The INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF ISLAM IN THE MODERN WORLD in Leiden and the Berlin-based WORKING GROUP MODERNITY AND ISLAM

invite applications to an international Summer Academy

FOR DOCTORAL AND POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHERS

The Summer Academy will be directed by Professor Martin van Bruinessen (ISIM) and Professor Altan Gokalp (Centre Marc Bloch, Berlin) and will be held in co-operation with the ‘Orient-Institut der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft’, the ‘Institut Français d’Etudes Anatoliennes’, the ‘Swedish Research Institute’, and the ‘Netherlands Historical-Archeological Institute’ in Istanbul from 3-14 September 2001, at the

YILDIZ TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, ISTANBUL

In a multidisciplinary exchange between the humanities and the social sciences, supervised by a group of internationally renowned scholars from various disciplines, 24 young scholars will be given the opportunity to present their projects and to discuss new research as well as issues of theory and methodology relevant to their field of study. Participants receive a stipend covering travel and accommodation expenses. The theme of the Summer Academy will be:

THE LOCAL PRODUCTION OF ISLAMIC KNOWLEDGE

Islam has undergone a dual process of universalization and localization with its spread through conversion and migration to a large variety of societies and cultures. Its universal message was - and continues to be - adapted to the local needs of new environments and contexts. Divergent historical trajectories have meant that each region may have distinctive practices, discourses, and infrastructures. Accelerated rates of urbanization, expanded educational opportunities, and increased use of new media contribute significantly to altering the production of Islamic knowledge. Diasporic communities in the West as well as in predominantly Muslim countries, add to the complexity of the interplay between local and transnational contexts in which Islamic knowledge is produced.

CONDITIONS OF APPLICATION

The programme addresses doctoral and postdoctoral researchers in Islamic as well as relevant area studies, history, anthropology, law and social sciences. The researchers’ work should be clearly relevant to the theme as described above. A broader outline, including subthemes, can be found on the websites of the ISIM (www.isim.nl) and the Working Group Modernity and Islam (http://www.wiko-berlin.de/Information/eakmi_i.htm). The working language of the Summer Academy is English. A completed application form (either to be requested from the secretariat of the Working Group Modernity and Islam or downloaded from the ISIM web site), accompanied by a curriculum vitae, a five-page outline of one's current research project with a brief summary thereof, and two letters of recommendation from university faculty members should be submitted, in English, by 15 January 2001 to contact address below.