This one-day workshop brings together graduate students and early career scholars working on topics related to Shiʿism in all periods and from any disciplinary perspective. The workshop is open to work on Zaydi, Twelver, Ismaili and other forms of Shiʿism. The aim is thereby to allow for the discussion both of micro-historical and ethnographic specificities as well as long durée patterns and developments.

The workshop will address the concept of piety in its material expression, its literary representation and its theoretical articulation.

Central topics include:

• Belief and its implications in philosophy, theology, and law
• Rites and rituals in spaces and texts
• Spatial, material, and literary manifestations of piety
• Networks
• Impiety
• The daily lives of pious beings

We particularly welcome scholars working on the intersection between the material expression of piety, and the intellectual or theoretical articulation of what it means to be Shiʿi. Contributions will be expected to be clear in how they define and understand piety, whether a theological conception or as lived tradition.

For consideration, please send a 300-word abstract to lussi@hum.leidenuniv.nl by July 15th.

The language of the workshop will be English. Travel subsidies will be available for participants.

About the Leiden University Shiʿi Studies Initiative

Islamic studies is a flourishing field, but the study of Shiʿi Islam in all its forms still remains underpopulated. The primary objective of LUSSI is to connect scholars and address lacunae in the field by promoting the study of Shiʿism in all its expressions and disciplinary approaches.

Deadline: July 15, 2018

5 POSTDOC FELLOWSHIPS FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2018/19

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
5 POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2018/19
(Location: Berlin / Closing Date: May 15, 2018)

The Berlin-based Forum Transregionale Studien invites scholars to apply for five postdoctoral fellowships for the academic year 2018/19 for the research program

EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE EAST—THE MIDDLE EAST IN EUROPE (EUME)

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 literatures of the Middle East and their histories, the social history of cities and the study of Middle Eastern political and philosophical thought 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) re-examining 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
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 social, cultural, ethnic, and religious differences and conflict in the cities around the Mediterranean;

ISLAMIC DISCOURSE CONTESTED: MIDDLE EASTERN AND EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES
is directed by Gudrun Krämer, Institute of Islamic Studies, Freie Universität Berlin. It analyzes modern Middle Eastern thought in the framework of discourses on authenticity, modernity, secularity, and justice;

PERSPECTIVES ON THE QUR’AN: NEGOTIATING DIFFERENT VIEWS OF A SHARED HISTORY
is directed by Angelika Neuwirth, Freie Universität Berlin. 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, Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Philipps-Universität Marburg, and Samah Selim, Rutgers University. This research group reassesses literary entanglements, translations, and processes of canonization between the Middle East and other regions.

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 experiences, interpretations, and critiques from the Middle East.

EUME is interested in developing new fields of research that bridge the gap between social science approaches and cultural studies in questions relating to ongoing transformation processes in Europe and the Middlea East (in cooperation with Cilja Harders, Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin, Rachid Ouaissa, Political Science Department, Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Philipps-Universität Marburg and Kader Konuk, Universität Duisburg-Essen).

FELLOWSHIPS

The fellowships are intended primarily for scholars of art history, history, literature, 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 overall framework of 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.

As a rule, the fellowships start on 1 October 2018 and will end on 31 July 2019. 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. Scholars are also invited to apply with their own funding. The working language of EUME is English.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

An application should be made in explicit relation to one of the research fields and consist of
–  the attached application cover sheet
–  a curriculum vitae,
–  a project description (no longer than 5 pages), stating what the scholar will work on in Berlin if granted a fellowship

The application should be submitted by e-mail as three separate word documents or PDF files in English and should be received by May 15, 2018, sent to:

eume@trafo-berlin.de

Europe in the Middle East – the Middle East in Europe (EUME)
c/o Forum Transregionale Studien
Attn: Georges Khalil
Wallotstrasse 14, 14193 Berlin
Fax +49 30 – 89 001 440

INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE EAST—THE MIDDLE EAST IN EUROPE (EUME) has been initiated in 2006 as a joint research program of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. It builds upon the previous work of the Working Group Modernity and Islam (1996-2006). Since 2011, EUME is continued at the Forum Transregionale Studien.

