Author Archives: Janaki

Job Opening: Lecturer in Religion, University of Otago, New Zealand

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The Religion Programme at the University of Otago, New Zealand, invites applications for a three-year, fixed-term position as Lecturer in Religion. We welcome applicants from a range of disciplines and specialties, but applicants should have research expertise that speaks to one or more of the Abrahamic religions (Islam, Judaism, and/or Christianity) and be able to demonstrate sophistication in using social-scientific and/or historical methods.  The successful candidate will teach an introductory 100-level paper on Judaism, Christianity and Islam each year, plus one or two more papers (courses) of their own design (an average of two and a half papers per year). We particularly encourage candidates whose own papers would address aspects of Islam and/or Christianity outside Europe and North America. Applicants should have an energetic and enthusiastic commitment to teaching and an active research profile.

Applicants should have completed a PhD by June 2016 and should have knowledge of languages relevant to their area of research expertise. It is hoped that duties will commence on 13 June 2016.

Further details are available from the University of Otago website at https://otago.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobdetail.ftl?lang=en&job=1501430

Specific enquiries may be directed to Dr Will Sweetman, Head of Department, Department of Theology and Religion, Tel 00 64 3 479 8793, Email will.sweetman@otago.ac.nz

Applications quoting reference number 1501430 will close on Monday, 2 November 2015.

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Job Opening: Assistant Professor, Ottoman and Turkish Studies – McGill University

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Assistant Professor, Ottoman and Turkish Studies – McGill University
McGill University, Institute of Islamic Studies
Ottoman and Turkish Studies

The Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, seeks to fill a
tenure-stream position in Ottoman and Turkish Studies. Applications are
welcome from scholars in all disciplines, who work on any aspect of the
Ottoman Empire, modern Turkey, or Turkic Central Asia. Applicants whose
research focuses on women, gender, and sexuality are especially
encouraged to apply. In general, the committee is interested in
receiving applications from scholars who adopt innovative and
theoretically informed approaches to their areas of specialization. The
ability to teach graduate-level courses using primary source material in
the original language is required; ability to contribute to the
Institute’s Ottoman/Turkish language program is desirable. Knowledge of
French is an asset. Appointment is expected to be at the rank of
Assistant Professor, but appointment at a higher rank is possible under
exceptional circumstances. Starting date: August 1, 2016.

Interested candidates should submit a letter of application and a
complete CV, and arrange for three letters of recommendation to be sent
from the referees’ institutional email accounts, to the following
website: https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/5975. Informal
inquiries may be directed to Mr. Andrew Staples, the Institute’s
Administrative Officer, at jobsearch.islamicstudies@mcgill.ca. Further
information about the Institute of Islamic Studies can be found at
www.mcgill.ca/islamicstudies/.

McGill University is committed to diversity and equity in employment. It
welcomes applications from: women, Aboriginal persons, persons with
disabilities, ethnic minorities, persons of minority sexual orientation
or gender identity, visible minorities, and others who may contribute to
diversification. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply;
however, in accordance with Canadian immigration requirements, Canadians
and permanent residents will be given priority.

Application deadline: November 15, 2015.

The post Job Opening: Assistant Professor, Ottoman and Turkish Studies – McGill University appeared first on ISA Research Committee 22.

PhD Scholarships, Islam-UK Centre, Cardiff University

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LAST CALL for 2015/16 PhD Scholarships, Islam-UK Centre, Cardiff University

We have two remaining fully-funded Jameel Scholarships on offer for our PhD programme at the Islam-UK Centre, Cardiff University.  Closing date for applications: 30th September.  These scholarships can be taken up in January, April or July 2016.  Details on how to apply are here:

http://sites.cardiff.ac.uk/islamukcentre/jameel-scholarships/

For informal enquiries, please email: jameelscholarships@cardiff.ac.uk

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Job Opening: Assistant Professor in Social Theory and Religion in Modernity – University of Alabama

