1.) 2 DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPs FOR 2011/2013
(65% TvöD)
ZMO is advertising two doctoral positions for participation in an Anglo-German collaborative research project, sponsored by DFG and AHRB, on “Urban Violence 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 violence in 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, Arab and 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 of urban 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?

One of the doctoral researchers 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, while the second will be asked to investigate urban resistance in Saudi Arabia between the 1920s and 60s. Both researchers will also be asked to co-organise and participate in the joint activities of the research group.

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
from October 10, 2010, until the positions are 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 applicants will receive a monthly salary on the basis of TvöD 13 (65%).

<http://www.zmo.de/Ausschreibungen/Call_PostDoc_UrbanViolence_2011.pdf>

2.) 1 POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP FOR
2011/2014 (2/3time)
Conditional upon approval by BMBF, Zentrum Moderner Orient (Berlin) invites scholars to apply for one post-doctoral fellowship (part time) for the programme ‘Invisible Frontiers in Post-Ottoman Cities: Edirne-Niṣ’

This post-doctoral position, while based at ZMO, will be also member of the research programme ‘Phantomgrenzen in Ostmitteleuropa’, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

It seeks to rethink key concepts of invisible frontiers in Europe. The
project draws on the international expertise of scholars in and outside of Germany and is embedded in university and extra-university research institutions in Berlin (ZMO, CMB, HU) and Halle (MPI, MLU).

The program puts forward three programmatic ideas:
1) supporting research that demonstrates the possibility to work in
comparative persperctives in urban history
2) reexamining the notion of invisible urban frontiers
3) rethinking key concepts of post-Ottoman cities.

PREREQUISITES AND APPLICATION PROCEDURE
The fellowship is intended above all for Ottomanists working on
Balkan urban history and interested in a comparison between the
post-Ottoman history of the cities of Niş and Edirne. They should
have a sound research and linguistic background relevant for either
of these two cities, and be prepared to engage with the scholarship
on the other for comparative purposes.
Applications outlining these qualifications should also contain a
curriculum vitae, a 2 to 4 pages project sketch, a sample of scholarly work (maximum 20 pages from an article, conference paper, or dissertation chapter) and a letter of recommendation by one university instructor. They will bereviewed from October 5, 2010, 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
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 a receive a monthly salary on the basis of TvöD 13 (2/3).

<http://www.zmo.de/Ausschreibungen/Call_PostDoc_2010.pdf>