In scholarly terms, EUME is directed by a Collegium that currently consists of the following persons: Ulrike Freitag (Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin), Cilja Harders (Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science, Freie Universität Berlin), Kader Konuk (Institut für Turkistik, Universität Duisburg-Essen), Gudrun Krämer (Institute of Islamic Studies, Freie Universität Berlin), Nora Lafi (Zentrum Moderner Orient, Berlin), Angelika Neuwirth (Freie Universität Berlin), Rachid Ouaissa (Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Philipps-Universität Marburg), Friederike Pannewick (Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Philipps-Universität Marburg), Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin, (Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva), Samah Selim (Rutgers University), and Stefan Weber (Museum for Islamic Art, Berlin).

The Berlin-based Forum Transregionale Studien is a research organization that promotes the internationalization of research in the humanities and social sciences. The Forum provides scope for collaboration among researchers with different regional and disciplinary perspectives and appoints researchers from all over the world as Fellows. In cooperation with universities and research institutions in Berlin and outside, it carries out research projects that examine other regions of the world and their relationship to Germany and Europe systematically and with new questions. It currently supports four research programs and initiatives: ART HISTORIES AND AESTHETIC PRACTICES, Prisma Ukraïna: Research Network Eastern Europe, ZUKUNFTSPHILOLOGIE: Revisiting the Canons of Textual Scholarship, the Academy in Exile, and EUROPE IN THE MIDDLE EAST—THE MIDDLE EAST IN EUROPE (EUME).

For more information on the Forum Transregionale Studien, please visit:
www.forum-transregionale-studien.de

For more information on EUME and its research fields, please visit:
www.eume-berlin.de

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

– Berlin Graduate School Muslim Cultures and Societies, FU Berlin
www.bgsmcs.fu-berlin.de

– Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science, FU Berlin
www.polsoz.fu-berlin.de/vorderer-orient

– Corpus Coranicum, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften
koran.bbaw.de

– Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient
www.zmo.de

– Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School of Literary Studies, FU Berlin
www.geisteswissenschaften.fu-berlin.de/en/friedrichschlegel/

– Institute of Islamic Studies, FU Berlin
www.geschkult.fu-berlin.de/en/e/islamwiss

– Museum for Islamic Art
www.smb.museum/isl

– Seminar for Semitic and Arabic Studies, FU Berlin
www.geschkult.fu-berlin.de/en/e/semiarab

– Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, Philipps-Universität Marburg
www.uni-marburg.de/cnms

– Institut für Turkistik, Universität Duisburg-Essen
www.uni-due.de/turkistik/

Deadline: May 15, 2017

The aim of the MA Intellectual Encounters of the Islamicate World is to provide international graduate students with a thorough understanding of the deep and diverse links between the Muslim, Jewish and Christian intellectual contributions during the medieval period. The program is characterised by a strongly research-driven, interdisciplinary and interreligious approach with an emphasis on primary texts in original language (Arabic). Students will be trained and mentored by internationally renowned guest lecturers who are counted among the leading experts in their respective fields of research.
The primarily web-based MA program also includes three face-to-face sessions in Cordoba (prov.) and Berlin per academic year during which the students and teachers will actually come together for discussion, teaching and examination. Freie Universität Berlin offers this one-year, full-time MA program of 60 ECTS to an expected number of 20 students, many of whom are from the region of the Middle East. The language of instruction is English.

Applications are now open! The application period for the academic year 2018/19 is from 15 April until 31 May 2018.

Please also note that there will be two program presentation sessions on May 2nd and May 7th. Our team will briefly present the MA and will be available afterwards to answer any questions you might have.
More information here: bit.ly/IEIWpresentation

For more information: www.ihiw.de/master
For direct enquiries: ieiw@geschkult.fu-berlin.de

Research fellowships for international postdocs for a research stay in Mainz beginning in April 2018 or later.

