ISA Second Sociology Forum in Buenos Aires, 1-4 August 2012‏

The Research Committee on Language and Society, RC 25, of the International
Sociological Association (ISA) is calling for papers.
In keeping with the ISA conference theme, Social Justice and Democratization, the RC
25 theme for the Second Forum of Sociology for 2012 is The Language of Justice. You
can find a detailed list of session themes at:
http://www.isa-sociology.org/buenos-aires-2012/rc/rc.php?n=RC25

RC 25 conceives of studies of language broadly and welcomes all varieties of
sociological analyses of language/representation. We encourage papers that take up
issues of study or debate that regard language, talk, signification, or other forms of
communication.

Please submit an abstract of (300 words maximum) by December 15, 2011. You
will find more details about how to submit abstracts at:
http://www.isa-sociology.org/buenos-aires-2012/guidelines-for-presenters.htm

The RC 25 program will be finalized in late January. All presenters will need to be
registered by April 10, 2012.
For more information about the Forum go to:
http://www.isa-sociology.org/buenos-aires-2012/

Memory, History and State-Building in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sarajevo‏

Memory, History and State-Building in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Critically Assessing and Re-Thinking the Teaching of Memory Politics in Bosnian University Curricula



CALL FOR APPLICATIONS




We are inviting interested scholars, university educators, faculty members and researchers in early stage of their academic career to take part in our collaborative interdisciplinary international project „Memory, History and State-Building in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Critically Assessing and Re-Thinking the Teaching of Memory Politics in Bosnian University Curricula“.

This project is being jointly implemented by the University of Zurich and the Centre for Human Rights of University of Sarajevo, with the financial support of the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Swiss Development Agency, in the framework of the SCOPES scheme (Scientific co-operation between Eastern Europe and Switzerland).

The primary aim of this project is to introduce a critical approach to the use of history and memory within BiH academia and university curricula. The project is designed to strengthen educational and research capacities, to facilitate exchange of ideas and experience, as well as to provide space for critical debates on the core issues at stake.

This call is intended for researchers/faculty staff in early stage of their academic career from BiH academic and cultural institutions to participate in all phases of the project. We aim at forming a group of about 15 fully committed and interested participants who are willing to be agents of change through their own teaching and research activities in BiH universities. During the implementation of the project the aim will be to support and advance their teaching and research abilities and professional development through a collaborative international effort that offers a host of opportunities for scholars/academics in the early stage of their academic career.

Working languages of the seminar are English and Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian. This is a three year project within which the following range of activities will take place: four modular two-day workshops, with experts dealing with issues of history and memory in their research and teaching activities, that will take place in January, April, September and November 2012; a three-day international conference that will take place in June 2012; and work on a set a various publications that will include a critical assessment of existing ways of researching and teaching issues related to history and memory in Bosnian higher education, as well as the development of new approaches (December 2012 to December 2013). In addition to the aforementioned institutions we are open to collaboration with other institutions and independent researchers and academics, from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Switzerland, as well as from other countries.



Application process:



The applicants:

We are looking for junior faculty members and researchers based at the University of Sarajevo, as well as other academic institutions in BiH, who are interested in teaching and researching memory studies and developing their research and teaching skills in a challenging and collegial context. The applicants should be at an early stage of their teaching academic career, with a strong MA degree and publishing record, and preferably holding a PhD degree or enrolled in a doctoral program. We welcome applications from all disciplinary backgrounds.

It is essential that participants be committed to working as a group for an extended period of time. Each participant must have a very good command of English language in order to be able to engage with literature at an advanced level, strong interest in scholarship related to the theme of the seminar, as well as a developed interest in advancing the teaching and research process at their institutions and more widely.



Application:

The following documents must be submitted electronically and emailed as attachments to Melina Sadiković [ms@hrc.unsa.ba] AND Sylvie Ramel [sylvie.ramel@philos.uzh.ch].
A supporting statement (no longer than 500 words) in English outlining your interests in memory studies, needs and expectations from this project as well as the way in which you will aim to contribute to it;
Your academic CV with a select list of publications;
A sample of a recently published research, or work in progress (no longer than 2,000 words), that will then be discussed within the two-day modular workshops with experts.



Deadline for applications



Applications are expected no later than 20 December 2011.

The applicants will be informed about the results no later than 30 December 2011.



Please, plan for the first modular workshop to take place on 26 and 27 January 2012.



More detailed information:

Melina Sadiković [ms@hrc.unsa.ba], or Sylvie Ramel [sylvie.ramel@philos.uzh.ch].

