Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen Fakultät für Kulturwissenschaften Orientalisches Seminar

CEBHEM - Centre for the Economic and Business History of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East

Research fellowships

Orientalisches Seminar invites applications for two doctoral research fellowships (3 years each) to be held at the CEBHEM. Appointments will start from 01.10.2000. Remuneration corresponds to German BAT IIa/2 average salary-scale (or approximately DM 2.000 p.month net). In addition, generous travel and equipment allowances are offered.

Eligibility: ideal candidates would be outstanding graduates (minimum requirement: M.A. to be awarded in summer 2000) from the fields of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Studies or History, but also from Anthropology, Sociology, Geography or Economics, provided they have an interest in archival research. Languages required: Arabic, Ottoman-Turkish, French, Italian (for one position also Greek or Armenian). For further details contact: Rüdiger Klein.

Application: The documents to be submitted by mail include: current CV, certified copies of degrees (if applicable, otherwise transcripts), language certificates, a recent piece of written work (approx. 20 pp.), two letters of recommendation by university teachers of two relevant subjects. The complete documentation must be received by 15.06.2000. In summer 2000 up to three candidates for each of the positions will be invited for an interview. The definitive decision will be communicated by 30.07.2000 at the latest.

Research will focus, technically, on archival studies in the region and, conceptually, on processes of incorporation of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East into the world economy during the 18th-early 20th centuries. The two junior fellows will explore the fields "Incorporation, minorities and diasporas" and "Entrepreneurs and the Ottoman state". Transdisciplinary approaches in dealing with these topics are strongly encouraged.

During much of the 1st year, students will work to gain a thorough knowledge - facts, debates, methods, advanced language skills - about the selected topic. The 2nd year will be spent conducting archival research in the area, partly in private collections already identified. In the 3rd year, students are expected to compile their results leading up to the defense of their doctoral thesis. Students may apply for permission to write their thesis in a language other than German. It is recommended that supervision be conducted jointly by Orientalisches Seminar and the candidate's home institution. Junior fellows are expected to spend a minimum of two semesters in residency at Orientalisches Seminar, preferably just before and after they leave for their archival studies and to participate in the activities of CEBHEM (seminars, colloquia, lectures).

Since one of CEBHEM's scopes is to make new resources available to the scientific community, all work conducted by CEBHEM's fellows is part of a team effort: while the individual research results will be exclusively part of each junior fellow's doctoral thesis, the raw data will be made accessible to all fellows and, at a later stage, to the scientific community at large. It is with this intention in mind, that CEBHEM will be able to offer its junior fellows generous travel, equipment and photographic reproduction allowances.