The Leibniz Institute of European History (IEG) awards Research fellowships for international postdocs for a research stay in Mainz beginning in April 2018 or later.

Applicant profile

The IEG awards fellowships for international young researchers in history, theology and other historical subjects. The IEG promotes research on the historical foundations of Europe from the early modern period to 1989/90, particularly regarding their religious, political and social dimensions. Projects dealing with European communication and transfer processes as well as projects focusing on questions related to theology, church history and intellectual history are particularly welcome.
What we offer

Funding is € ۱,۸۰۰/month. Research fellows live and work for between 6 and 12 months at the Institute in Mainz and can pursue their individual research project (extension possible).

Aims
This fellowship is intended to help you develop your own research project in close collaboration with scholars working at the IEG. Your contribution consist in bringing your own interests to bear on the work of the IEG and its research programme »negotiating difference in Europe«. This includes the possibility of developing a perspective for further cooperation with the IEG. If for this purpose a promising application for third-party funding is submitted, an extension of the fellowship is possible.
Requirements

Applicants must have completed their doctorate no more than three years before taking up the fellowship.
Fellows are required to register officially as residents in Mainz and to take part in events at the Institute.
Fellows are not permitted to undertake paid work while receiving the IEG fellowship.
The linguae academicae at the IEG are German and English; fellows must have a passive command of both and an active command of at least one of the two languages so as to participate in the discussions at the Institute.

Please send your application via e-mail to: fellowship@ieg-mainz.de
Subject: Stipendienbewerbung

Website: http://www.ieg-mainz.de/en/fellowships

Deadline: October 1, 2017

Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of the Middle East and North Africa

The Middle East and North Africa Centre at Sussex (MENACS) invites proposals for paper presentations at a forthcoming postgraduate conference, to be held at the University of Sussex on 27-28 April 2017. The conference is designed as a broad forum that brings together UK-based PhD students working on the MENA region from any perspective. MENA here is defined in the broadest possible terms and includes Israel, Turkey, Iran and the central Asian states alongside countries in which Arabic is the majority language. We particularly welcome proposals that adopt interdisciplinary approaches and that reflect critically on the process of conducting interdisciplinary research, although we welcome any proposal that is pertinent to the study of MENA. In addition to the usual platform of presentations, the conference will provide a space for doctoral researchers, through the involvement of the Sussex Humanities Lab and the Sussex Centre for the Visual, to consider how visual, textual and digital sources might be brought into productive dialogue.

The conference is organised and funded through the Consortium of the Humanities and the Arts South-East England (CHASE) and is planned as the first of a regular bi-yearly event. Faculty members from across the CHASE group of universities (including from Sussex, SOAS and the Courtauld Institute of Art) will participate in the conference as panel chairs and commentators. This will ensure doctoral students receive critical feedback on their work from leading scholars who work on the MENA region from a variety of viewpoints.

Abstracts of 300 words should be sent to chasepgconference@gmail.com no later than 31 December 2016.

The organizers will be able to offer successful candidates funding for travel and accommodation (up to £50 per night) There is no registration fee.

For enquiries please contact menacs@sussex.ac.uk

Or visit the MENACS website www.sussex.ac.uk/menacs

Deadline: 31 December 2016

4TH 10-DAY COURSE ON SHI’A ISLAMIC STUDIES (IRAN, MARCH 2017)
by Ahmad Moghri

The University of Religions and Denominations (Qom, Iran) is pleased to offer the 4th short-term course on Shi’a Islamic Studies to be held March 4-14, 2017.

This 10-Day English program focuses on Shi’a Islamic beliefs and practices, as well as Shiite authority, rituals and ceremonies in the contemporary Iran. The program includes guided visits to the local and cultural sites of the capital of Iran (Tehran) and three important cities of Qom, Mashhad and Isfahan in order to provide a view of day-to-day life in Iran. All faculty, students and researchers in related fields are invited to apply.

