Deadline for application submission to theAmerican Institute for Maghrib Studies / Centre d’Études Maghrébines à Tunis (AIMS-CEMAT) is

January 31, 2012

Required Documents

1. Application Form
2. Project Description, 1500 words maximum
3. One Letter of Recommendation
4. Curriculum Vitae, 3 pages maximum

Purpose: This program of research fellowships and seminars will serve to build cooperative networks among scholars from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, Turkey, and Yemen whose research and professional interests focus on art history. The program will draw on the resources, facilities, and contacts of American overseas research centers located in Algeria and Turkey to enable the recipients to further their research and to build professional networks in and among the host countries.

The fellowships are intended to serve scholars who are citizens of participating countries* and who have already obtained a Ph.D. or have professional experience in the in the field of art history and who wish to undertake a specific research project in Algeria or Turkey related to the seminar theme: Art and Archaeology of the Sacred in Algeria or Vision andVisual Culture in Byzantium in Turkey. Approximately ten fellows total will be selected – five to conduct research in Algeria and five to conduct research in Turkey.

* Participating countries include: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, Turkey, and Yemen. Please note: Algerian scholars may apply onlyfor the fellowship in Turkey and Turkish scholars may apply onlyfor the fellowship in Algeria.

Award: Getty Research Exchange Fellows will receive a travel and living expense stipend of $7,500. The fellowship tenure will be June 9 to July 16, 2012, including an opening and closing seminar. A final report in English is due no later than September 17, 2012. Notification of fellowship status will be made available to each applicant via email by April 16, 2012.

Selection Process:Tunisianscholars must apply through AIMS-CEMAT. Fellowship applicants will submit their research grant applications directly toAIMS-CEMAT, which will in turn forward them, with comments, to CAORC. Fellows will be selected by an appropriate scholarly review panel appointed by CAORC and will be judged on the scholarly significance of their proposal and its importance to understanding the focus region and seminar theme; the potential value of any collaboration proposed; the feasibility of the research design; the applicant’s research background; and quality of reference letter. CAORC will inform the applicants via email by April 16, 2012.

Fellowship Locations: Applicants may apply to go to Algeria or Turkey.

Art and Archaeology of the Sacred

Oran, Algeria | 9 June – 16 July 2012

Fellows should plan to arrive in Oran no later than 9 June 2012 and depart no earlier than 16 July 2012. The fellowship tenure is comprised of three sections:

1. 1.Opening Seminar, 10-11 June 2012: Fellows will gather with scholars from the Algerian academic community at an opening seminar.
2. 2.Independent Research, 12 June – 14 July 2012: Fellows will conduct independent research as describedin their application. Research projects should relate to the seminar theme of Art and Archaeology of the Sacred.
3. 3.Closing Seminar: 15 July 2012: Fellows will reconvene to share their preliminary findings from their research.

Vision and Visual Culture in Byzantium

Istanbul, Turkey | 9 June – 16 July 2012

Byzantium was a profoundly visual culture, which has left us some of the singular monuments from the history of art and architecture, such as Hagia Sophia or the Chora Monastery.  The purpose of the seminar is to investigate ways of looking and ways of seeing Byzantine art and architecture – that is, learning to “read” the monuments with the same nuance and insight a philologist would apply to a text.  This may encompass several approaches, such as recreating the cultural context in which the monument or image was constructed or experienced; understanding the dynamic relationship of a painted or mosaic program and its architectural setting; interrogating the science of vision itself, as the Byzantines understood it; or contemplating the relationship of the cognitive visual process to spiritual understanding.

Fellows should plan to arrive in Istanbul no later than 9 June 2012 and depart no earlier than 16 July 2012. The fellowship tenure is comprised of three sections:

1. 1.Opening Seminar, 10-11 June 2012: Fellows will gather with scholars from the Turkish academic community at an opening seminar.
2. 2.Independent Research, 12 June – 14 July 2012: Fellows will conduct independent research as describedin their application. Research projects should relate to the seminar theme of Vision andVisual Culture in Byzantium.
3. 3.Closing Seminar: 15 July 2012: Fellows will reconvene to share their preliminary findings from their research.

An application is not considered complete until AIMS-CEMAT receives all documents:

1. 1.Application form  (download here)
   
2. 2.Project description
3. 3.One letter of recommendation
4. 4.Curriculum Vitae, 3 pages maximum

Preferred Method of Submittal:

Please submit the application form, project description, and curriculum vitae in MS Word format via email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Please have your letter of recommendation sent directly from the letter writer to AIMS-CEMATvia email to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and cemat2aimsnorthafrica.org. Documents, scanned with signature, in PDF format are preferred.

 This program is made possible through support from the Getty Foundation.