Position in Islamic Studies, Washington University in St. Louis

Islamic Studies

The Department of Jewish, Islamic, and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures (JINELC) at Washington University in St. Louis invites applications for a tenure-track position in Islamic Studies at the rank of ASSISTANT PROFESSOR. A Ph.D. in a core area of Islamic Studies by August 1, 2015 is required.

Candidates must have a strong grounding in classical Islamic texts and traditions and a serious interest in their connections to, and interrelations with, other cultures and traditions. Native or near-native fluency in Arabic is a prerequisite. The ability to traverse disciplinary boundaries and an understanding of later and contemporary developments in Muslim cultures and societies are highly desirable. 

The successful candidate will be expected to teach both undergraduate survey courses and more advanced, specialized topics, and to participate in the Religious Studies program and curriculum. Possible areas of specialization might include, but are not limited to, Qur'anic studies, Islamic law, religious thought and practices, and cultural interactions. All faculty are expected to teach, conduct research, write for publication, advise students, and take part in university service.

Applications are accepted until the position is filled, but priority will be given to those received by November 1, 2014.

Application material should include a cover letter, curriculum vitae, short writing sample, statement of research and teaching interests, and three letters of recommendation (to be sent separately). Send application materials to:

Prof. Hayrettin Yücesoy, JINELC 

Box 1121

Washington University in St. Louis 

One Brookings Drive

St. Louis, MO 63130

Upcoming Conference - Call for Papers

World War I and the Non-Turkish Minorities in the Ottoman Empire: Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks

New York, NY, May 21-22, 2015

The Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center (Graduate Center, City University of New York), The Asia Minor and Pontos Hellenic Research Center, and the Zoryan Institute invite submissions of manuscript abstracts for an upcoming conference entitled World War I and the Non-Turkish Minorities in the Ottoman Empire: Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks.

In this conference, we want to encourage individual and comparative case studies related to the experience of Armenians, Assyrians and Greeks, as well as a broader approach to their treatment in the Ottoman Empire in the years leading up to and including World War I, and its aftermath. Suggested subjects include but are not limited to the following:

1. Pre-WWI military conflicts between Ottoman Turkey and its non-Muslim subjects.
2. Turkey’s objectives in entering WWI on the side of the Central Powers.
3. Religious and ethnic minorities in the Turkish military.
4. The role of the military in the Young Turk policy of demographic engineering.
5. The implementation of the civilian deportations and immigration from the Balkans, Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.
6. Resistance and self-defense of Ottoman Turkey’s religious and ethnic minorities.
7. The role of the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary).
8. The role of the Allied Powers (France, Great Britain and Russia).
9. The response of the United States throughout the 20th century.
10.  War as a cover for genocide.
11. The aftermath: The Paris Peace Conference, the Treaty of Sèvres, the Greco-Turkish War, the population exchange between Turkey and Greece, and the Treaty of Lausanne.
12. Denial of the Ottoman Genocides, 1914-2015.

Guidelines:

• Authors are asked to submit a manuscript abstract of 1000 words or less, not counting references.
• DEADLINE for SUBMISSION: November 15, 2014.
• EMAIL: Abstracts must be submitted by email to info@hellenicresearchcenter.org
• NOTIFICATION of ACCEPTANCE: January 15, 2015.

Upon selection for presentation at the conference, authors will be required to submit a manuscript of not more than 40 double-spaced typewritten pages, including tables, appendices, and footnotes. Manuscripts are to follow the Chicago Manual of Style format. All Arabic, Armenian, Assyrian, Greek, Kurdish, Persian, and/or Turkish words must be transliterated in conformity with the Middle East Studies Association's (MESA) style. The author is responsible for accuracy and consistency of transliteration and foreign word usage. Manuscripts must not have been published previously or be submitted simultaneously to any other conference or publication, and must be the original work of the author. After the conference, a selection of the papers will be compiled, edited and published as proceedings.

NOTE: Limited funding is available for travel and lodging. Participants whose papers are selected for publication will receive an honorarium.