The regular course fee is $1450 including all local costs (accommodation, transportation, meals, insurance, airport transfer, course certificate, etc.). The early birds discount and some limited scholarships are available to qualified applicants. The University of Religions and Denominations takes care of the applicants’ visas. However, the international flights and the visa costs will be on participants.

You will find more information in our website at www.shiacourse.urd.ac.ir. Please don’t hesitate to email us via shiacourse@urd.ac.ir or shiacourses@gmail.com with any questions.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Symposia Iranica Third Iranian Studies Conference – Pembroke College

We welcome proposals that engage with any aspect of Iranian studies within the arts, humanities, and social sciences. These include but are not limited to prehistory through to contemporary history; historiography; art and architecture history; anthropology; archaeology; cultural heritage; film studies; music; new media and communication studies; the performing arts; poetry and literature; languages and linguistics; Diaspora studies; international ….. Read more

The School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies (MENAS) at the University of Arizona invites applications for a tenure-track position in Persian and Iranian Studies at the Assistant Professor level, to begin in the fall semester 2017.

MENAS offers programs leading to the Bachelor of Arts (BA), Master of Arts (MA), Accelerated Masters (AMP), and the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees in Middle Eastern and North African Studies, with courses in Anthropology, Art and Architecture, Geography, History, Linguistics, Islamic Studies, Literary Studies, Mass Culture and Media Studies, Minority Studies, and Political Science.

MENAS offers, in conjunction with other departments, a Dual MA in MENAS and Journalism, a Dual MA in MENAS and Library Science, a Dual MA-MPA in MENAS and Public Policy, and a Dual PhD in MENAS and Anthropology. Minor Programs in MENAS are offered for PhD students in other departments.

The UA features an extensive program in Middle Eastern and North African Studies, with scholars located across the university. MENAS is home to an Arabic Flagship program. SBS departments currently ….. Read more

The Department of Art History and Archaeology at Washington University in St. Louis, and the Saint Louis Art Museum seek a specialist in one of two broad fields, either in Islamic Art, or Art of the Ancient Americas, for a joint teaching-curatorial two-year position beginning July 1, 2017 (start date could be moved slightly later). Candidates will be interviewed in both subfields, but only one fellow will be selected from the total pool. The fellow will spend two semesters at Washington University in the Fall of 2017 and Spring of 2019, teaching two courses in each of those semesters. The fellow will spend the twelve-month period of 2018 working full-time at the Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) as an A. W. Mellon Fellow, where they will conduct research, and give docent and gallery talks in their area of expertise. It is thus envisioned that the candidate will spend a year in total at each institution over the two-year period. Courses at Washington University, a leading research institution, will be offered to a combination of beginning and advanced undergraduates, and perhaps graduate students, in art history and related fields.

If the successful fellow is a specialist in Islamic Art, she or he will teach an introductory-level course that will broadly address the field of Islamic Art; other classes may focus on traditions of miniature painting, the sacred arts of Islam, or the visual arts of Persia (Safavid) and/or India (Mughal). A course on modern or contemporary ……. Read more

Yale University: International Security Studies
Henry Chauncey Jr. Postdoctoral Fellowships

Location: New Haven, CT

Closes: Dec 15, 2016 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time
(GMT-4 hours)

The Chauncey Postdoctoral Fellowships are up to three positions funded by the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy for one year renewable for one additional year. We seek to attract outstanding junior scholars from around the globe whose work addresses questions of statecraft and grand strategy and demonstrates excellence in one of a range of academic disciplines and methodologies. Postdoctoral fellows must have completed their PhD degree to begin the fellowship. They are expected to use their time at Yale to conduct original research and prepare manuscripts for publication. Working with an active academic community of postdoctoral and predoctoral fellows, as well as Yale faculty in history, political science, and other……. Read more