Shii News – Academic Items
1.The Faculty of Arts (https://www.helsinki.fi/en/faculty-of-arts) of the University of Helsinki is Finland’s oldest institution for teaching and research in the humanities and the largest in terms of the structure and range of disciplines. It is also a significant international community fostering research, education and cultural interaction.
The Faculty of Arts invites applications for the position of
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR / ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR / PROFESSOR IN ISLAMIC AND MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES
Due date
28.08.2018 23:59 EEST
2. The ERC-funded research project “Stories of Survival: Recovering the Connected Histories of Eastern Christianity in the Early Modern World” at the University of Oxford is currently advertising three one-year positions for postdoctoral Research Associates. The postholders will contribute to building a database of Syriac and Arabic manuscripts so excellent knowledge of at least one of these languages is essential. The application closes on Monday, 9 July at noon British Summer Time (1 pm Central European Summer Time). Further information as well as access to the online application form is available at https://www.recruit.ox.ac.uk/pls/hrisliverecruit/erq_jobspec_version_4.display_form.
The project’s principal investigator, Dr John-Paul Ghobrial (john-paul.ghobrial@history.ox.ac.uk), will be happy to answer informal questions about this role.
3. Monarchy and Modernity since 1500
University of Cambridge
8-9 January 2019
[The conference announced on the cfp below was originally designed for Europeanists, but was opened up to all world areas following multiple requests by non-Europeanists to participate. The cfp has therefore been revised and the deadline extended to August 15, 2018. Applications from anthropologists, legal scholars, political scientists and above all non-Europeanists are especially welcome. Please note that all proposals previously submitted remain valid.]
Europe’s past is overwhelmingly monarchical, yet the monarchies that remain in place today hardly resemble those that governed Europe at the end of the Middle Ages. Modernity has transformed monarchy from a matter of unquestioned and often sacred fact to a matter of largely secular and usually democratic choice. If the words remain the same – along with many of the families, their titles, properties and places of residence – their meaning has changed profoundly over time and across countries, so much so that, along the centuries, the working mechanisms, functions and powers of European monarchy have been transformed. The academic literature, however, seldom measures this distance between monarchy’s various historical meanings and its surprisingly frequent manifestations today.
In theoretical and speculative disciplines, the lack of inquiry into monarchy’s significance is due partly to disciplinary divisions. Political theorists, intellectual historians, experts in jurisprudence and art and literary critics rarely delve into the subject of monarchy, while historians of monarchy tend to focus on chronology rather than concepts. Monarchy’s own nature has helped determine these divisions.With its providentialist, semi-magic and mysterious foundations in the divine right of kings, monarchism is a double paradox, a form of political theory that is at once anti-political and anti-theoretical. Innovatively, this conference seeks to break disciplinary barriers by combining the outlooks of monarchical specialists on the one hand, and of social, cultural, literary and political theorists on the other.
Proceeding from the premise that the nature of things is best known, and their development most determined, during critical times, this conference centers on three (long) key moments in the history of modern European monarchy: the English Revolution, the French Revolution, and the mainstreaming of republicanism during the first half of the twentieth century. These moments, however, are only referential, and presentations studying the reinvention, representation and conceptualisation of monarchy during other modern periods, from 1500 to the present, are also welcome, with Renaissance subjects possibly serving as introits and contemporary ones as epilogues to the conference.
The main lines of inquiry are twofold, one directed at monarchy’s political-legal significance, and the other at its socio-cultural, psychological, religious, literary and spiritual roles. The political-legal line of inquiry can include – without being limited to – European monarchy’s historical relationship to legislation and the administration of justice, as well as democratic, republican, and aristocratic traditions. The theological/sociological/anthropological perspective is instead concerned with monarchy as a series of rituals, processions, celebrations and formal procedures that represent sovereignty, organise time and relationships, lend nations a sense of identity, and connect individuals emotionally with sacred spaces and powers.
Studies of non-European monarchical traditions are likewise accepted, preferably with reference to European ones.
Contributions may address one or more of the following themes but are not limited to them:
- Monarchy in political thought
- Monarchy and constitutionalism
- Monarchy in its relation with religion, theology and spirituality
- The relationship between spiritual and temporal powers
- Royalism vs. monarchism
- National and sovereign representation
- The royal imaginary, including literary representations of monarchy
- Monarchy and property
- Monarchy and material culture: art, fashion and the built environment
- Royal feasts, rituals, processions and celebrations
- Women and monarchy
- Non-European monarchical traditions, preferably with reference to European ones.
We invite proposals for 20-minute presentations, which will be revised subsequently for publication in a peer-reviewed collective volume. Graduate students are welcome to participate, and papers in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish are accepted, although English is encouraged to facilitate communication. The conference will be held at the University of Cambridge on 8-9 January 2019. Please email a 200-word abstract and one-page CV to Carolina Armenteros (cra22@cam.ac.uk) by 15 August 2018.
4. International Conference: “Sources of Pluralism in Islamic Thought”, Casablanca Seminars, Casablanca, 9-11 July 2018
As a global religion, Islam and its jurisprudence have offered heterogeneous responses to a range of questions facing different faiths and communities. Modernity imposed new questions upon religious scholars, theologians and philosophers, demanding of them a new version of pluralism in the theological and political arenas.
Program: https://www.resetdoc.org/event/program-casablanca/
5. Assistant Professor in the History of the Modern Middle East, University of British Columbia, Vancouver
The successful candidate will show outstanding potential as an innovative scholar and researcher, as evidenced by their record of intellectual engagement, published work, and/or work in progress. A strong commitment to teaching excellence at both the graduate and undergraduate level is also required.
Deadline for applications: 1 September 2018. Information https://www.hr.ubc.ca/jobs/faculty.php?job_id=30298
6. Assistant Professor in Gender and Social Movements in the Islamic World, Queen´s University
We welcome applicants whose research examines the rise of diverse social movements that have challenged authoritarian states, ailing development models, and cultural and political norms around gender and sexuality throughout the Islamic World. The geographic focus is open. The preferred start date is July 1, 2019.
Deadline for applications: 31 August 2018. Information: https://www.queensu.ca/devs/gender-and-social-movements-islamic-world-tenure-track-position-applications-due-31aug2018
7. Articles on “Popular Culture” for “Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies”
Competitive manuscripts: 1) substantiate a thesis based on original scholarship; 2) are conceptually coherent and clear; 3) are grounded in primary sources (literary, visual, archival, textual, ethnographic, artistic, legal, and so on); and 4) engage with pertinent questions that emerge from region-focused or transnational feminist and sexuality scholarship.
Deadline for abstracts: 30 July 2018. Information: http://jmews.org/call-papers-popular-culture/
8. Association for Middle East Anthropology Graduate Student Paper Prize
The AMEA Graduate Student Paper Prize will be publicly announced at the AMEA Annual Meeting at MESA. The winner will receive a $100 cash award and a certificate. The winner will also be invited to submit the paper for publication in the journal “Anthropology of the Middle East”.
Deadline for submissions: 20 July 2018. Please send your submissions to to Shively@kutztown.edu.
9. Association for Middle East Anthropology Dissertation Award
The AMEA Dissertation Award will be given to the author whose work is judged to provide the most significant and potentially influential contribution to Middle East anthropology. Books of exceptional courage and potential impact beyond the field will be given special consideration. The AMEA Dissertation Award will be publicly announced at the AMEA business meeting at the MESA annual meeting in 2018. The winner will receive a $200 cash award and a certificate.
Deadline for submissions: 20 July 2018. Please send your dissertation to Shively@kutztown.edu.
Posted in: Academic items
- July 02, 2018
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