NSM

Nordisk Midtaustenbulletin
66, mars 2004

Tema:

6th Nordic Middle East conference, Copenhagen 8-10 October

The sixth Nordic conference will be held at the Danish Institute of International Studies in Copenhagen with the theme "Europe and the Middle East: an entente cordiale?". As always, we will have papers and panels that are directed towards the theme, but also general papers in Middle Eastern studies from our members; it is an open an general conference for scholars on the Middle East in the Nordic countries. However, within the theme, we think both of European influences on the Middle East, and Middle Eastern influences on Europe, in as wide a spectrum of fields, time periods, and thematic approaches as can be imagined. A full call for papers is located here: http://www.hf.uib.no/smi/nsm/cph04.html.

Among the guest speakers that have accepted so far are Anke von Kügelgen, Mark Sedgwick and Eugene Rogan. Others are being invited, so the list will get longer.

The deadline for paper proposals is 1 June (you may ignore the earlier announced deadline of 18 March). We will accept registrations even later, but cannot guarantee a place in the program in that case. The registration fee is very low, DKK 200 for students, 300 for others.

News from the Board

We held the annual board meeting in March, with the regular exchange of information from our universities, some of which we will haphazardly repeat here: In Sweden, Elie Wardini has been appointed professor in Arabic in Stockholm, and Tetz Rooke assistant prof. in Arabic in Gothenburg. Bo Utas, who took the first initiative to our Nordic Society, has retired from his post as professor in Uppsala. In Denmark, Judith Winter and Fereydun Vahman have retired in Copenhagen. Claus Pedersen has been appointed assoc. prof. in Persian. The Carsten Niebuhr institute will merge into a larger entity, which may include NIAS. In Finland, a government initiative towards the Arab world has given rise to several seminars, and an Islam exhibition is on display in Helsinki. In Norway, Albrecht Hofheinz has been appointed assoc. prof. in Oslo, Ludz Edzard prof. of Semitic studies, and Dag Tuastad asst. prof. in Middle Eastern studies. Numbers of students in Arabic and Middle Eastern studies have risen markedly, in particular in Norway, both Oslo and Bergen with their new Middle East study programs (300 students in Middle East history in Bergen), but also in Denmark and Sweden. Brynjar Lia has taken a Ph.D. in Middle East history in Oslo.

As the members will have noted, the journal Tidskrift för Mellanösternstudier has ceased publication, due to changes in personell. As this was distributed to the (paying) members of our Society, we have as a stop-gap solution instead sent out a new Norwegian journal, this also intended for the "informed public", Babylon. The issues for 2003 has recently been sent to Society members that paid fees for 2003; the 2004 issues will be sent out when published. The general assembly, which will be held in Copenhagen with the conference, will decide whether this will be a regular replacement, or if some other solution is to be found. The board also discussed various future activities of the Society, which will be brought to discussion at the general assembly in October.

The administrative work of the Society was quietly taken care of by the Secretary of the Middle East centre in Bergen, Mrs. Sylvia Liland. She retired last summer, and has been replaced, on a temporary basis, with Kjersti G. Berg, for this academic year.

New books

Vemund Aarbakke, Ethnic Rivalry and the Quest for Macedonia, 1870-1913. East European Monographs 200 pp. ISBN 0-88033-527-0

Because of its central place in the historiography of several Balkan countries, the Macedonian Question is an ideal topic for a comparative study. The value of this work is its balanced approach, drawing on Greek as well as Slavonic sources. Special attention is paid to population statistics. [Aarbakke, a specialist on Muslims in the Balkans, is a member of the Society]

Knut S. Vikør, Ei verd bygd på islam. Oversikt over Midtaustens historie . 2. utgåve, Oslo: Det norske samlaget 2004, pp. 301. ISBN: 82-521-6327-0

Ny utgåve av innføringsboka i Midtaustens historie, som kom første gong i 1993. Revidert og oppdatert til 2003.

Bergen: Førsteamanuensis i Midtausten- og Afrikahistorie

Ved Historisk institutt, Universitetet i Bergen, er det ledig ei stilling som førsteamanuensis i historie, med plikt til å undervise på alle nivå i Midtaustens og det islamske Afrikas historie. Undervisningstilbodet i Midtaustens historie inngår i det tverrfaglege Studieprogrammet i Midtaustenkunnskap der historie er ei av spesialiseringane.
I vurderinga av søkjarane blir det lagt vekt på forskingskompetanse (minst tilsvarande norsk doktorgrad) og undervisningserfaring. Forskingskompetanse i islamsk historie vil vere ein fordel. Søkjarar som i si forsking kan dokumentere bruk av arabiske kjelder, evt. kjelder på persisk og tyrkisk, vil bli foretrukne.
Undervisningsspråket er til vanleg norsk. Pedagogiske kvalifikasjonar skal tilleggjast reell vekt, og søkjarar må dokumentere sine eigne pedagogiske kvalifikasjonar.

Stillingsomtale kan ein få ved å vende seg til
Historisk institutt, Universitetet i Bergen
Sydnesplassen 7, N-5007 Bergen, Norge.
Søknadsfristen er 3. april 2004.

Call for papers: Svensk religionshistorisk årsskrift

Svensk Religionshistorisk Årsskrift (SRÅ) som ges ut av Svenska Samfundet för Religionshistorisk Forskning söker artikelförfattare. SRÅ är en vetenskaplig årsskrift med ambition att publicera nya forskningsrön, debatter och resultat från det religionshistoriska forskningsfältet. År 2004 kommer att bli ett temanummer om islam och muslimer i Europa, speciellt med fokus på de skandinaviska länderna. Längden på publicerade bidrag varierar, men vanligtvis trycker SRÅ inte artiklar längre än 25 till 30 A4 sidor. (för en presentation av tidigare nummer se http://www.ssp.nu/sra.htm). Bidragen i volymen för 2004 kan vara skrivna antingen på svenska, danska eller norska (endast undantagsvis publiceras artiklar skrivna på engelska). Deadline är satt till den 1 juli 2004, men ni som är intresserade av att medverka uppmanas att omgående kontakta Göran Larsson via e-post (se nedan). Samtliga artiklar som har blivit antagna för publicering kommer att granskas av två externa sakkunniga och artiklarna måste följa riktlinjerna för publicering i SRÅ (se nedan).

Göran Larsson, redaktör SRÅ
Institutionen för religionsvetenskap
Box 200
S-405 30 Göteborg
Sverige

Conferences

From the BRISMES & MESA newsletters & mailings.
(*): Previously announced in Eurames Info.

Knut

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Responsible for this Web page is Knut S. Vikør. Archived 25.03.04