Visiting Member Awards for 2010-2011

The School of Social Science each year invites as Members up to twenty scholars from a large applicant pool. Visiting Members are expected to pursue their own research, but the School organizes a seminar on the year’s focus and a weekly lunch at which Members as well as invited guests present their on-going work. The School is not wedded to any particular intellectual or disciplinary approach. It welcomes applications in economics, political science, law, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. It encourages social scientific work with an historical and humanistic bent and also entertains applications in history, philosophy, literary criticism, literature, and linguistics.

Memberships are for the full academic year; we regret that we cannot consider applications for a single term. The group is interdisciplinary and international, with memberships awarded at both the junior and senior level. Applicants must possess a Ph.D. or equivalent (for example, in some fields the terminal degree may be an M.F.A., or the applicant may possess a foreign degree, or have achieved a level of professional reputation that would merit consideration) by the deadline of November 1, 2009. Former Members in the School of Social Science should note that one can only be a Member once.

The theme for 2010-11 is Secularism. In the light of what, for many, is being defined as a world-wide resurgence of religiosity both as a spiritual and political force, attention has been drawn to the question of the secular. For those who take secularism to be one of the foundational principles of modernity, the appearance of religious-based movements constitutes a critical challenge to the established ways of life associated with liberalism and democracy. Those skeptical of the universalist claims of liberalism argue that sharp oppositions between the secular and the religious, modernity and traditionalism, obscure historical and political processes of state-building, colonial domination, and post-colonial negotiation. Although the question of secularism is a broad one, recent discussions have focused on Islam, on its compatibility with the practice of state religious neutrality; on the assimilability of Muslim minorities in the nominally secular nations of Western Europe; on the relationship between democratic elections and the coming to power of Islamic religious parties in North Africa and the Middle East.

We don't intend to resolve the disputes between universalists and particularists or to offer a conclusive answer to the many questions posed about Islam. Rather we want to study with those who take different positions on these questions to see what their various approaches reveal. We approach the theme with the following questions: what has been the history of secularization in different places in the world? What are the forms secularism has taken? How has secularism been defined and by whom? Is religion the opposite of secularism? Are there characteristics that define ours as a "secular age?" Can we say that there are secular subjects whose very constitution differs from those who are non-secular? Is secularism synonymous with liberal values of equality and emancipation? Does secularism promote economic development while religion discourages it? What about gender equality? Can we detect a universal principle of secularism amidst the many particular instances of it?

Please note that applications which do not fall within the parameters of the theme for 2010-2011 will also receive full consideration.

Each year our Membership stipends vary, depending on available funds, the needs of individual Members, and the support they can get from outside agencies. Stipend support will not exceed $65,000, and since our funds are always limited, we are rarely able to meet current salary levels. We therefore strongly encourage you to apply for outside support as part of this application process, and to find out in advance about your institution’s policies on matching fellowship awards. The success of your application, however, in no way depends upon securing such support. Memberships are funded by the Institute for Advanced Study, as well as other sources. If you are a recently-tenured faculty member, you may also wish to consider applying to the ACLS for the Frederick Burkhardt Fellowship.

Applications must be submitted through the Institute's online application system (https://applications.ias.edu) by November 1, 2009.

The Institute for Advanced Study was founded in 1930 as a community of postdoctoral scholars where intellectual inquiry could be carried out in the most favorable circumstances. It provides libraries, offices, personal computers, seminar and lecture rooms, subsidized restaurant and housing facilities, and some secretarial services.