Minutes, October 2013

Informal meeting, Middle East Studies Association, Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, October 12, 2013.

The Middle East Sociology Working Group and the Sociology of Islam group again held a joint luncheon, this time at SoBou in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Unlike last summer’s meeting a crowded deli in New York, we were able to occupy several tables in our own corner of the restaurant, allowing for lively conversation lasting even beyond the scheduled 75 minutes. 25 participants joined in the lunch, including 12 graduate students.

In addition to socializing and meeting colleagues with overlapping research interests, the main disciplinary accomplishment discussed at the luncheon was the announcement of fellowship programs for sociologists and other social scientists at Arab universities, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Among the universities that have announced open competitions for these fellowships:

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (deadline: January 1, 2014).
Harvard Kennedy School-Carnegie Corporation Centennial Fellowships for Social Scientists of the Arab Region (deadline: January 1, 2014).
University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.

These and other postdoctoral fellowships and faculty positions are listed at the jobs page of the Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations.