Doctoral scholarships: Graduate college "Religious Non-conformism and Cultural Dynamics"

Doctoral scholarships: Graduate college "Religious Non-conformism andCultural Dynamics"

University of Leipzig.
Deadline: 10 January 2010

The graduate college "Religious Non-conformism and Cultural Dynamics"will award 5 doctoral scholarships for a period of three years,beginning on 1 April 2010.
The college conducts research on religious non-conformism in variousregional and temporal contexts. The central thesis is that religiousnon-conformism is an essential element of the religious field and apotential resource of alternative meaning and orientation, constitutingan element of cultural tension and dynamics.

The project is arranged along three lines of interest:
(1) The tension between religious non-conformism and conformity, i.e.the dominant forms of (religious) orientations and ways of life.
(2) The innovative potential and the transforming dynamics of religiousnon-conformism.
(3) The social structure, the interconnectedness, and the societalposition of nonconformist groups and milieus.

The college places the study of religious non-conformism in an interdisciplinary and comparative context. The fields of research include Study of Religions, Sociology of Religion, African Studies, OldTestament / Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Arabic / Islamic Studies, History, Indology, Jewish Studies, Church History, Tibetology, EastAsian Religions.

We are looking for candidates from within and outside Germany with anabove-average degree. Their dissertation project must deal withreligious non-conformism in one of the fields named above. The languages of the college will be German and English. Candidates with insufficient German whose projects are chosen for the college can in addition obtaina scholarship for linguistic training.

Applicants will normally be no older than 28. (But time spent rearing children, as well as national service etc. may be taken into account.) Those given a scholarship must undertake to live in Leipzig.

The University of Leipzig aims to raise the proportion of women and therefore calls upon women to apply. Handicapped people with equal qualifications will be given preference.

Applications (in German or English) should include:
- a covering letter
- a curriculum vitae and copies of certificates
- a list of publications (if any)
- a letter from an academic referee
- a description of the research project, max. 10 pages, with time plan
- a specimen of written work (e.g. Master's thesis.

Please send these in electronic form (as pdf files) to:
nonkonformismus@uni-leipzig.de
Universitat Leipzig Graduiertenkolleg "Religioser Nonkonformismus und kulturelle Dynamik"Klostergasse 3D-04109 Leipzig