Sir William Luce Fellowship

Durham University

The Sir William Luce Memorial Fund welcomes applications for the position of Sir William Luce Fellow which will commence in April 2017.

The Sir William Luce Memorial Fund was established to commemorate the long and distinguished career of Sir William Luce GBE, KCMG, DL (1907-77) in the Middle East during the era of the transfer of power.

The Fellowship is awarded annually to a scholar at post-doctoral level, diplomat, politician, or business executive, working on those parts of the Middle East to which Sir William Luce devoted his working life (Iran, the Gulf states, South Arabia and Sudan), and is hosted by Durham University during Easter term (24 April – 23 June 2017). The Fund may give some preference to proposals linked to the University’s Sudan Archive. The Fellowship, tenable jointly in the Institute for Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies and Trevelyan College, will entitle the holder to full access to departmental and other University facilities such as the University Library, including the Sudan Archive, and Computing and Information Services. It also carries a grant, accommodation and all meals for the duration of the Fellowship. The Fellow is expected to deliver a lecture on the subject of his or her research which will be designated ‘/The Sir William Luce Lecture’/, and should be cast in such a way as to form the basis of a paper to be published in a special edition of the Durham Middle East Papers series.

Applicants should send a CV, an outline of their proposed research and contact details for two referees, preferably by e-mail, by Thursday, October 6^th to:

The Secretary
Sir William Luce Memorial Fund
Durham University Library
Palace Green
Durham DH1 3RN
United Kingdom
E-mail: luce.fund@durham.ac.uk

For further information about the Luce Fund, please click here.

“Reinventing Israel: Transformations of Israeli Society in the 21st Century”

American University,
Washington, DC
October 28-29, 2015

Travel Subsidies for Junior Faculty Available

RSVP FOR SESSIONS:

Scholars are invited to attend “Reinventing Israel: Transformations of Israeli Society in the 21st Century,” an international academic conference on October 28-29, 2015 at American University in Washington, DC. The conference is sponsored by American University’s Center for Israel Studies and Jewish Studies Program. A limited number of travel subsidies are available for junior faculty and advanced graduate students. Applications for travel subsidies are due September 25, 2015. Notifications will be made on a rolling basis by October 1, 2015.

Conference Chairs:

Michael Brenner, Seymour and Lillian Abensohn Chair in Israel Studies, American University and Chair of Jewish History and Culture, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich
Pamela Nadell, Patrick Clendenen Chair in Women’s and Gender Studies, American University

Conference Summary:
The 1967 Six-Day War, with its resulting control of significant new territory, compelled profound changes in Israel’s self-definition. Demographically, Israel’s society has become more religious. Politically, it has gradually moved to the right. The transformation of Israeli society has been ongoing ever since.

This conference will examine the more recent aspects of the transformation of Israeli society in the 21st century, including the birth of the start-up nation and the growing economic inequality, changes in Holocaust memory and in Israel-diaspora relations. Scholars from the United States and Israel will present new insights in the fields of politics, law, economy, art, and literature. They turn our attention to the immigrants from unexpected destinations like Nigeria and Burma, who claim to derive from “the lost tribes,” as well as to the growing Israeli diaspora in America and Europe, and to the changing self-definition of Israeli Arabs who regard themselves increasingly as Palestinians. A concluding panel addresses the question of how Israel will look twenty years from now.

Link to application, with program:

Questions: American University Center for Israel Studies, israelstudies@american.edu, 202-885-3780

The Middle East Studies Forum (MESF) at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation (ADICG), in partnership with the Middle East Institute (National University of Singapore) and the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (ANU) are pleased to issue this Call for Papers for the forthcoming symposium ‘Making Sense of Geo-Politics in the Middle East’.

Deakin University (Melbourne, Australia), October 28-29, 2015

The rise of the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq, which claims to revive the historic Islamic Caliphate, has brought to the fore intense state rivalries. This is most notable between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which appear to be locked in a number of theatres of conflict from Syria to Yemen. But other enmities have also intensified as a result of growing tensions and states’ self-perception of their regional weight. These include frictions between Qatar and Egypt, Iran and Turkey, and Egypt and Turkey. Compounding each of these is the emergence of the self-declared Islamic State and the prospects of a future Kurdish state.

This conference welcomes informed and robust discussion of the following key questions:

• Do recent events suggest a reassertion of state-centric politics over ideological considerations?
• Are we witnessing the demise of ideology as a normative tool for change?
• To what extent can the reassertion of geo-politics in the Middle East be seen as a vindication of the neo-realist paradigm in International Relations?
• What is the trajectory of future developments in the region?
• What are the key factors driving geo-politics in the Middle East

Keynote Speakers:

• Prof. Mehran Kamrava, Center for International and Regional Studies, Georgetown University
• Prof. Amin Saikal, Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (the Middle East and Central Asia), ANU
• Prof. Gareth Stansfield, Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies, Exeter University

Abstract Submission:

If you would like to present a paper as part of this conference, please submit the following to Dr. James Barry (james.barry@deakin.edu.au) by Friday 31 July 2015:

– A title and 250 word abstract addressing one of the key questions outlined above, and a 100 word biography

Hosted by:

The Middle East Studies Forum at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, in partnership with the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore and the ANU Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (the Middle East and Central Asia).

Contact: Gemma Ross McGlynn, g.rossmcglynn@deakin.edu.au

The Woolf Institute, which specializes in the study of relations between Jews, Christians and Muslims from a multidisciplinary perspective, invites applications for its annual visiting fellowship.

The Fellowship is tenable for a two to three month period that overlaps one of the Cambridge terms 2016:
Lent term: 12 January–11 March 2016
Easter term: 19 April–10 June 2016

The successful candidate will be expected to be involved in a project of academic research, public education or of the arts in an area relevant to the Institute’s work.

The Fellow will be asked to present their work at a symposium on the subject of their project proposal.

There is no stipend attached to the Fellowships, but Fellows will be entitled to free accommodation in Cambridge and round-trip travel from their country to Cambridge. They will also have access to the Woolf Institute and Cambridge University libraries.

The Fellowship is available for a postdoctoral scholar of any academic rank, a policymaker or analyst in a relevant area of work, or an artist (writer, painter, photographer, etc.) and will most likely be asked to participate in some of the Institute’s teaching or practice-based activities. Further information about the Institute can be found at: http://www.woolf.cam.ac.uk.

A letter of application, CV, the names of two referees who may be approached, a project proposal (1,500 words max.), and a sample of work should be sent to: Electors of the Visiting Fellowship, Woolf Institute, 12-14 Grange Road, Cambridge, CB3 9DU, UK or e-mailed to Tina Steiner at bs411@cam.ac.uk.

Questions may be addressed informally to the Deputy Director, Dr Shana Cohen at sc736@cam.ac.uk.

Deadline for the submission of applications is 20 February 2015.

Prof. Jeffrey Lefebvre’s invited contribution to the H-Diplo roundtable discussion of Louise Woodroofe’s book, Buried in the Sands of the Ogaden: The United States, the Horn of Africa, and the Demise of Détente, was published online in H-Diplo Roundtable Review, volume XV, No. 29, April 7, 2014.

Also, on April 15, 2014, Prof. Lefebvre gave a presentation for the Stamford faculty colloquium series, “The Israel-Palestinian Conflict: The End of the Two-State Solution?”