With this call for ideas, we invite current, incoming, and former fellows of the Merian Center for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb (MECAM), and scholars from MECAM’s partner institutions in the Maghreb and the Mashreq to explore their research questions and develop innovative ideas within the collaborative work format of a Transregional Workshop in the framework of MECAM’s guiding theme “Imagining Futures: Dealing with Disparity” and one or more of its interdisciplinary Research Fields (IRF):
- Aesthetics & Cultural Practice,
- Inequality & Mobility,
- Memory & Justice,
- Resources & Sustainability, and
- Identities & Beliefs.
MECAM’s Transregional Workshops are meant to encourage collaborative work among Fellows and Alumni of MECAM, and scholars from MECAM’s partner institutions on issues of common concern. We offer an open, flexible and non-hierarchical format, access to strong scholarly networks, and support in conceptual development and funding, while handling all practical organizational aspects, and providing secure virtual workspaces for collaboration before and after the events.
Transregional Workshops, the first is scheduled for 2024, can serve as an opportunity for the intensive debate and exploration of a particular theme or for identifying, testing, and developing new topics, methods, questions, and research projects, in a multi-disciplinary and international constellation. It is a small-scale (max. 15 participants), short-term and intensely focused event that tests the sustainability of research ideas and develops new forms of cooperation to advance the theme in question that should be related to one or more of MECAM's IRF’s. Workshops are directed by two to five conveners. They can be arranged with or without a call for applications.
The Transregional Workshops will be held in Sfax or Casablanca. They aim to delve into ideas, generate research questions, and to contribute to the research agenda of MECAM's guiding theme, "Imagining Futures: Dealing with Disparity," and its five International Research Fields (IRFs) mentioned above. They can provide a fertile ground for scholars to explore the dynamic interplay between art, culture, social disparities, memory, resources, and diverse identities in the Maghreb, the Middle East and beyond.
We are looking forward to applications that approach questions relating to one or more of the IRF’s from diverse disciplinary, local, regional angles, that contribute to knowledge production from and in the Maghreb and in neighboring regions, rather than solely focusing on one region. We encourage critical engagement with the complexities of the ongoing transformation processes.
Eligibility: MECAM’s current, incoming and former fellows and scholars from MECAM’s partner institutions in the Maghreb and the Mashreq.
Application Procedure:
- Proposals in French or in English can be handed in by one or more (up to five) MECAM Fellow(s), Alumni, or scholars from MECAM’s partner institutions in the Maghreb and the Mashreq. Please submit a CV and a 1-2 page proposal for a Transregional Workshop, explaining the originality of your idea, and how it relates to one or more of MECAM’s IRF’s and to its guiding theme “Imagining Futures – Dealing with Disparities”. We kindly ask you to submit your proposal with a suggestion of scholars you would like to invite, and a brief reference what their potential contribution may be.
- Proposals should be sent in via the secure online application platform (application.trafo-berlin.de) of the Forum Transregionale Studien by October 2, 2023, 12.30 PM CEST. Applicants will be notified of the results by mid December 2023.
- Upon acceptance of your application you will be invited to co-develop the event with the assistance of the MECAM Science Communication Coordinator at the Forum.
- The Forum and MECAM pursue an open access publication strategy and offer a scholarly publication platform (The MECAM series on the TRAFO blog) and other digital channels for the dissemination of the discussions and results of workshops.
- The organizers of the workshops must submit an evaluation report within one month of the event’s completion.
- Applicants are advised to consult the MECAM and the Forum website for information regarding themes and formats of past Workshops. You also find attached to this call the FAQs.
- Applications by email will not be considered.
- If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact MECAM's science communication coordinator at the Forum Transregionale Studien : diab@trafo-berlin.de
The Transregional Workshops are organized as a collaborative working formats of the Merian Center for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb (MECAM). MECAM is a joint initiative of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, the Université de Tunis, the Universität Leipzig, the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA) in Hamburg/Germany, the Université de Sfax/Tunisia, and the Forum Transregionale Studien. MECAM is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
