CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
FIVE POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2011/2012

The Berlin-based Forum Transregionale Studien invites scholars
to apply for five postdoctoral fellowships for the research project

ZUKUNFTSPHILOLOGIE
REVISITING THE CANONS OF TEXTUAL SCHOLARSHIP

The project Zukunftsphilologie endeavors to promote and emphasise
primary textual scholarship beyond the classical humanistic canon.
In an age of advanced communication, intellectual specialisation,
and unprecedented migration of knowledge and people, the discipline
of philology assumes new relevance. Zukunftsphilologie aspires to
support research in marginalised, undocumented and displaced varieties
of philology by revisiting pre-colonial texts and scholarly traditions
in Asia, Africa, the Middle East as well as in Europe.

The title 'Zukunftsphilologie' is inspired by the 1872 polemic
between the classicist Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff and
Friedrich Nietzsche on the method and meaning of classical studies.
The project draws on recent calls for a return to philology as
particularly emphasised by Sheldon Pollock in his essay 'Future
Philology?' and the late Edward Said’s essay 'The Return to Philology'.

In order to promote historically-conscious philology, the project
will foster research in the following areas: the genealogy and
transformations of philological practice, philology’s place in
the system of knowledge (e.g. its relation to science, theology,
and jurisprudence), philology and the university, and philology
and empire. Zukunftsphilologie aims to examine the role mobility,
calamities, expulsions, and natural catastrophes play in the
dissemination and globalisation of knowledge. How does the mobility
of scholars, books, and manuscripts bring about scientific innovation
(e.g. in tenth-century Baghdad, during the European Renaissance,
or during the Ming dynasty)? What kind of knowledge systems are
also displaced by these processes of reorganisation? What trans-
formations and translations accompany such mobilisations?

In addition, Zukunftsphilologie aims to support critical reviews
of historical and philological practice. In revisiting important
philological debates, the goal is not to merely evaluate the
argumentative worth of these debates, but to reflect on the wider
cultural and political context in which these debates emerged and
how they have shaped our knowledge of the past.

The project Zukunftsphilologie is associated with and located at
the Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School for Literary Studies at
Freie Universitaet Berlin. Zukunftsphilologie is directed by
Angelika Neuwirth and Islam Dayeh (both Freie Universitaet Berlin).

CANDIDATES
The fellowships are intended primarily for scholars of Arabic,
Chinese, Hebrew, Persian, Sanskrit, Syriac, Turkish, and other
linguistic and philological traditions from Africa, Asia and Europe,
as well as for scholars of intellectual and literary history, of
comparative linguistics, philology, religion and the history of
science from outside Berlin, who wish to carry out their research
projects in the framework of the initiative Zukunftsphilologie in
Berlin. Applicants should be at the postdoctoral level and should
have obtained their doctorate within the last five years. Fellows
are given the opportunity to pursue research projects of their own
choice, provided the topic falls within the research agenda of the
project. In the overall context of the project Zukunftsphilologie,
they will participate in regular working meetings of the project
group as well as in lectures, conferences and summer and winter
academies, organised by the project and by the Forum Transregionale
Studien.

PROJECTS
Individual research projects should fall within one of the themes
of the project Zukunftsphilologie. Projects should have a comparative
perspective, whereby the plurality of textual practices, polyphonic
textuality, and the trajectories and genealogies of philological
traditions in early modernity are examined.

For the year 2011/2012, research projects focusing on intellectual
debates, polemics, correspondences, and transregional encounters
are especially welcome. A revisiting of major philological debates
will enable us to explore the significance of philology in the
cultural and political transformations beyond the modern/pre-modern
divide. Moreover, an examination of philological debates will shed
light on marginal philological traditions and undocumented
intellectual positions as well as the way in which the canonical
positions were consolidated and normalised.

FELLOWSHIPS
start October 1, 2011, and will end on July 31, 2012. Shorter
fellowship terms can be considered. Postdoctoral fellows will
receive a monthly stipend of Euro 2.250 plus supplements depending
on their personal situation. Organisational support, regarding
visa, insurances, housing, etc. will be provided. Successful
applicants will be fellows of the project Zukunftsphilologie at
the Forum Transregionale Studien and associate members of the
Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School for Literary Studies.
Through this association they will be integrated into the
Department of Philosophy and Humanities at the Freie Universitaet
Berlin and will have access to an academic milieu of literary
and philological Studies as well as to libraries and other research
facilities.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

To apply, please send the following documents in English
exclusively by e-mail as separate word or PDF files. The letter
of recommendation can be sent directly by e-mail.

- a curriculum vitae
- a project description (no longer than five pages), stating what
the scholar will work on in Berlin if granted a fellowship
- a sample of scholarly work (maximum 20 pages, article, book chapter,
conference contribution)
- a letter of recommendation from one academic faculty

The application should be submitted in English and should be
received by 17 January 2011, addressed to:

zukunftsphilologie@trafo-berlin.de

INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
The Forum Transregionale Studien is a new research platform
of the Land of Berlin designed to promote research that connects
systematic and region-specific questions in a perspective that
addresses entanglements and interactions beyond national, cultural
or regional frames. The Forum works in tandem with established
institutions and networks engaged in transregional studies and is
supported by an association of the directors of research institutes
and networks mainly based in Berlin. It started its activities in
2010 by supporting three research projects in the fields of law,
philology, and urban sociology. The Forum Transregionale Studien
is funded by the Senate of Berlin.

For more information please see
www.forum-transregionale-studien.de
http://www.geisteswissenschaften.fu-berlin.de/en/friedrichschlegel/

Forum Transregionale Studien
c/o Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin
Attn: Georges Khalil
Wallotstrasse 19
14193 Berlin
Germany
Fax: +49 30 / 89001-200