Deadline for applications: Tuesday, 30th November 2021 at midnight GMT
Aims
This is a cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional seminar series which aims to bring together a diverse body of early career researchers (postdoctoral, PhD candidates, and advanced masters) working on the politics of the Middle East. It addresses the need for early career researchers studying this region to have a forum where they can: (1) present their work and receive feedback from peers and more senior academics in the field, (2) engage with contemporary research designs and theoretical debates, and (3) develop cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional relationships to facilitate further collaborations, particularly across geographic borders. More widely, the series will strengthen the regional knowledge and analytic skills of early career researchers.
Building on the success of last year, the 2022 Series seeks to recruit up to 20 presenters whose work makes original theoretical and empirical contributions to the production of knowledge on the politics of the Middle East. Although there are constraints on the number of presenters, we are keen to include as many participants as possible in the seminar series. Applicants not accepted as presenters will be invited to participate as members of the audience.
Themes
The themes of interest include, but are by no means limited to:
- Coloniality, decoloniality, postcolonialism and anticolonialism
- War, conflict, and political violence
- Resistance, revolution, and regime change
- Authoritarianism, authoritarian resilience, and hybrid regimes
- Citizenship, foreignness, and alienation
- Race and racism
- Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and minority religions
- Queer, LGBT, and gender studies
- Culture, identity, and nation-building
- Sovereignty, independence, and the fragile state
- Neoliberalism, World Bank and IMF, and international political economy
- Alternative and indigenous theories of and/or from the Middle East
- Innovative methods of research and fieldwork
- Informal politics, resistance, resilience
Programme and Structure
The series runs over a period of 12 months starting from January 2022 usually meeting on the last Monday of each month. It meets monthly for a two-hour session with the exception of the opening session, which will be longer to allow for introductions. In line with the academic calendar, we will not hold sessions in July or August. All events will be held online and papers will be circulated at least one week prior to each session.
Participants are expected to attend every session and are required to read the papers being presented in advance and prepare questions and comments. As the intention of the seminar series is to foster meaningful and rigorous dialogue and forge long-term linkages between early career researchers, we would like to stress the importance of commitment from participants. If you feel your attendance throughout the full year will not be possible, please do not apply to present, but attend as an audience member.
Standard sessions
In the ten standard sessions, two participants will present a piece of work-in-progress (8,000-12,000 words of a thesis chapter, book chapter, journal manuscript, book proposal etc.) to the group. Participants will be paired on the basis of complementary thematic, geographic or disciplinary concerns.
Each presenter will invite an academic of their choice to act as discussant. It is your responsibility to organise a discussant and send your paper to them in advance of the session. Organisers will be on hand to advise the presenters in arranging discussants.
Each presenter is allocated one hour, and all participants are expected to have read the papers in advance. Presenters will provide a 10 minute presentation, followed by 20 minutes of feedback from the discussant, finishing with a 30 minute Q&A with the seminar participants.
Presenters are also encouraged to invite their supervisors and colleagues interested in their work.
Non-standard sessions
We are committed to our participants’ intellectual and professional development. We will therefore also run writing retreats and special sessions that will be organised ad hoc throughout the year and are keen to gather and accommodate requests for sessions that will be of interest to the group. We will also be organising workshops and master-classes in coordination with the seminar participants, hopefully hosted by other institutions.
Application
We accept applications from early career researchers in any discipline across the social sciences and humanities.
Applications should include:
- A short bio (name, professional title or status, thesis title, and keywords that describe your research interests)
- ● A short statement of interest indicating how you will benefit from participation and an acknowledgement of your commitment throughout the full year (150 words)
- Abstract of the work-in-progress you plan to present (250 words)
Please send your application via this form: https://forms.gle/3Ae3SkG6gdLJVvyt9
***Applications will only be accepted through this form.***
The deadline for applications is Tuesday, 30th November 2021 at midnight GMT
If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at pome.seminarseries@gmail.com.
Notifications of acceptance will be sent in December and the first session is to be held in late January 2022.
Organisers*
Dina Hosni (Frankfurt Goethe/American University in Cairo)
Hannah Owens (Queen Mary)
Rasmieyh Abdelnabi (George Mason University)
*We are looking for individuals to join our organising committee. Tasks include running sessions and handling administrative issues collaboratively. We are looking for three people. If you are interested please email us at pome.seminarseries@gmail.com.
