[URBANTH-L]Fellowship: The Question of the West (Rutgers)

[Angela Jancius]

Fellowship: The Question of the West

Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis invites applications for senior and 
post-doctoral resident fellowships, to be held during the academic year 
2007-2008, from individuals engaged in research on topics related to: The 
Question of the West The idea of "the West" animates contemporary public 
discourse. Politicians and journalists deploy it for polemical purposes, 
conjuring up a "clash of civilizations" occurring along an East-West divide. 
This seminar aims to restore critical consciousness to current debates by 
exploring the epistemological status of "the West" from a variety of 
perspectives. We recognize that from many historical, geographical, and 
cultural vantages, "the West" may not exist at all as a meaningful referent, 
or it may exist as a popular fantasy or ideological construction. Yet 
however evanescent "the West" may be as a geographical location, however 
spurious its claims to constitute "civilization" or to be the source of 
"universal" values, the consequences of the idea of the West have been 
profound and lasting. Imperial fictions demand sustained critical attention, 
especially when their impact is more than merely fictional. In 2007-2008, 
the second and final year of this project, the seminar will continue to 
address both historical issues and contemporary debates, exploring the 
significance of an East-West divide in modern thought, ideological uses of 
universalist claims, relationships between narratives of civilization and 
imperial policies, non-Western alternatives to Western metaphorical mapping, 
and related topics. We invite scholars from various disciplines, both within 
and outside the Western academy, to join a wide-ranging discussion of 
history, economic, politics, geography, cartography, literature, and the 
arts. Applicants need not be U.S. citizens. AA/EOE.

Contact Information:
Professors Ann Fabian and Jackson Lears
Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis, Rutgers--The State University of NJ
88 College Avenue
New Brunswick NJ 08901 U.S.A.
Email: rcha at rci.rutgers.edu
URL http://rcha.rutgers.edu