[Discussion] Fellowships for the European-American Young Scholars' Summer Institute on "Secularization and Religion"

[Gonul]

Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2003 20:12:42 +0100
From: Michael BECKER <mb@wiko-berlin.de>

We would be grateful if you could circulate the enclosed announcement of
the
fellowships for the Young Scholars' Summer Institute on
"Secularization and Religion":

Fellowships for the

European-American Young Scholars' Summer Institute on

"Secularization and Religion"

2003-2004

Dates:

July 6-19, 2003, at the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and
Social
Studies, Erfurt, Germany
July 18-31, 2004, at the National Humanities Center, Research Triangle
Park,
North Carolina

Conveners: Jose Casanova (New York) and Hans Joas (Erfurt)

The program will cover the cost of travel, meals, lodging, and texts for
both
the U.S. and European meetings.
Application deadline: April 15, 2003

Full details and application are available at the following websites:

http://www.wiko-berlin.de/kolleg/projekte/eayssi/ausschreibsecrel/?hpl=2
or
at

http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us:8080/yssi/index.htm

The European-American Young Scholars' Summer Institutes are sponsored by
the
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Palo Alto, CA, the

Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, the National Humanities Center,

Research Triangle Park, the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study,
Wassenaar, the Social Science Research Council, New York, the Swedish
Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences, Uppsala, and the
Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany. This program is made
possible
by grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Alexander von
Humboldt
Foundation.

I) The Program

The European and-American Young Scholars' Summer Institutes are open to
Ph.D.
candidates and scholars who have received a Ph.D. since 1997. They are
designed to support the development of scholarly networks and
collaborative
projects among young scholars from academic institutions in the United
States
and Europe. Led by distinguished senior scholars, each institute will
accommodate twenty participants and will be built around two summer
seminars,
one held in the United States and another in Europe in consecutive
years.
Participants will present their research and collaborate on new projects
at
the seminars and between the two meetings. The program seeks to explore
theoretical, methodological and empirical issues; promote the
integration of
approaches and interpretations from various disciplines into the
participants'
research; review the state of research in an institute's field; and
identify
promising areas for further research.

II) The Institute on "Secularization and Religion"

The near consensus surrounding the dominant paradigm of secularization
within
the social sciences has recently broken down. An intense debate has now
been
raging for some time between the defenders (mainly European) of the
traditional paradigm, which structurally links the processes of
secularization
to general processes of modernization, and the proponents of a new
American
paradigm, which inversely links religious vitality to open competitive
and
pluralistic religious markets. There is an increasing recognition of the

"exceptional" character of the drastic decline of Western European
Christianity in contrast not only to the vitality of different kinds of
religion (Christian and non-Christian) in the USA, but also to the
contemporary revitalization of Christian (particularly Pentecostal) as
well as
non-Western religious traditions throughout the post-colonial world.
Moreover,
neither the traditional paradigm of secularization nor the new American
paradigm of religious markets can account persuasively for the
significant
internal variations of processes of secularization within Europe or for
the
revitalization of non-Western religious traditions throughout the world.

Contemporary Islamic revivals, for instance, are clear deviations not
only
from the orthodox model of secularization but also from the supply-side
model
of competitive religious economies.

It is time to move beyond the fruitless secularization debate between
the
"European" and "American" paradigms by adopting a more comparative
historical
global perspective. From such a perspective, the series of changes we
call
secularization evince an internal dynamic unique to a particular form of

religious regime, Western Christendom and its Catholic and Protestant
derivates, which has very few parallels in other world religions.
However,
neither the discourse of "exceptionalism" (American, European, or
Muslim) nor
the misleading invidious contrasts between the secular liberal West and
the
religious fundamentalist 'Rest' would seem to be analytically very
helpful.

This institute will serve as a forum for a critical discussion and
possible
reformulation of the theory of secularization and for innovative
research
particularly on the following areas:

a. patterns of religious decline and revitalization in different parts
of the
world and in different religious traditions,
b. trends of privatization/individualization/emotionalization of
religion,

c. the public roles of religion under contemporary conditions,

d. historical studies of the encounter of all world religions and
"modernity,"
from the Protestant Reformation to contemporary processes of
globalization.

The faculty will select participants from a wide range of disciplines
(sociology, political science, history, philosophy, anthropology,
theology,
religious studies) and will seek scholars interested in religion on a
global
scale even if their expertise is on European and North American
developments.

Faculty:
Jose Casanova, New School University, New York, USA
Hans Joas, Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies,
Erfurt,
Germany

III) Application Procedure

Applications are invited from Ph.D. candidates and recent Ph.D.s (degree

received after May 1997) studying or teaching in the United States or in

Europe whose research relates to the topics of the institutes.
Candidates
should note that in the case of both institutes they are applying for
two
summer workshops: one at the National Humanities Center in Research
Triangle
Park, NC, and another in Europe. Successful applicants will be expected
to
attend both workshops of their institute. The working language of the
institutes is English.

To apply, send the following, in English, to the appropriate address
below:

1. A completed application (forms available online)

2. A curriculum vitae

3. A statement of up to 1,000 words (not counting cited references)
detailing
current research interests and past research and writing related to the
institute topic

4. A list of not more than five background readings potentially relevant
to
all participants of the summer institute

5. One letter of recommendation

IV) Contacts:

IV-1) EUROPEAN CANDIDATES SHOULD ADDRESS QUERIES AND APPLICATIONS TO:

European-American Young Scholars' Summer Institutes
c/o Mr. Michael Becker
Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin
Wallotstrasse 19
D-14193
Berlin, Germany
Tel.: +49 30 / 89001 - 267
Fax: +49 30 / 89001 - 200
E-mail: becker@wiko-berlin.de

IV-2) U.S. CANDIDATES SHOULD ADDRESS QUERIES AND APPLICATIONS TO:

European-American Young Scholars' Summer Institutes
c/o Richard R. Schramm
Vice President for Education Programs
National Humanities Center
P.O. Box 12256
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2256 USA
Tel.: 919-549-0661
Fax: 919-990-8535
E-mail: rschramm@ga.unc.edu