Critical Language Scholarship 2015 Application OPEN

 2015 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program 

The U.S. Department of State is pleased to announce the opening of the scholarship competition for the 2015 Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program in thirteen critical foreign languages.

The thirteen CLS languages are: Arabic, Azerbaijani, Bangla, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish, and Urdu.

Please note that participants in the CLS Program are not required to have any experience studying critical languages for most of the thirteen languages. Arabic, Chinese, Persian, Russian, and Japanese institutes have language prerequisites, which can be found on the CLS website: http://www.clscholarship.org/

The CLS Program seeks participants with diverse interests, from a wide variety of fields of study, backgrounds and career paths, with the purpose of representing the full diversity of professional, regional, cultural and academic backgrounds in the United States. Thus, students from all academic disciplines, including business, engineering, law, medicine, science, social sciences, arts and humanities are encouraged to apply.

There is no service requirement for CLS Alumni after the program. However, participants are expected to continue their language study beyond the scholarship period, and later apply their critical language skills in their professional careers. Participants are selected based on their commitment to language learning and plans to apply their language skills to their future academic or professional pursuits.

Please note that CLS is an intensive group-based language program.

The application is now live and available online at:  http://www.clscholarship.org

Applications will be due November 12, 2014 by 8:00 pm EST.

Prior to preparing their application, interested students should review the full eligibility and application information on the CLS Program website:  http://www.clscholarship.org/information-for/applicants.

4th annual Global Engagement Academic Conference

Call for Presentations

The Southern Utah University Global Engagement Center is pleased to announce the call for proposals for its 4th annual Global Engagement Academic Conference. This year’s conference will be held October 23, 2014, on the SUU campus in Cedar City, Utah.

The title of this year’s conference is Syria Now. The conference will focus on various issues related to current events in Syria and the surrounding region. Academics, activists, artists, and undergraduate and graduate students alike are encouraged to submit session proposals, which may address, but are not limited to, the following subjects related to the current situation in Syria:

• Human rights and violations
• Local and international politics
• Terrorism
• Refugee experiences
• International influences

At the conference, presenters and participants will engage in discussions and activities that will afford them the opportunity to gain a broader knowledge of the crisis in Syria.  Sessions and activities may take one of five forms:

• Panel session (three 10-minute presentations + 15 minutes of Q&A per panel)
• Paper session (30 minutes + 15 minutes of Q&A)
• Poster session (4 hours)
• Artistic or other creative session
• Other (ex. Facilitated discussion, workshop, video presentation, etc.)

Session proposals are due by September 17, 2014, and should be submitted online.

Those submitting proposals will be contacted by September 20, 2014. Several $500 travel stipends are available for individuals who come to present from universities outside the state of Utah. 

Submit presentation proposals at: http://www.suu.edu/academics/studyabroad/conference/CFP.html

Application for the travel stipends:

 http://www.suu.edu/academics/studyabroad/conference/stipend.html

Seventh Annual Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA)

Seventh Annual Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA), October 30 - November 1, 2014, Washington D.C.

Early bird registration is open through September 30, 2014. Those who register by this date will receive a discount on the registration fee. 

The conference is set to feature:

• KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Prof. Meir Litvak, Tel Aviv University, "Rouhani's Iran: How Real is the Change?"
• SPECIAL REMARKS: Amb. Lukman Faily, Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to the United States. **invited
• Roundtable discussions on "The Sunni-Shia Sectarian War Across the Sykes-Picot Line," "Trends in Anti-Semitism in the Middle East," "Iraq: Failure or Federalism," "Boko Haram: Islamism and Anarchy to What End?" and more.
• Panel presentations on scholarly topics from Middle Eastern and African studies, and related disciplines.
• Banquet luncheon and professional networking reception.
• Film screenings.
• Displays by publishers of the latest academic titles.

 Contact ASMEA at info@asmeascholars.org and/or visit the ASMEA website asmeascholars.org for further details.