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The Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of assistant professor in the area of Social Theory and Religion in Modernity beginning August 2016. At the time of hire, a Ph.D. is required; advanced ABD candidates will also be considered. The committee welcomes applications from candidates with academic training in religious studies, but will also entertain training in such related fields as cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, race studies, comparative literature, and interdisciplinary studies, as long as expertise in studying and teaching social theory as applied to the study of religion and modernity is evident. The position is a full-time appointment in Religious Studies.
The successful applicant’s area of focus/specialty will complement and enhance the research areas of the Department, in terms of both data domain and critical method. The specific topics/regions of research and teaching are open but each will demonstrate the application of social theory to understand religion’s role in modernity (being broadly conceived as a post-18th century development) The successful candidate will see her or his object of study as an example of wider, cross-cultural socio-political forces and issues. Possible sites for this kind of approach might include (but are not limited to): colonialism and postcolonialism, secularism, the Global South, formations of the modern nation-state, identity studies, liberalism, and economic theory.

Applicants should demonstrate an active and ongoing research agenda, teaching experience, and evidence of the ability to contribute to the life of an academic department in the areas of service. All faculty in REL contribute to teaching introductory courses as well as more specialized upper-level undergraduate seminars.

The University of Alabama is an Equal Employment/Equal Educational Opportunity Institution. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, genetic information, disability, or protected veteran status, and will not be discriminated against because of their protected status. Applicants to and employees of this institution are protected under Federal law from discrimination on several bases. Follow the link below to find out more.

“EEO is the Law” http://www1.eeoc.gov/employers/upload/eeoc_self_print_poster.pdf

Review of applications will begin on October 1. Applicants are required to apply online, submitting a cover letter, C.V., writing sample (upload to “other document 1” tab), and names/addresses of three references (upload to “other document 2” tab). Selected applicants will subsequently be asked to provide letters of recommendation.

For information, please contact

Professor Merinda Simmons
Chair, Modern Social Theory Search
Department of Religious Studies
212 Manly Hall
P.O. Box 870264
University of Alabama
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0264
merinda.simmons@ua.edu

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Call for book proposals on New Religious Movements

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De Gruyter Open, part of De Gruyter publishing group, invites book proposals for the new Open Access book series on New Religious Movements.

The series welcomes written or edited monographs and anthologies on New Religious Movements (NRMs) and alternative spiritualities – both empirical and theoretical with interdisciplinary approaches. Of particular interest are those that combine perspectives and methods drawn from all social sciences and humanities on the present, historical and newly emerging NRMs, as well as research methods, issues and problems, and new directions in study of NRMs. More information about the series can be found at http://degruyteropen.com/oatheologynrm/

Our Open Access Books are available through De Gruyter’s publishing platform, libraries, full text repositories and distributors such as Amazon. Each title is also offered as a print version.

Authors interested in submitting their proposals for series are asked to fill in the New Book Proposal Form (which can be found at  http://degruyteropen.com/you/book-author/subjects/theology_religious_studies/) and send it to the series editor Dr. Rasa Pranskeviciute at Rasa.Pranskeviciute@degruyteropen.com, together with a sample from the book (introduction, chapter or subchapter). Authors of ready manuscripts are welcome to attach the whole text of the book.

The proposed book should be written in English and must not have been published before in any language.

Authors interested in publishing their books without publication fees are asked to submit the book proposals by September 30, 2015.

Please feel free to forward this invitation to any interested colleagues or associates.

