NSM

Nordisk Midtaustenbulletin
43, januar-februar 1999

Tema:

Nytt frå Selskapet

Det nye styret i NSM møttes før jul og diskuterte planar for den kommande perioden. Det viktigaste her er seminar eller workshops. Vi planlegg ein eit didaktisk seminar om islam-undervisning, samtidig som "gender"-nettverket som er blitt oppretta med nament 'Halima' planlegg eit Ph.D.-kurs. Selskapet vil støtte dette, som ein vil prøve å gjere til eit nordisk forskarkurs; det vil trulig komme meir om dette frå Halima.

Styret vedtok, som tidligare, å gi ut ei bok frå Oslo-konferansen. Ordføraren og sekretæren er påsatt til å redigere denne, og arbeidet med dette er igang, i beste fall kan denne komme ut i slutten av 1999. Av meir praktiske ting vedtok Styret også å fortsette den "rabattordninga" for medlemspengar som vi tidligare har hatt: Den som betaler for tre år om gongen betaler ein sum tilsvarande to og ein halv kontingent. Sidan kontingenten nå er 160 kr, blir det altså kr. 400 for tre år, dette inkluderer abonnement for Tidskrift för Mellanösternstudiar. Det har ikkje komme noe nummer av TfMÖ sidan Oslo-konferansen, men nr 2/1998 bør vere på trappane. Medlemmer av NSM vil få meir om dette, med kontingentpåminning for 1999, i papirpost om ikkje lenge.

EURAMES Conference 1999: Gent

The main story in this bulletin is that the third EURAMES conference will take place this autumn, 27-29 September 1999. After the initial plan last year, it has taken some time to get the process going, and in the process, it was moved from the planned location of Leuwen to Gent. However, it has now been taken into hand by the Center for Third World Studies, University of Ghent, Belgium. The organizer is a scholar of Norwegian descent! Christopher Parker (you can write to him in Norwegian, if you so care, he says).

This is an open conference, which accepts papers or workshops in any field of Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, as previous Eurames (or similar Nordic or MESA) conferences. While it is the third in which Eurames is involved, it is actually the first that is purely European, the earlier ones were organized in conjunction with, and partly overwhelmed by, the national French or British conferences. This one in Gent is only European.

The announcement comes late, but the operate with a deadline as late as 1 June, so there should still be ample time to make preparations. Since Gent is fairly close to our region on the larger scale of things, I hope that the Nordic colleagues will turn up in numbers for this international gathering.

Call for papers

The organizing committee will consider abstracts of proposed presentations from all disciplines related to the study of the historical and contemporary Middle East, North Africa, and the Islamic World. Abstracts should be no longer than 150 words. At the top of the page, please categorize the topic/issue under examination using one word or concept to describe 1) the specific geographic area of research, 2) the discipline of the research, and 3) issue/theme raised by the work to be presented. This will ensure that abstracts arrive as quickly as possible in the hands of the relevant person on the workshop organization committee. We strongly encourage participants to organize their own workshops in advance of registration, and to send in a collective abstract as a proposal for a pre-arranged workshop.

Abstracts must also include the name, affiliation, and contact information (including email) of the potential participant, and the language of the presentation (English and French are the official languages of EURAMES.)

Abstracts will be considered until a deadline of 1 June, 1999. We will do our best to consider late submissions, but will not guarantee a timely review, nor a hotel reservation, for would-be participants whose abstracts arrive after this date.

Conference activities will make use of the facilities of the Department of Law, and the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Ghent.

More detail, with information about the various registration and acomodation offerings, can be found at the Eurames website:
http://www.hf.uib.no/smi/eurames
Contact the organizer at: christopher.parker@ping.be

New Books

Transformations of Middle Eastern Natural Environments: Legacies and Lessons., ed. by J. Albert, M. Bernhardsson, and R. Kenna. Yale 1998. Published as Bulletin 103 of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies Bulletin Series.. 498 pp., 16 color illustrations, paper. $35.00.

An interdisciplinary volume on historical developments, present predicaments, and future prospects for Middle Eastern environments. Based on November 1997 conference sponsored by the Council on Middle East Studies at Yale University, Abbas Amanat, Chair. The editor Magnus Bernhardsson is a member of the Society. Among contributors are also Peter Christensen of Copenhagen University.

To order, see www.yale.edu/forestry/publications, or send check or money order in $US (payable to Yale F&ES Bulletin Series) to: F&ES Bulletin Series, 205 Prospect Street New Haven, CT 06511 USA. Please indicate name, address, name of volume, and quantity. Price including shipping and handling. For more information, jane.coppock@yale.edu (Bulletin Series editor) or magnus.bernhardsson@yale.edu

War on the Savannah. The military collapse of the Sokoto caliphate under the invasion of the British empire, 1897-1903 . Risto Marjomaa. Helsinki: The Finnish Academy of science and letters 1998. 305 pp.

This books offers a perspective to the evolution of warfare during the 18th century by analysing a single war. In 1897-1902, the British empire conquered the Sokoto caliphate, one of the last independent African states in modern Northern Nigeria. The low level of military effort required from the British and the incapability of the Caliphate to adapt to new circumstances reflects well the fundamental changes in warfare that led to European world domination. [The publishers blurb]

Professorship in Arabic and Islamic Studies, Helsinki

The University of Helsinki, Finland, invites applications for the Professorship in Arabic and Islamic Studies. The relevant field of teaching of the Professorship in Arabic and Islamic Studies is the Arabic language in its written and spoken forms, and research on the culture of this language area. In cultural studies special emphasis will be on Islamic studies.

Written application should be addressed to the Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki, and sent to the Registrar of the University,
PO Box 33, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland,
fax +358-9-19122527.
The closing date for the application is March 3, 1999 (by 3.45 p.m.). Appendages to the application can be sent also after this date to the Faculty of Arts, PO Box 3, FIN-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.