Faculty Position in Conflict Analysis and Resolution, Sabanci University, Istanbul‏

Sabanci University, Istanbul, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

FACULTY POSITION IN CONFLICT ANALYSIS AND RESOLUTION

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Sabanci University, invites applications and/or nominations for a faculty position in Conflict Analysis and Resolution. The position is open as of September 2012, to mid-career candidates as well as candidates who have recently completed their PhD or are near completion (Professor, Associate Professor and/or Assistant Professor).



Further specialization in one or more of the following areas is desirable: peace psychology; scientific study of peace and conflict; dynamics of cooperation; theories of applied conflict resolution; social psychology; political psychology; self and identity; social cognition; decision making.The successful candidate must have a strong record and potential for top quality scholarly publication, as well as promise of outstanding teaching at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.



Sabanci University is a private, department-free, innovative academic institution located in one of Europe’s largest and oldest cities, Istanbul. The university is strongly committed to interdisciplinary research and teaching both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. To meet this challenge, the faculty is organized around multi-disciplinary degree programs including Conflict Analysis and Resolution (MA), Cultural Studies (BA, MA), Economics (BA, MA, PhD), European Studies (MA), History (MA, PhD), International Studies (BA), Political Science (MA, PhD), Public Policy (MA), Social and Political Sciences (BA), Turkish Studies (MA), Visual Arts & Communication Design (BA, MA). The medium of instruction is English. Faculty members are provided with excellent support, including housing facilities on its modern campus if available or a housing stipend.



Applicants are asked to complete an online application form through the university website:



http://www.sabanciuniv.edu/eng/?aday_calisanlar/akademik_is_basvurulari.html



Additionally, a curriculum vitae, a clear statement of current and planned research and teaching activities, and at least three letters of reference should be sent via email to:



Mehmet Bac, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, bac@sabanciuniv.edu

cc: Inci Ceydeli, Faculty Administrative Manager, inci@sabanciuniv.edu.

Orient-Institut Istanbul, PhD Research Grant 2012‏

Research Grant Announcement 2012

The Orient-Institut Istanbul offers a research grant for PhD students.
Grants are available to support research in the Humanities and Social
Sciences on the region, its history, culture, languages and contemporar
affairs. The award consists of a monthly stipend of € 1000 for the duration
of up to a maximum of one year.

Prospective applicants are expected to hold an M.A. degree in a Middle
East-related discipline. The proposed research project should have a
regional focus on, either, Turkey, the Balkans, the Volga or Caucasus
region as well as Central Asia. The complete application should specify
the necessity of conducting research in Istanbul, or Turkey, respectively,
and include a detailed time frame for the envisioned research.

A basic command of German and Turkish is expected of all applicants.
Participation in colloquiums at the institute is expected. Research
stays outside of Istanbul have to be coordinated with the director.

Applications must be submitted by January 15, 2012, to the:

Director of the Orient-Institut Istanbul
Prof. Dr. Raoul Motika
Susam Sokak 16-18, D. 8
34433 Cihangir – Istanbul
Turkey

We also request that applications likewise be submitted by e-mail,
please, to:
<oiist@oidmg.org>

Applications must include the following documents:

(1) Cover letter
(2) CV
(3) Outline of the proposed research
(4) Letter of recommendation written by an academic supervisor
(5) Copy of the M.A. diploma
(6) Documentation of Turkish language skills


--
Dr. Sara Nur Yıldız
Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin
Orient-Institut Istanbul
Susam Sokak 16-18 D.8
Cihangir 34433 Beyoglu
Istanbul, Turkey
office: +90 (212) 293 6067/120
saranuryildiz@gmail.com

Conference: Alevi-Bektashi Communities in the Ottoman Realm, Bogazici University, 13-15 Dec 2011‏

ALEVI-BEKTASHI COMMUNITIES IN THE OTTOMAN REALM: SOURCES, PARADIGMS AND HISTORIOGRAPHY

Program:

13.12.2011 (Tuesday)

Opening: 10:30-11.00

SESSIONS

1) The Medieval/Pre-Ottoman Background

Discussant: Cemal Kafadar, Harvard University

Panelists:

11.00-11.30 Ahmet Karamustafa, Washington University in St. Louis, "Sofu, Abdal, Dede: Kaygusuz Abdal and Vernacular Islam in Medieval Anatolia"

11.30-12.00 Ayfer Karakaya-Stump, College of William and Mary, "The Vefa'iyye, the Bektashiyye, and Genealogies of ‘Heterodox Islam' in
Anatolia: Rethinking the Köprülü Paradigm"

12.00-12.30 Coffee Break

12.30-13.00 Sara Nur Yıldız, Orient-Institut Istanbul, "Historicizing Sufi Communities in Medieval Anatolia: Reconsidering the Dominant Paradigms of Syncretism,Heterodoxy and High/Low Islam"

13.00-13.30 Mark Soileau, Mardin Artuklu Üniversitesi, "The Folk Among the Wonders: Finding Alevis in Bektashi Hagiographies"

13.30-15.00 Lunch

2) The Safavids and the Early Modern Context of the Kizilbash/Alevi Movement

Discussant: Derin Terzioğlu, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi.

