Call For Fellows by Lebanon Support

Date: 01 Apr, 2019

Location: Middle East & North Africa

Themes: Political Studies

Bassem Chit Fellowship for the Study of Activism

Lebanon Support, in partnership with the Arab Council for the Social Sciences, the Orient-Institut Beirut, and the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Beirut Office are happy to announce the launch of the second cycle of the:

Bassem Chit fellowship for the study of activism

The Bassem Chit* fellowship for the study of activism is a one-year post doctoral fellowship based in Beirut, Lebanon. The fellowship is a joint initiative of Lebanon Support, the Arab Council for the Social Sciences, the Orient-Institut Beirut, and Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Beirut Office. The fellowship aims to give early career scholars (0-3 years out of the Phd) in the social sciences the opportunity to conduct research on activism in the Arab world. The Bassem Chit fellowship accepts proposals in Arabic, English, or French.

Social scientists investigating the Arab region have often analysed political and social developments in the varying national contexts through the prism of identity politics, confessional, tribal or ethnic affiliations, where opportunity structures change due to variables such as the robustness of coercive apparatuses (Bellin 2004, Hafez 2006, Schwedler 2010), the use of violence and repression (Bischof and Fink 2015, Brownlee, Masoud and Reynolds 2015), elite rotation, cooptation, and reproduction (Perthes 2004, Kingston 2013, Bove and Rivera 2015), and forms of “authoritarian upgrading” (Heydemann 2007, Schlumberger 2007, Ouissa 2009). Many studies have recently focused on Egypt (Duboc 2012, Gunning and Baron 2014, Ketchley 2014, 2017), Morocco (Vairel 2005, Emperador Badimon 2011, Yom 2017), Tunisia, (Ayari 2009, Allal 2013), Lebanon (Favier 2004, Karam 2006, AbiYaghi, 2013), Bahrain (Coates Ulrichsen 2013, Holmes 2015), Jordan (Moss 2014, Yom 2013, 2015), Syria (Ismail 2011, Haddad 2012, Leenders and Heydemann 2012, Hinnebusch and Imady 2018). In spite of these valuable contributions, empirical research on alternative collective action in the region questioning global debates on the theories of social mobilisation still lacks in the region. As a result many forms of mobilisation remain largely invisible and under-explored.

This fellowship invites early career scholars to examine political processes from below, with a focus on contentious politics, and collective action while steering away from the idea of the cultural exceptionalism of the “area” (Bennani-Chraïbi and Fillieule 2003).

The fellowship particularly seeks to encourage research that explores the genealogy of mobilising actors, their action repertoires, their framing processes, their modes of actions, and their demands. This can entail (but is not limited to) broader leftist or secular trends as well as activism and social movements mobilising for alternative issues encompassing environmental topics, gender, right to housing, food or public space. While the fellowship is situated within the social sciences, it encourages interdisciplinary approaches and methodologies, also exploring linkages between academic and action-oriented research.

*Bassem Chit was a founding member of Lebanon Support and was its Executive Director between 2008 and 2014. He had more than 14 years of professional experience in information and knowledge management in development and humanitarian contexts, in parallel to his social and political activism in Lebanon and the region.

Disciplinary and Thematic Focus:

The Bassem Chit Fellowship targets scholars in the social sciences, particularly in the fields of political science, economics, sociology, anthropology, education, demography, media and cultural studies, among others. We also encourage applications from the humanities, including applications covering literature, cultural studies, history, philosophy and arts.

The fellowship duration is 12 months, and the earliest starting date is September 2018. The fellowship is hosted at Lebanon Support, and funded by both the Arab Council for the Social Sciences and Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Beirut Office.

Eligibility criteria and timeline

Eligibility criteria

Applicants are eligible if they:

Are citizens or nationals of an Arab country;
Are junior scholars (0-3 years out of the Phd);
Have high quality academic credentials;
Have versatility to take on organisational roles when required.