Purpose and Scope
MECAM promotes collaboration and exchange among researchers from the Maghreb, Europe, and other regions in the social sciences and humanities. Traveling Academies provide a mobile scholarly program with lectures, presentations, and collaborative learning opportunities in various settings, to promote interdisciplinary study and transregional perspectives on common questions. We are looking forward to applications that approach questions relating to MECAM’s guiding theme and one or more of the IRF’s from diverse disciplinary, local, regional angles, that contribute to knowledge production from and in the Maghreb as well as in neighboring regions, rather than solely focusing on one country or region. We encourage critical engagement with the complexities of the ongoing transformation processes.
Format and Structure
The first Traveling Academy, scheduled for 2025, offers an opportunity for intensive debate for scholars to explore the dynamic interplay between Aesthetics & Cultural Practice, Inequality & Mobility, Memory & Justice, Resources & Sustainability, or Identities & Beliefs in the Maghreb, the Mashreq, and its neighboring regions. The event will last between 4 to 6 days and will take place in Casablanca.
Organization and Coordination
Based on this call for ideas, the Convener(s) will be selected by MECAM’s Executive Council Members and invited to organize a Traveling Academy. In close cooperation with MECAM’s science communication coordinator at the Forum Transregionale Studien, the Convener(s) will develop the program in conversation with three members of MECAM’s Executive Council, Mohamed Ali Ben Zina (Université de Tunis), Anissa Ben Hassine (Université de Tunis) and Fadma Aït Mous (Université Hassan II de Casablanca).
The Academy will be conducted by the Convener(s) supported by MECAM’s science communication coordinator, and advised by the three Executive Council members. There will be between 10 to 20 participants, depending on budget and conceptual considerations. They can be nominated or selected through an open call for applications, based on an abstract of a concrete research project they wish to discuss. The final decision on the number of participants and their selection will be made jointly by the Conveners and the science communication coordinator.
Program and Activities
The Academy will feature various flexible formats, including project presentations, thematic sessions based on selected readings, lectures, plenary discussions, and invitations of locally based scholars. If necessary or meaningful, some presentations and discussions can be arranged in parallel working groups. The detailed program will be developed jointly by the Conveners, and the Science Communication Coordinator. Each format encourages active engagement and contribution from convenor(s), and participants, with steering IAB members providing guidance and input where relevant. Participants are encouraged to partake in designing the Academy’s program by not only presenting their research but also by suggesting further topics or ideas.
The Academy will be accompanied by the dissemination and publication of short texts, essays, or series of essays on the MECAM space on the TRAFO Blog for Transregional Research.
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 English, French, or Arabic can be handed in by one or more (up to four) 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 Traveling Academy, 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 7 2024, 12.30 PM CEST. Applicants will be notified of the results by mid December 2024.
• 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, in conversation with the three Executive Council members Mohamed Ali Ben Zina, Anissa Ben Hassine and Fadma Aït Mous.
• 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 the academy.
• The organizers of the academy 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 Academies. 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(at)trafo-berlin.de
The Traveling Academies are a collaborative working format 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 and hosted at the Université de Tunis.
Contact: Diana Abbani
MECAM Science Communication Coordinator
Forum Transregionale Studien e.V. | Wallotstraße 14 | 14193 Berlin
diab@trafo-berlin.de | Telephone: +49 (0)30 89001 442
www.forum-transregionale-studien.de
