Library of Congress Fellowships on Islamic Studies

see http://www.loc.gov/loc/islamic/

The Library of Congress has established a program of residential fellowships
for postdoctoral scholars wishing to conduct research in the humanities on
globalization and Muslim societies, using the resources of the Library of
Congress.

In recent years rapid economic, political, social, and technological changes
have spread across borders and increased people's ability to communicate and
trade across continents. These changes have significantly impacted the lives
of people everywhere: their thought patterns, sense of identity, value
systems, modes of behavior, and creative expression. They have generated an
expanded sense of opportunity, especially in the economic arena, and have
also generated anxiety about the consequences. A multi-faceted cultural
concern underlies much of this anxiety: how to protect or redefine a unique
heritage in the face of global pressures; to uphold religious traditions; to
preserve one's indigenous language; to defend social institutions; and
ultimately to maintain a viable identity in the midst of a rapidly changing
global environment or how to adapt and adjust to its needs and demands.



"Globalization," the conceptual construct created to describe these changes,
is perceived differently in different parts of the world and within
individual societies. In the Muslim world it has become the fulcrum of an
intense debate. The Library of Congress wishes to focus scholarly attention
on the issues that emerge from the discourse on globalization's impact on
Muslim societies and the resulting interactions. The human impact is complex
and enormously varied. Societies with large Muslim populations stretch from
Indonesia through Asia, the Middle East, into Africa and parts of Europe.
The Koran binds these societies together even while they exhibit great
variety in history and culture and in responding to global forces.

The Library of Congress is unique in holding resources for studying the full
range of related issues, through materials published in all of these
societies in their own languages as well as through materials about them
from all over the world. These materials exist in a rich variety of formats
that include books, serials, maps, manuscripts, photographs, music, film,
sound recordings, and are now coupled with Internet resources. These
collections receive regularly current materials from the Library's field
offices in Cairo, Islamabad, Nairobi, Jakarta, and New Delhi. The expert
Library staff will guide researchers expeditiously to the materials most
germane to their studies. The staff, many of them scholars in their own
right, will facilitate the scholars' research and direct them to materials
that they otherwise might overlook.



Two to four scholars each year, funded for periods of not less than five or
more than ten months duration at the rate of $3,500 per month, will conduct
original research on the humanistic dimensions of these issues. Particularly
welcome are historical and cross-disciplinary studies of the way
intellectual issues have arisen in Muslim societies in response to
globalization. The fellows will work within the new John W. Kluge Center at
the Library of Congress, a venue where opportunities exist to use the depth
and range of nuanced research to inform the thinking of policy makers,
journalists, legislators, and diplomats as well as other scholars. Fellows
will conduct their own research, lead seminars, and participate in the
Center's intellectual life. The results of their scholarly research will
deepen the public's knowledge of contemporary Muslim cultures, thought, and
societies. Fellowship holders will receive individual research spaces,
equipped with computer access, and join in the lectures, seminars,
conferences, and other presentations that characterize the Library's
intellectual life.

APPLICANT ELIGIBILITY. Scholars who have received a terminal advanced degree
within the past seven years in the humanities, social sciences or in a
professional field such as architecture or law are eligible. Exceptions may
be made for individuals without continuous academic careers. Applicants may
be U.S. citizens or foreign nationals. Upon selection, foreign nationals
will be assisted in obtaining the appropriate visa. To meet the minimum
eligibility requirements, the degree must be formally awarded by the
deadline date.

APPLICATIONS. All application materials must be written in English. The
Fellowship application requires a research proposal (no longer than three
single-spaced pages) and one paragraph summary, a two-page curriculum vitae
which should indicate major prior scholarship; and three letters of
reference (in English) from people who know the quality of the applicant's
scholarship. In the research proposal, applicants should indicate the
collections of the Library of Congress that will be used for research.

Application deadline: September 15, 2002

Contact: Rockefeller Islamic Fellowships, Office of Scholarly Programs,
Library of Congress LJ 120, 101 Independence Avenue, SE, Washington D.C.
20540-4860; tel. 202.707.3302; fax 202.707.3595; email <[email protected]>