*CALL FOR APPLICATIONS*

ANNOUNCING A DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP FOR PERIOD OF:
01/2011-12/2013 (65% TvöD)

ZMO is advertising a doctoral position 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?

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. The successful applicant will
receive a monthly salary on the basis of TvöD 13 (65%).

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 immediately, 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: [log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask]

For information on the ZMO in Berlin please visit: www.zmo.de



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Kevin M. DeJesus
PhD Candidate (ABD)
Department of Geography
York University
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