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Book Announcement: Claire Chambers, Britain Through Muslim Eyes

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The Muslim as a cultural category has come under increasing, most often hostile, scrutiny in Euro−America over the last four decades or so. As a result, the field of Muslim literary studies has emerged to shine a spotlight on the exciting body of literature by authors of Muslim heritage writing back to Islamophobic stereotypes. However, this academic oeuvre too often assumes that this literature is a contemporary, broadly post-9/11 phenomenon. In this important book, Claire Chambers takes a long view of depictions of Britain by writers from Muslim backgrounds. The book’s first half focuses on travel and life writing from the eighteenth to the mid twentieth centuries by authors such as Mirza Sheikh I’tesamuddin, Najaf Koolee Meerza, and Atiya Fyzee. In the second half, she trains her critical gaze on the long tradition of fictional representations, from Ahmad Fāris al-Shidyāq’s Leg Over Leg (1855) to Ahdaf Soueif’s Aisha (1983) and Abdulrazak Gurnah’s Pilgrims Way (1988). Chambers argues that the Rushdie affair has been more of a turning point on perceptions of and by Muslims in Britain than 9/11. Her next book in this two-part series, Muslim Representations of Britain, 1988−Present, will therefore start with discussion of Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses (1988) and move to examination of the long shadow this text has cast on subsequent Muslim literary representations.
 
Out now!

Britain Through Muslim Eyes: Literary Representations, 1780−1988. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan  (2015)

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Job Openings: 2 salaried PhD positions on sexuality, religion and secularism in the African Diaspora

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2 fulltime salaried PhD positions in the program “Sexuality, Religion and Secularism. Cultural encounters in the African Diaspora and the Netherlands”, carried out in cooperation between Groningen University and the University of Amsterdam, funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Deadline for applications for both positions: October 5.

Secularism, religion and ‘tradition’ in Dutch sexual health approaches, based at the department of comparative religion, Groningen University/ Centre for Religion, Conflict and the Public Domain. (subproject 1).

‘Sexual well-being and relationships among African migrants’, to be based at the anthropology department of the University of Amsterdam/AISSR (subproject 3)

The aim of the research program is to research how sexual well-being is approached from three perspectives: 1) that of (Dutch) organizations working with a sexual health approach, 2) that of religious actors in the African Diaspora and 3) the perspective of African migrants themselves. Each of these perspectives will be researched with attention to the particular cultural trajectories they are part of, emerging from sub-Sahara Africa and Europe. The research program departs from the premise that secularity is not a neutral phenomenon, but implies particular techniques of the self and particular ways of framing religion and tradition. Given the relevance of the program for various stakeholders, including the non-governmental and faith-based organizations themselves, knowledge valorization and communication about research findings to a broader audience will be important.

This program is committed to promote diversity and gender equality and we strongly encourage qualified person from minority groups to apply.

For more information on the positions and how to apply, follow the hyperlinks above. Application is only possible via the respective websites, applications via e-mail are not admissible. For more information about the research program, contact k.e.knibbe@rug.nl or r.spronk@uva.nl

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CFP: Multiculturalism in the Workplace – an International Symposium (21-22 January 2016, Singapore)

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CALL FOR PAPERS

Workplaces are key sites for everyday encounters with and negotiations over cultural difference, and as situations of ‘enforced contact’ they represent an ideal setting to explore the quality and dynamics of intercultural relationships. In particular, workplaces are now the site for global interactions and connections due to the presence of highly skilled and low skilled temporary migrants working side-by-side locals. Many people spend a considerable part of their lives at work where not only working relationships develop, but social ones as well. It is at work where many have the only opportunity to interact with those different from them on a regular basis. These are prosaic places of enforced encounter –where ethnic and racial differences are confronted and negotiated on an everyday basis. Yet the workplace is a special kind of micro-public, where the rules and codes of contemporary working cultures interplay with collegial and hierarchical relationships which in turn mediate inter-ethnic relationships. In addition to workplace cultures, and structural changes to work, media cultures and wider national discourses on migrants and ethnic groups also resonate through situated encounters with and meanings made of difference. While the importance of the workplace as providing a sense of identity, community, camaraderie, and a focus for community and social life has been well documented in literature on the sociology of work, remarkably, very little research has considered the relationship between these workplace changes and intercultural relationships in the workplace.

