Shii News – Academic Items

1.Call for Papers

Cities of the Arab World: Theory, Investigation, Critique

February 14-16, 2019

Global Urban Studies Program

Michigan State University

Contemporary Arab cities are dynamic entities within and through which larger national, regional and global political-economic, technological and cultural forces interact. Global discourses of urban development and redevelopment, for example, contribute to traumatic dislocations in predictable ways, but also open new pathways to power and new dynamics of place- and community-making as local forces turn such discourses to their own purposes. Social conflict and war, too, have their own political economies and logics of creation and destruction, as politicians and profiteers speculate, and rebels and refugees improvise and innovate survival strategies and new forms of self-government. Reconstruction further reorganizes urban space and economic opportunity, as it gives rise to new and innovative approaches to urban planning, architecture and heritage preservation. Burgeoning creative scenes introduce new aesthetics and make possible new identities and forms of resistance. At the same time, they commodify culture and anchor emergent art markets with increasingly global connections.  Just as Kurds, Copts, Armenians and Chaldeans have contributed to the creative flux of Arab cities, contemporary migrants from the Arab world have created hybrid cultural and political formations and new linguistic landscapes as migrants adapt to and alter metropolitan spaces around the world.

This conference seeks papers that explore the complexities and contradictions of Arab cities and Arab urban communities around the world. Organizers seek theoretically driven, holistic and historically grounded individual and comparative studies that explore both significant challenges and the creative resilience in meeting those challenges in Arab cities and communities. Through concrete case studies, comparisons and ethnographies, participating scholars are asked to attend to the discourses, power structures, institutions, technologies, and strategies shaping Arab cities and communities, as well as the political-economic and socio-cultural forces that drive, benefit from, resist, or are produced by them.

We are particularly interested in papers that focus on the following issues:

• The impact of war, occupation and/or reconstruction on Arab cities.
• Political economies of urban development and redevelopment in Arab cities. Who  “owns” the city and with what political, economic or cultural effect?
• Minority communities and their contributions to or marginalization within Arab cities.
• Youth culture, gender, or fashion in Arab cities.
• Climate change and environmental challenges and Arab Cities, including, but not limited  to: supply of potable water and sanitation; waste management; transportation; energy consumption; air pollution; and uncontrolled urban growth.
• Linguistic landscapes and hybridities in the Arab world and Arab communities around the world.
• Arab migration and diaspora communities: Identity -, city- and community- making outside the Middle East.
• Representation of Arab cities and urban life in literature and film.
• The city or the urban in Arab political thought and subaltern movements.

We intend to publish conference papers in special issues (or special sections) of peer-reviewed journals and a peer-reviewed edited volume. We ask that participants supply draft papers for circulation by February 2, 2019 for circulation amongst panel participants as a first step in the peer review process.

Transport, accommodation, and meals during the conference will be subsidized by the organizers.

Please submit abstracts for papers (max 300 words) and a CV to Dr. Najib Hourani at houranin@msu.edu with the subject line “Arab Cities 2019 Abstract.”

The deadline for abstract submission is October 5, 2018.

 

 

 

2. Submissions are being accepted for the Fourth Round of the BRAIS – De Gruyter Prize in the Study of Islam and the Muslim World.

The British Association for Islamic Studies (BRAIS) and De Gruyter are delighted to announce the fourth round of the BRAIS – De Gruyter Prize in the Study of Islam and the Muslim World. This international prize will be awarded annually to the best doctoral thesis or unpublished first monograph based on a doctoral thesis. English-language submissions on any aspect of the academic study of Islam and the Muslim world, past and present, including Muslim-minority societies are accepted. Applicants can be based in any country, and manuscripts will be assessed on the basis of scholarly quality and originality.

The award includes publication of the winning manuscript and a prize of £1,000, and it will be officially presented at the Annual Conference of BRAIS. The selection process will be undertaken by a seven-member prize committee comprising established academics from across the field.

Submission deadline: 5pm (UK Time) 1 October 2018

For details of how to submit an entry see http://www.brais.ac.uk/prize

If you have any questions, please send an email to prize@brais.ac.uk

 

 

 

3. International Conference: “Innovative Approaches in Islamic Sciences and Education”, Institute for Islamic Theology, University of Osnabrück, 20-22 September 2018

Conference Management: Prof. Dr. Bülent Uçar.

Deadline for registration: 8 September 2018. Program: https://www.iit.uni-osnabrueck.de/fileadmin/documents/public/Plakate_Brosch%C3%BCren/2018-Innovative_Approaches.pdf

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4. Posts:

 

Full Professorship in “Islamic Text Studies” (Koran and Hadith), Humboldt-University Berlin

Position is starting 1 October 2019. The teaching and research focus of this professorship is on the Koran, as well as on the traditions of the Prophet’s teachings and life (Hadith and Sira). Both the historical contexts of the texts and their traditions of interpretation, as well as their conveyance and interpretation with respect to the present-day realities of Muslims’ lives, are to be the subject of research.

Deadline for applications: 27 September 2018. Information: https://www.personalabteilung.hu-berlin.de/stellenausschreibungen/full-professorship-islamic-text-studies201d-koran-and-hadith-w3

 

Full Professorship in “Islamic Religious Education and Practical Theology”, Humboldt-University Berlin

This position is starting 1 October 2019. The successful candidate’s research work and teaching will focus on the diversity of religious practices in the context of our constantly changing modern world. This professorship will be responsible for the training of teachers of religious education and, to this end, takes into account the diversity of religious experiences on the part of Muslim children and young adults, as well as the plurality of Islamic concepts of identity.