Panelists:

15.00-15.30 Cornell Fleischer, University of Chicago, "The Common Parlance of Messianism and Millenarianism in Islamdom in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries"

15.30-16.00 Shahzad Bashir, Stanford University, "Seeing Red: The Kizilbash as Image and Rhetoric in Persianate Literature"

16.00-16.30 Vural Genç, İstanbul Üniversitesi, "The Battle of Chaldiran in Iranian Sources"

16.30-17.00 Coffee Break

17.00-17.30 Fariba Zarinebaf, University of California Riverside, "Shah Isma‘il Safavi in Persian, European and Ottoman Myths"

17.30-18.00 Ferenc Csirkés, University of Chicago, "The Safavid and Ottoman Reception of the Poetry of Shah Isma‘il Hatayi"

14.12.2011 (Wednesday)

3) Tekkes and Dergâhs

Discussant: Gülru Necipoğlu, Harvard University

Panelists:

10.00-10.30 Cemal Kafadar, Harvard University, "Dutlug Bolsun: Amidst Stone and Soil at the Convent of Seyyid Ali Sultan (a.k.a. Kızıl Deli)"

10.30-11.00 Zeynep Yürekli-Görkay, University of Oxford, "Haji Bektash, His Shrine and the Ottomans"

11.00-11.30 Coffee Break

11.30-12.00 Mahir Polat, İstanbul Üniversitesi, "Lost or Imaginary? Looking for the Cemevi in Ottoman Architectural History"

12.00-12.30 Frances Trix, Indiana University,"Survival Strategies for Bektashi Tekkes in the Western Balkans: Ergeri (Albania), Kalkandelen (Macedonia), Gjakova (Kosova)"

12.30-14 :00 Lunch

4) Under the Shadow of Empire: Kizilbash/Alevi and Bektashi Communities' Relations with the Ottoman and Safavid States

Discussant: Ayfer Karakaya-Stump, College of William and Mary

Panelists:

14.00-14.30 Kathryn Babayan, University of Michigan, "The Waning of the Kizilbash in Iran Revisited"

14.30-15.00 İbrahim Kaya Şahin, Tulane University "Towards an Ottoman Sunnism: Perceptions of Bektashis/Alevis/Shi‘is/Safevis in Chronicles from Aşıkpaşazade to Celalzade"

15.00-15.30 Derin Terzioğlu, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, "How to Conceptualize Ottoman Sunnitization: A Historiographical Discussion"

15.30-16.00 Coffee Break

16.00-16.30 Erdal Küçükyalçın, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, "Janissary-Bektashi Relations Revisited: Religious Symbolism in Janissary Banner-signs"

16.30-17.00 Alişan Akpınar, İstanbul Üniversitesi, "The Ottoman State's Perception of the Alevis during the Hamidian Era"

17.00-18.00 Buffet

18.30-20.00 Social Program

Dertli Divani Baba (Veli Aykut), Keynote Speaker/Performer Narrative Performance: "The Language of Alevi Hymns"


15.12.2011
(Thursday)

5) Memory, History and Construction of Identity

Discussant Arzu Öztürkmen, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi

Panelists:

10.00-10.30 Markus Dressler, İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi, "Rewriting Kızılbaş Alevism and Bektashism: Conceptual and Theoretical Challenges"

10.30-11.00 Ulaş Özdemir, Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi, "History Through Sacred Words: The Presence of Haji Bektash Veli in Ahl-i Haqq Lore"

11.00-11.30 Erdal Gezik, Independent Researcher, Holland, "Beyond the Limits of Writing: Construction of the Religio-Cultural Memory of Dersim Alevis"


11:30-12:00 Coffee Break


12.00-13.00 Roundtable

13.00 Closing Remarks & Visit to the Tekke of Nafi Baba (optional)

EASA 2012 - (W029) Violence and Resilience in South-Eastern Europe, Paris, 10-13 July 2012‏

Violence and Resilience in South-Eastern Europe. We invite all interested scholars in the topic to submit their paper proposal via online form on the EASA website by November 28, 2011.

