The doctoral researcher should be able to demonstrate a background in Iranian history and work on urban violence in Qajar Iran, with a comparative view to the Ottoman Empire. She/He will also be asked to co-organise and participate in the joint activities of the research group.
1 DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP FOR
01/2011-12/2013 (65% TvöD)
ZMO is advertising a doctoral position for participation in an Anglo-Germancollaborative research project, sponsored by DFG and AHRB, on “UrbanViolence in the Modern Middle East”.
The main purpose of this collaborative project is to develop an
Anglo-German research group to produce original research on urban violencein the Ottoman, Arab and Iranian worlds in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The main academic objective of this project is to investigate the
emergence and different forms of public violence in selected Ottoman, Araband Iranian cities from the early 19th century to the 1960s in a wide geographical setting which stretches from Tunisia to Iran, and to
integrate the findings into discussions on urban violence which were
developed with regard to other world regions, thus contributing to a
globally comparative understanding of the phenomenon.
The historical context of this investigation is provided by processes of
Ottoman and Qajar reform in the 19th century and the consolidation of
nation states after the First World War, a period characterised by both
urbanisation and state centralisation. The central proposition of the
project is to study cities as the ‘landscapes’ of contestation between
imperial subjects and rulers on the one hand, and between citizens and
states after the First World War on the other. The aim is to develop a
coherent framework of analysis in order to understand the crucial
relationship between political and social protest, the evolution of the
urban public sphere and the physical expansion of urban centres.
The overarching themes of the project which will inform its comparative
framework are:
• manifestations of violence as the expression of changes in urban
governance and in the wider political environment with reference to both indigenous and external factors. Of relevance here is what episodes ofurban violence tell us about changes in the urban public sphere during the period of reform of the Ottoman and Qajar empires and in the age of nation states, and how these changes reflected wider trends across the region and European or western influences;
• physical and symbolic violence as a ‘ritual of power’ and a ploy for
popular and state legitimacy in the context of street politics, the
enforcement of the ‘rule of law’ through state agencies, political
propaganda, ritual performance and public ceremonial;
• relationship between episodes of violence and processes of urbanisation. In what ways do episodes of violent protest relate to the transformation of the physical landscape of the city and to changes in the specific settings of popular contestation and state action?
PREREQUISITES AND APPLICATION PROCEDURE
Applications outlining the necessary disciplinary (history, political
science) and linguistic qualifications should contain a letter of
motivation, CV, copies of the relevant university diplomas, a sample of
academic writing (e.g. parts of MA thesis) and a letter of recommendation by one university instructor. They will be reviewed immediatley, until the position is filled. The application should be submitted in paper, by fax or by E-mail in German, English or French to
Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO) Berlin
Attn: Prof. Dr. Ulrike Freitag and Dr. Nora Lafi
Subject: “Urban Violence”
Kirchweg 33, 14129
Berlin
Fax: +49 (0) 30 - 80 307-210
E-mail: zmo@rz.hu-berlin.de and nora.lafi@rz.hu-berlin.de
For information on the ZMO in Berlin please visit: www.zmo.de
The successful applicant will receive a monthly salary on the basis of
TvöD 13 (65%).