Deadline for applications: 27 September 2018. Information: https://www.personalabteilung.hu-berlin.de/stellenausschreibungen/full-professorship-islamic-religious-education-and-practical-theology201d-w3

 

Full Professorship in “Islamic Law in the Past and Present”, Humboldt-University Berlin

This position is starting 1 October 2019. This professorship addresses religious jurisprudence (Fiqh), the methodology of law (Usul al-fiqh) and the philosophy of law in the classical canon of Islamic theology. It considers not only jurisprudence in the narrower sense, but also the general life orientation in accordance with religious values. Legal norms and their traditional sources and theoretical foundations will be contextualised and problematised in teaching and research with respect to the conditions of a society in a global context.

Deadline for applications: 27 September 2018. Information: https://www.personalabteilung.hu-berlin.de/stellenausschreibungen/full-professorship-islamic-law-in-the-past-and-present201d-w3

 

Junior Professorship in “Islamic Philosophy and the Foundations of Belief”, Humboldt-University Berlin

This is a tenure track position. This professorship focuses on three key fields of Islamic scholarship. In his or her research and teaching, the successful candidate will address the historical contextualisation of various mystical, philosophical and doctrinal currents (in particular Sunna and Shia), including the reception of classical and late antique sciences, especially Aristotelian and neo-Platonic thought.

Deadline for applications: 27 September 2018. Information: https://www.personalabteilung.hu-berlin.de/stellenausschreibungen/junior-professorship-for-islamic-philosophy-and-the-foundations-of-belief201d-with-tenure-track-w1

 

Teaching-Track Lecturer in Beginning through Advanced Arabic, University of Southern California

The Department of Middle East Studies in the Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences has a need in the Spring 2019 semester for a full-time, teaching-track lecturer position to teach beginning through advanced Arabic. Requirements: Native or near-native fluency in Arabic; demonstrated excellence in the teaching of Arabic language at the college level; M.A. or Ph.D. in Arabic.

Information: https://usccareers.usc.edu/job/los-angeles/full-time-lecturer-in-arabic-language/1209/8911545

 

Assistant/Associate Professor in International/Comparative Political Economy, Naval Postgraduate School, CA

This is a tenure track position. Specialists with regional expertise in Europe or the Middle East and/or with a relevance to national security affairs, defense policy, or maritime policy are especially encouraged to apply. Relevant expertise might include international economic negotiations, global/regional economic regimes, comparative economic policies, trade sanctions, and the political economy of violence.

Deadline for applications: 15 October 2018. Information: https://main.hercjobs.org/jobs/11417081/assistant-or-associate-professor-international-comparative-political-economy

 

Assistant Professor of Modern Middle East History, Smith College, Massachusetts

The Program in Middle East Studies at Smith College invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor, to begin July 1, 2019. Candidates engaged in research that challenges existing periodizations of modern Middle East history, contributes to rethinking the geographies and transregional

flows that shaped territorial spaces within the Middle East over time, and/or engages creatively with underrepresented subjects, geographies, and themes are especially welcome to apply.

Review of applications will begin on 1 November 2018. Information:  https://apply.interfolio.com/53879

 

 

Norma Jean Calderwood University Professorship in Islamic and Asia Art, Boston College

The appointment will be made at the rank of full Professor, with a preferred start date of July 1, 2019. The appointee will teach introductory courses in Islamic art and architecture, and upper-level courses and research seminars in his or her areas of specialization.

Deadline for applications: 15 November 2018. Information: https://apply.interfolio.com/53626

 

 

Lecturer in Discipline, Arabic Language, Columbia University, NY

Position is beginning July 1, 2019. We are seeking a professional language teacher with a serious commitment to teaching languages for academic purposes while developing pedagogical materials and incorporating technological innovations into the curriculum.

technological innovations into the curriculum.

Review of applications start: 1 October 2018. Information: https://academicjobs.columbia.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=1535888830549

 

 

Visiting Assistant Professor for Arabic Language Flagship Program, University of Mississippi

Beginning January 2019; the professor will teach all levels of Arabic following the program’s curriculum and must have substantial experience in teaching Arabic to American university students, a Ph.D. in Arabic or a related field and native or near-native proficiency in Arabic.

Position open until filled. Information: https://careers.olemiss.edu/job/University-Visiting-Assistant-Professor-%28Arabic-Flagship%29-MS-38677/500962800/

 

 

 

5. Articles on Special Issue “Salafism in the West: Major Issues and Debates” for Journal “Religions”

This special issue specifically aims to identify and discuss the major themes and debates that are commonly associated with the discussions of Salafism in the West either in the context of specific nation states or thematically.

Deadline for manuscripts: 31 January 2020. Information: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/salafism

 

 

6. Excellent AGAPS Country Research Resource Guides on Kuwait and the UAE

Members of the Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies (AGAPS) are working to develop research resource guides for countries in the region. If you are someone who could help AGAPS prepare similar guides on other countries, or you would like to add to our existing guides, please contact okruhlik@msn.com and alsumait.f@gust.edu.kw.

See the Kuwait and UAE Guides: https://agaps.org/member-area/country-guides/

 

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