With best wishes,

Hanna Kienzler (McGill University) hanna.kienzler@mail.mcgill.ca<mailto:hanna.kienzler@mail.mcgill.ca>
Enkelejda Sula-Raxhimi (University of Montréal) enkelejda.sula@umontreal.ca<mailto:enkelejda.sula@umontreal.ca>


Workshop abstract
In South-Eastern Europe, political and structural violence go beyond death, disease, trauma and anxiety, to include the pervasive effects of the destruction of the economic, political and social fabric of society. This workshop invites papers that explore the consequences of such violence by tracing them in individual biographies, life trajectories, collective memory and communal strategies for coping with and being resilient to violence, adversity and uncertainty. In particular, the papers should describe and analyse the situated, manifold and complex interconnections between violence, larger social forces and individual suffering and ways in which they affect individual and collective perceptions of reality, identity and expectations for the future.
Expanding on the work of other anthropologists who have tried to make sense of different forms of violence, we argue that violence is pervasive, ancient, infinitely various and a central fact of human life, but also poorly understood in general. At the same time and despite these "conceptual uncertainties", it is, among other things, "a cultural problem" which requires attention to the details of its meanings and enactments by social actors in particular contexts. Adopting Sherry Ortner's notion of "serious games", the workshop emphasizes the social aspects of violence through different case studies by arguing that it is shaped, maintained and appeased through the expression of personal and subjective experiences in connection with larger social actors such as the state, international organizations, transnational flows of finances, and the global media.

Proposal submission: http://www.nomadit.co.uk/easa/easa2012/paperproposal.php5?PanelID=1285
Call for papers: http://www.easaonline.org/conferences/easa2012/callforpapers.htm

OSI/University of Oxford is inviting applications for the scholarship program 2012-13‏

Open Society Foundations/University of Oxford Seek Applications from Students of Select Countries for the Scholarship Program 2012-13

Open Society Foundations in association with the University of Oxford is inviting applications for the scholarship program 2012-13 to provide outstanding students an opportunity to pursue one-year taught postgraduate courses of study at the University of Oxford in subjects relevant to the needs of their countries.

Funded by the OSF and the University of Oxford, these scholarships are a great opportunity to students who have potential to become leaders, decision makers and opinion formers in their home countries.

Scholarship Provision

Each award will provide for payment of academic tuition fees, college fees, a monthly stipend for living expenses sufficient for a single student, and other agreed allowances including one return economy airfare. No financial support or special provisions are provided for dependants or family members.

Eligibility Criteria

• Selected one year taught master’s courses within the University of Oxford’s Social Sciences and Humanities Divisions.
• Any scholarship awards are conditional upon you being offered a place to study at Oxford, and meeting all the conditions of that offer (e.g. obtaining the required score in English language proficiency).
• Applicants will be required to have passed an English proficiency test before being offered a scholarship. The minimum requirement for study on the eligible courses at Oxford is IELTS 7.5 (with minimum 7.0 in each component) or TOEFL – 630 (minimum Test of Written English score – 5) or Computer based TOEFL – 267 (minimum essay writing score – 5) or Internet based TOEFL – 109 or Cambridge Certificate of proficiency in English – B. Local representatives of Open Society Foundations will arrange tests for short-listed candidates after the interviews, if applicants have not already successfully taken a test in the 2 years prior to the interview.
• All applicants must have completed at least three years of BA course (in the Bologna system) or four years of university study and have obtained, or expect to obtain, the appropriate degree(s) not later than September 2012.
• Applicants must be citizens of and resident in one of the following countries during the academic year in which they apply for the award: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Georgia, and Montenegro. Applicants who are temporarily out of the country (for a total period of less than three consecutive months) may be treated as being resident.
• Applicants should be planning to return to their home country at the end of the period of study.
• Applicants should have a proven track record of success or excellence in their professional life distinguishing them from their peers and contemporaries and clear commitment to open society goals.

Preference will be given to applicants who have not previously studied in Western universities.

Please note that if you have applied, or are applying, for other grants, fellowships or scholarships with the Open Society Foundations you should alert to this in your application.  While you may apply under more than one scheme simultaneously, you can be awarded only one Open Society Foundations scholarship or grant for a given period.

Selection Process

Short-listed applicants will be invited for an interview and an English language test in their home country in April 2012. Interviews will be carried out by representatives of OSF–London—in certain cases, there may also be a panel member representing the interests of the University. Applicants will be informed of the outcome of the scholarship competition in May/June 2012.

Please note that successful applicants will be invited to attend a one-month Academic Writing School organized by Open Society Scholarship Programs in Istanbul in August 2012.

Last date for submitting the applications is January 20, 2012.

For more information, visit this link.