Doctoral student in History of Religions specialising in Islamic Studies within the research programme The Middle East in the Contemporary World (MECW)

The doctoral education

The doctoral position, announced at the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies (CTR), is part of "The Middle East in the Contemporary World" (MECW) research programme at the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES). The CMES is coordinating the Strategic Research Area (SRA) and the MECW research programme. The programme conducts cutting-edge interdisciplinary research on the Middle East and comprises more than 40 scholars from five different faculties at Lund University. 

The doctoral student will be part of the "EcoCos" project conducted by Associate Professor Sami Al-Daghistani at CTR and CMES, Lund University. The doctoral student will have access to workspaces at the CMES and the CTR and is expected to participate in activities at both centres.

The primary language of the doctoral programme is English. However, non-Swedish speaking students are expected to acquire basic skills in Swedish during their employment.

Economic Cosmology: Ethics, Sustainability, and the Nonhuman in the Muslim World (EcoCos)

The Sharī‘a’s law has been crucial for understanding ethical approaches in Islamic tradition, including within economic and environmental thought. EcoCos analyzes sources from Islamic traditions – both pre-modern and modern – as resources for a new ethics of sustainability and places itself at the forefront of an on-going discussion on economic and environmental concerns, as well as their relation to knowledge production. It is devised as a critical and comparative study of contemporary (21st century) and classical (8th-16th century) epistemological, philosophical, and practical aspects of economic thought and the nonhuman across the Muslim world, especially in the MENA and in South(east) Asia regions.

This interdisciplinary project investigates ethical approaches to economics, sustainability, and the nonhuman environment – as a space that is more complex than just an invariable proxy for the human. Rather than embracing the fields of economic science and environmental studies in the context of neoliberal capitalism, this project examines various empirical, religious, philosophical, and historical manifestations of economic and environmental thought as they were conceptualized across the Muslim world. Pre-modern approaches to economic teachings and the nonhuman environment have called into question colonial and postcolonial imaginative circuits and political formations, creating new forms of ethical engagement and analysis. By considering the polyvalent nature of ethical-economic genre in Islamic traditions, EcoCos continues this inquiry with a sustained focus on how economics and environment have been rendered in various Islamic texts, schools of thought, movements, and institutions. It analyzes diverse contemporary and historical accounts on the role of wealth and money (māl), financial mechanisms and instruments (e.g. ribā, zakāt, ḥisba), religious endowment (waqf), the notion of balance and conservation (mizān), as well as human relation toward nature and natural resources. Simultaneously, it analyzes the development of modern Islamic economics and "green initiatives" in MENA, questioning their ideological dependence on global economy and methodological frameworks in relation to the very concepts of "progress" and "sustainability".

By cross-pollinating methodological and theoretical approaches within the fields of Islamic studies, environmental humanities, ethics, and intellectual history, the project aims to provide a more nuanced, critical, and varied perspectives within Islamic intellectual history on economic and environmental thought through non-Western sources and channels of influences.

The doctoral student is expected to pursue independent research both as regards theory and method within the overarching aim and focus of the project.

For questions about the research project, please contact project leader Sami Al Daghistani.

Information about Islamic Studies at the CTR, information about the CMES and information about the research programme "The Middle East in the Contemporary World" (MECW) are available at:

• Islamic Studies at the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies: https://www.ctr.lu.se/en/subjects/islamic-studies/
• Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies: https://www.cmes.lu.se/ 
• Research programme "The Middle East in the Contemporary World" (MECW): https://portal.research.lu.se/en/projects/the-middle-east-in-the-contemporary-world-mecw-20

Information about doctoral studies at the Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology can be found at https://www.ht.lu.se/en/education/doctoral-studies/.

Work assignments

Doctoral education. Departmental work, such as teaching and administrative tasks, can be assigned.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for doctoral studies in History of Religion specialising in Islamic Studies are specified in the general syllabus, available at https://www.ht.lu.se/en/utbildning/forskarutbildning/dina-doktorandstudier/general-syllabi/

For this doctoral position, having knowledge of Arabic is required.

Assessment criteria

The selection process will primarily take into account the applicants’ ability to benefit from third cycle studies. This is assessed against the criteria quality, quantity, progression and relevance.

Application

Instructions for applying for a doctoral student position can be found here: https://www.ht.lu.se/en/education/doctoral-studies/become-a-doctoral-student-at-the-ht-faculties/application-and-admission/

The application must include:

• CV/list of qualifications including relevant administrative and educational qualifications
• cover letter
• records of first- and second-cycle studies (attested copies of official transcripts of records)
• documentation of language skills of relevance for the research studies
• first- and second-cycle theses/degree projects
• any scholarly publications
• project plan (1500 words max. excluding references).

Please note that you need to upload all documents with your application in PDF format.

Type of employment

Limit of tenure, four years according to HF 5 kap 7§.