  • Perspectives on the Qur’an: Negotiating Different Views of a Shared History is directed by Angelika Neuwirth, Seminar for Arabic Studies, Freie Universitaet Berlin, and Stefan Wild, Universitaet Bonn. This research group situates the foundational text of Islam within the religious and literary landscape of late antiquity, early Islamic History and Arabic philology, and combines a historicization of its genesis with an analysis of its hermeneutics, its reception and perception in Europe and the Middle East;
  • Travelling Traditions: Comparative Perspectives on Near Eastern Literatures is directed by Friederike Pannewick, Centrum fuer Nah- und Mitteloststudien, Philipps-Universitaet Marburg, and Samah Selim, Rutgers University. This research group reassesses literary entanglements and processes of canonization between Europe and the Middle East.
  • Tradition and the Critique of Modernity: Secularism, Fundamentalism and Religion from Middle Eastern Perspectives is a special forum, directed by Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, Ben-Gurion University, that attempts to rethink key concepts of modernity like secularity, tradition, or religion in the context of the experiences, interpretations, and critiques of Jews, Arabs, and Muslims in the Middle East and in Europe.

Eligibility

The fellowships are intended primarily for scholars of art history, history, literature, museology, philology, political philosophy, political science, religion and sociology who want to carry out their research projects in connection with the Berlin program.

Applicants should be at the postdoctoral level and should have obtained their doctorate within the last seven years. Fellows gain the opportunity to pursue research projects of their own choice within the framework of one of the above-mentioned research fields and in relation to the overall program ‘Europe in the Middle East – the Middle East in Europe’. Successful applicants will be fellows of EUME at the Forum Transregionale Studien, and associate members of one of the university or non-university research institutes listed below.

Application

An application should be made in explicit relation to one of the research fields and consist of:

  • a curriculum vitae,
  • a project description (no longer than 5 pages), stating what the scholar will work on in Berlin if granted a fellowship
  • a sample of scholarly work (maximum 20 pages from an article, conference paper, or dissertation chapter)
  • a letter of recommendation by one university instructor (that can be sent by as a separate e-mail).

The application should be submitted by e-mail as four separate word documents or PDF files in English and should be received by 15 January 2013, sent in to eume@trafo-berlin.de.

Europe in the Middle East – the Middle East in Europe (EUME) c/o Forum Transregionale Studien Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin
Attn: Georges Khalil
Wallotstrasse 19, 14193 Berlin
Fax +49 30 – 89 00 12 00

For further information on ‘Europe in the Middle East – The Middle East in Europe’ and for detailed information on the research fields, please see the official website HERE.

For information on the research institutions in Berlin participating in EUME, please visit:

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