Deadline: May 15, 2017
The Berlin-based Forum Transregionale Studien invites scholars to apply for five Postdoctoral Fellowships and one Irmgard Coninx Postdoc Fellowship for a scholar at risk for the research program. Europe in the Middle East—The Middle East in Europe (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 emphasis on three programmatic ideas:
- Supporting research that demonstrates the rich and complex historical legacies and entanglements between Europe and the Middle East;
- Reexamining genealogical notions of mythical ‘beginnings’, ‘origins’, and ‘purity’ in relation to culture and society; and
- 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.
Cost
- 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.
Eligibility
- Open to 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;
- One fellowship provided by the Irmgard Coninx Foundation is reserved for a scholar at risk and offers scholars who suffer threats of life, liberty, and well-being in their own countries a safe location and conducive academic environment to carry out their research;
- Any scholar who faces a risk of persecution on account of belief, scholarship, or identity is eligible;
- As a rule, the fellowships start on October 1, 2017 and will end on July 31, 2018. Therefore fellows must be able to stay for the whole period.
Application Process
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 five 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);
- The names of two university faculty members who can serve as referees (no letters of recommendation required);
- For the application as a scholar at risk, please add a threat assessment from a third party, such as the Scholar at Risk Network or a colleague.
The application should be submitted by e-mail as three (or four) separate WORD documents or PDF files in English and should be received by May 15, 2017, sent to [email protected]
For more information, visit EUME Postdoctoral Fellowship.
