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Friday, January 21, 2011

Fw: H-ASIA: CFA History, Identity & Religion in Contemp. Central Eurasia, summer school, ADI Univ of Copenhagen, 4-15 July 2011

----- Original Message -----
From: "Frank Conlon" <conlon@U.WASHINGTON.EDU>
To: <H-ASIA@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, January 22, 2011 1:42 AM
Subject: H-ASIA: CFA History, Identity & Religion in Contemp. Central
Eurasia, summer school, ADI Univ of Copenhagen, 4-15 July 2011


> H-ASIA
> January 21, 2011
>
> Call for applications: Summer School on "History, Identity and Religion in
> Contemporary Central Eurasia, University of Copenhagen, Asian Development
> Initiative, July 4-15, 2011
> ***********************************************************************
> From: H-Net Announcements <announce@MAIL.H-NET.MSU.EDU>
>
> Call for Applications: Summer School on "History, Identity and Religion in
> Contemporary Central Eurasia"
>
> Location: Denmark
> Call for Papers Date: 2011-03-20
> Date Submitted: 2011-01-17
> Announcement ID: 182172
>
> The Asian Dynamics Initiative (ADI) of the University of Copenhagen
> invites applications for a summer school on History, Identity and Religion
> in Contemporary Central Eurasia to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark,
> 04.07.2011 15.07.2011
>
> Organized within the framework of the cross-faculty Asian Dynamics
> Initiative at the University of Copenhagen, this summer school is designed
> as an interdisciplinary event to provide students unfamiliar with the
> region with introductory courses into the societies, polities and cultures
> of contemporary Central Eurasia. It will also offer students who already
> have some knowledge of the region a deeper insight into ongoing academic
> research and discussions of the post-Soviet independent states,
> Afghanistan, Mongolia and Xinjiang. All participants will learn to situate
> their studies in the context of international scholarship and receive
> assistance in identifying new directions for further, independent work.
>
> Both the definition and the naming of the vast, landlocked area that
> stretches from the Caspian Sea to Xinjiang and Mongolia in the East, and
> from the southern parts of Siberia to Iran and Afghanistan in the south,
> remain problematic, imprecise and arbitrary; but in spite of the inherent
> ambiguities, enough shared features can be identified which lend this
> space a certain sense of unity. In opting for the designation Central
> Eurasia we join a growing trend that seeks to transcend the artificial
> distinction between Europe and Asia - a divide still implicit in
> terminology such as Central Asia or Inner Asia. The term Central Eurasia
> does justice to the continuous and complex interactions taking place along
> its famous trade routes, retrospectively named the Silk Routes by the
> German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen, which allowed for a lively,
> two-directional exchange of goods, technologies and ideas between the
> great agrarian empires of East and West Eurasia. In the late nineteenth
> century, the region was the stage for political rivalry and conflict
> between the great colonial powers Russia and Great Britain that became
> known as the Great Game`. Following incorporation into the Russian Empire
> and its successor the Soviet Union, much of Central Eurasia became
> inaccessible to foreign researchers for over 70 years. The fall of the
> Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of the new
> independent -stan states at the end of the twentieth century opened up new
> possibilities both for the ethnographic study of contemporary Central
> Eurasia and for archival research into its history.
>
> The intensification of knowledge production about the region is not just a
> matter of making good a scholarly deficit. It is of great urgency on
> account of Central Eurasias geostrategic, economic and political
> significance. A source of enormous commercial and energy potential, most
> of the region has long belonged to the Islamic world. Safeguarding
> internal stability is therefore of paramount interest to numerous global
> actors, including not only China, Russia and the US but also India and
> several Middle Eastern states, all of which seek to exert their influence
> there. Yet the civil war in Tajikistan, the chronic fragility of
> Afghanistan and outbreaks of horrific violence in Uzbekistan, Xinjiang and
> Kyrgyzstan in recent years have all served to highlight the regions
> volatility. Meanwhile authoritarian regimes give human rights activists
> cause for concern, e.g. when they invoke the threat of Islamic terrorism
> to legitimate their repression. As the peoples of Central Eurasia grapple
> with formidable new challenges of state building in the modernized, global
> world, their weak economies render them vulnerable players in the great
> and small games informed by post-colonialism, post-socialism and the
> international war on terror. Students will be initiated into ongoing
> scholarly debates on current issues in various disciplines of the
> humanities and the social sciences, while at the same time acquiring
> specialized regional knowledge with a strong historical dimension. Courses
> will emphasize micro-macro links, showing how local moments can
> simultaneously be grasped as transnational phenomena embedded in the
> broader Eurasian and global context. MA and BA students will be given an
> opportunity to present and discuss their dissertation topics. Priority
> will be given to the following topics:
>
> 1. processes of identity building, ethnicity and citizenship
>
> 2. state formation and state building, borders, regionalism and
> territoriality
>
> 3. the entanglement of the religious, the cultural and the political
>
> The combination of regional expertise with disciplinary perspectives
> reflects the profile of both the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional
> Studies and the Asian Dynamics Initiative and it is consistent with the
> goals of other leading academic institutions worldwide. The summer school
> is conceived as a first step towards re-establishing and strengthening
> Central Asian Studies at the University of Copenhagen.
> Practical information:
>
> 1. Eligibility
>
> The Summer School is open to all applicants registered as students at BA
> (second or third year), MA or PhD level who attend courses in area
> studies, or in any discipline within the social sciences or the
> humanities, who feel that they would benefit from familiarizing themselves
> with ongoing scholarly research on Central Eurasia.
>
> 2. Finances
> There is no tuition fee. Participants are expected to cover their own
> travel expenses, accommodation in Copenhagen and maintenance. (Many
> universities have special funds available for such purposes and
> prospective applicants are encouraged to contact their International
> Office).
>
> The Asian Dynamics Initiative has a limited number of grants available (up
> to 10,000 DKK per person) to contribute to the travel and maintenance
> expenses of well-qualified students who are unable to obtain funding from
> elsewhere.
>
> 3. Credit Points
>
> Students who attend and complete this summer school will obtain 15 ECTS.
> In addition to active participation in all events of the summer school,
> students are required to submit a written paper in the autumn following
> the summer school.
>
> 4. Language
> The working language of the Summer School is English.
>
> 5. How to apply:
>
> Applicants should send:
> - a statement explaining their motivation (no more than half a page)
> - a CV
> - details of academic affiliation
> - transcripts of grades of university career so far
> - two letters of recommendation from the supervisors/academic advisors (if
> students are applying for financial support from the Asian Dynamics
> Initiative, their financial needs should also be honestly assessed in this
> letter, which will be treated confidentially). Referees are also asked to
> comment on the English skills of the student (if not a native speaker).
>
> Ildiko Beller-Hann
> University of Copenhagen
> Snorresgade 17-19
> DK- 2300 Copenhagen S
> Denmark
> Email: ildiko@hum.ku.dk
>
> Visit the website at http://asiandynamics.ku.dk/english
>
>
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