We invite papers that explore multicultural relations at the workplace and address one or more of the following themes:

  • Production and practices of sociality at work
  • Gendered workplace social relations
  • Religion and workplace sociality
  • Conviviality and cross-cultural friendship
  • Workplace and racial discrimination
  • Inter-cultural exchange and transformation
  • Workplace changes and intercultural relationships
  • Highly skilled and low skilled migrant workers and the workplace

Selected papers will be included in a special issue of a peer-reviewed journal.

Convenors: Selvaraj Velayutham (Macquarie University), Catherine Gomes (RMIT) .

Keynote/Plenary speakers:

 Prof. Francis Tanglao-Aguas (College of William and Mary)

A.Prof. Amanda Wise (Macquarie University)

A/Prof Daniel PS Goh (National University of Singapore)

Prof. Jonathan Tan (Case Western Reserve University)

Prof Susan Stethlik,( NYU)

Please send a title, abstract or overview of approximately 250 words, and bio  to mwp@smu.edu.sg

Abstracts due: 31 Oct 2015: Registration fee USD$100/-

Successful applicants will be notified by 15 Nov 2015

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Job Opening: Assistant/Associate Professor – Religion and Society, San Diego State University

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San Diego State University, Arts and Letters, Religious Studies
Assistant/Associate Professor: Religion and Society

Location: San Diego, CA

http://apply.interfolio.com/30156

San Diego State University’s Department of Religious Studies invites
applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of assistant or
associate professor in Religion and Society with a specialization in the
social scientific study of religion (anthropology of religion, or
sociology of religion) to begin fall semester 2016. The faculty member
will bring the methods and tools of the social sciences to researching
the contemporary nexus between religion and social issues. We seek a
specialist in an area outside the USA, including, but not limited to,
Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, Southeast
Asia, or India. The candidate must be trained in the social scientific
study of religion and should demonstrate expertise in particular areas
of study and in specific religious communities. Areas of specialization
could include racial ideology, gender and equality, environmental
theology, or other possibilities, but the primary requirement is
expertise in social science methods. The successful candidate will
combine historical and language expertise with modern social theory
using their object of study as an example of wider, cross-cultural
social forces and issues. Engagement with issues of methodology in the
academic study of religion is essential. The chosen candidate will show
promise to teach lower, upper, and cross-listed division courses, and
produce a well-planned research/scholarship agenda whose interests will
enhance existing strengths within a department known for its
interdisciplinary and comparative approaches, will participate in
professional organizations, collaborate with other departments, serve
the larger San Diego community, and complement the mission and
collegiality of the department.

SDSU is a large, diverse, urban university and Hispanic-Serving
Institution with a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusive
excellence. Our campus community is diverse in many ways, including
race, religion, color, sex, age, disability, marital status, sexual
orientation, gender identity and expression, national origin, pregnancy,
medical condition, and covered veteran status. We strive to build and
sustain a welcoming environment for all. SDSU is seeking applicants with
demonstrated experience in and/or commitment to teaching and working
effectively with individuals from diverse backgrounds and members of
underrepresented groups.

The person holding this position is considered a “mandated reporter”
under the California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act and is
required to comply with the requirements set forth in CSU Executive
Order 1083 as a condition of employment.

A background check (including a criminal records check) must be
completed satisfactorily before any candidate can be offered a position
with the CSU.

Failure to satisfactorily complete the background check may affect the
application status of applicants or continued employment of current CSU
employees who apply for the position.
Qualifications

Qualifications include demonstrated skills in teaching undergraduates.
Candidates must possess a strong commitment to teaching excellence and
demonstrate promise for continuing research and publication. A Ph.D. in
the sociology of, or anthropology of religion, must be in hand at time
of appointment.
Application Instructions

Applicants must apply via Interfolio. Applicant screening will begin
September 15, 2015 and the position will remain open until filled.
Applications will be accepted until a suitable candidate is found.

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