Instructions for appointments of the professorship in question can be obtained on request from the Faculty Office,
Ms Leena Barros (tel. +358-9-191 22349, fax +3589-191 23100, leena.barros@helsinki.fi
Informal enquiries may be made to Mr. Harry Halén (tel. +358-9-191 22224 fax +358-9-191 22094, harry.halen@helsinki.fi )

Congress of Samaritan Studies, Helsinki

From Haseeb Shehadeh, Helsinki
We are pleased to announce that the 5th international congress of Samaritan studies will take place in Helsinki 1-4 August 2000. Participation should be indicated before the end of March 1999. The fee is USD 50. A title for paper is requested by the autumn of 1999.
Contact haseeb.shehadeh@helsinki.fi
or fax +358-9-191 22094
Institute for Asian and African Studies, JP 59 (Unioninkatu 38B),
FIN 00014 Helsinki, Finland.

Oil & Gas in the Middle East and Latin America

[Included here because of the Eurames invitation!]

Graduate Seminar, Saturday 24 April 1999
St Antony's College, Oxford, UK

On Saturday 24 April 1999 the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies will hold an intensive one-day seminar for graduate students meant as an introduction to the world petroleum market and the political economy of oil-producing countries in the Middle East and Latin America. The seminar will take place from 9.30 to 17.30 at St Antony's College in Oxford. Members of EURAMES who expect to be in the UK at this time are cordially invited to participate.

Conducted by senior Institute fellows, the seminar is expressly designed for non-energy specialists who want to learn the fundamentals of oil. The first half of the programme will familiarise participants with the main features of the world oil market. The second half focuses on the political economy of oil-producing countries from a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective, taking as case studies individual states in the Middle East and Latin America. Advance registration is required by 15 April 1999 and there is a registration fee of five pounds. For further information or to register please contact Kevin Rosser at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (energy@sable.ox.ac.uk).

Conferences

From MESA, DAVO, Furqan newsletters and email.

Tübingen: Research fellowships

Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen (Germany), Orientalisches Seminar. Four doctoral research fellowships at the "Centre for the Economic and Business History of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East (CEBHEM)" (2x3 years, starting 1.10.1999 and 1.10.2000; ca. DM 2.000 pcm net + generous travel).

Eligibility: outstanding graduates (min.: M.A.) from the fields of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Studies, History, as well as Anthropology, Sociology, Geography or Economics (with a proven interest in history). Languages required: Arabic, (Ottoman-)Turkish, French, Italian (for 2 positions in combination with Greek or Armenian).
Research will focus, technically, on archival work in the region and , conceptually, on processes of incorporation in the 18th-early 20th centuries, more specifically on: 1) & 2) "Incorporation, minorities and diasporas", 3) "Commercialisation of agriculture" and 4) "Entrepreneurs and the Ottoman state". Transdisciplinary approaches in dealing with these topics are strongly encouraged. It is recommended that supervision be conducted jointly by "Orientalisches Seminar" and the candidate's home institution; however a min. of 2 semesters should be spent at Tübingen.

Application: More detailed information on the research topics should be requested in writing from CEBHEM. Contact:
Rüdiger Klein, Orientalisches Seminar, Eberhard-Karls-Universität, Münzgasse 30, D-72070 Tübingen, Fed.Rep. of Germany.
ruediger.klein@uni-tuebingen.de

Having studied the documentation, applicants will then submit a 4-page critical comment on the topics they are interested in, together with their personal file (current CV, certified copies of degrees, language certificates, a recent piece of written work of not more than 20 pages, 2 letters of recommendation by university teachers of 2 relevant subjects). The "comment" and file must be sent by mail; faxes and e-mail are not accepted. The complete documentation must be received by 1 May 1999. In early summer 1999 up to three candidates for each of the positions will be invited for an interview. The definitive decision will be communicated by 30.7.1999 at the latest.

Job offers

Like previously, I only include the title and a reference to the description either at the H-Net Job guide, from where much of the information is collected, or to a local page for offers received by email:
http://www.hf.uib.no/smi/nsm/NMB43j.html

American University in Cairo
Library: University Archivist [23.11.98]

American University of Sharjah
Arabic [23.11.98]

American University, D.C.
Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies [11.1.99]
(2nd reference)

Center for African Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Assistant Director, Center for African Studies [22.2.99]

Colgate University / Hamilton College, New York
Islamic Religion and Culture [7.12.98]

East Stroudsburg University
Assistant Professor, Non-Western History [11.1.99]

Georgia, University of
Arabic and Islamic Studies [24.1.99]
(2. reference)

Goshen College
World history : Middle Eastern or Asian history. [23.11.98]

Hanover College
Middle-Eastern history, anthropology, pol. sci., religion [11.12.98]

Helsinki, University of
Professorship in Arabic and Islamic Studies [8.2.99]

Hiram College, Ohio
Religion: Islam [11.1.99]

Lebanese American University
Vice President for Development [30.11.98]

New York, State University of - Albany
(Visiting) Assistant Professor/Lecturer, Africana Studies [22.2.99]

Ohio State University - Mansfield
Assistant Professor, African Studies [22.2.99]

Truman State University, Missouri
Islamic Studies / Jewish Studies [7.12.98]

Wales, University of - Lampeter
Chair in Islamic Studies [13.2.99]

Western Michigan University
Asian & Middle Eastern Languages [30.11.98]

Wisconsin, University of - Madison
History of Islam / Anthropology of Islam [28.1.99]

Wisconsin, University of
Professor, any rank, History of Islam, 1500-present [1.2.99]

[Click here for further job lists]
Knut

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Responsible for this Web page is Knut S. Vikør. Archived 25.2.99