2002-2003

Addressing Sectarian, Ethnic and Cultural Conflict within and across National Borders

Research Theme
Program Activities
Distinguished Leader
Orientation
Eligibility
Benefits
Timeline
Mid-term Meeting
Final Plenary Seminar
International Research Visit
General Selection Criteria
Privacy Act
Contact Information

Research Theme: "Addressing Sectarian, Ethnic and Cultural Conflict within and across National Borders"

Numerous intrastate and interstate locales can be identified around the world where sectarianism, ethnicity and culture have, wittingly or unwittingly, played a major role in violence, riots, civil war, and the attendant disruption of society and displacement of populations. Such areas fall on the high end of the continuum of ethnic conflict. In other locales, however, where similar factors have created tensions, even violence in the recent past, the current situation appears to have settled, or is in the process of being settled. At the low end of the continuum there are still other places where similar factors have produced a stable environment in terms of ethnic relations.

The aim of the New Century Scholars Program (NCS) for 2002-2003, is to identify those settings that might provide cases for intensive study along the lines of this tripartite differentiation. Particular emphasis will be on isolating the historical and contemporary factors which in their interaction result in a country or region occupying one or the other extreme of the continuum or cause it to fluctuate in one direction or the other. While the specific selection of areas to be studied is open and will be determined once the NCS Fellows have been selected, attention will be paid to ensuring broad geographical representation: Europe, NIS, Western Hemisphere, Middle East, Africa, East Asia, South Asia and the Pacific.

Back to Top

NCS will encourage much needed innovative theoretical, conceptual and empirical comparative work to examine the religious, cultural and ethnic dimensions of conflict. To understand and assess how these components interact with each other to generate or to reduce serious conflicts, within or between societies and regions, calls for considerable collaborative effort. Ultimately we hope that the New Century Scholars Program and its collaborative research will provide informed assessments that will elucidate key factors leading to conflict and those which might also reconstruct a viable civil peace.

NCS will provide a unique research opportunity for scholars selected from the U.S. and abroad to pursue individual research objectives as well as to engage in ongoing collaboration and interaction focusing on the NCS research theme.

Prospective applicants are invited to submit research proposals which reflect ongoing research addressing issues relevant to the NCS theme. Possible topics might include, but are not limited to:

• cross-border ethnic identity and diaspora
• stateless nations
• religious nationalism and religious pluralism
• the role of clergy in ethnic mobilization
• clashing values of tradition and modernity
• reconstruction of civil society
• community development and reconstruction
• innovative governance in multiethnic states
• new initiatives for resolution of ethnic conflicts
• democratic solutions to long-standing conflicts
• third party intervention/mediation in ethnic conflicts
• emigration and immigration as factors in multiculturalism
• effects of refugee resettlement on the creation of new civil societies
• women's groups in processes of reconciliation
• others

Back to Top

Proposals in any area of the social sciences, history, public administration/policy, law, media, and comparative religious studies will be considered. Interdisciplinary proposals are especially welcome.

Program Activities

Approximately 25-30 leading scholars and professionals representing a variety of disciplines from the U.S. and abroad will be selected as NCS Fellows.

• Approximately one-third of the NCS Fellows will be U.S. scholars
• Remaining NCS Fellows will be visiting scholars from outside the U.S.

NCS Fellows will pursue individual research objectives as well as contribute to the proposed NCS study under the leadership of the Distinguished Scholar Leader, Edward Tiryakian, Professor Sociology, Duke University. While interacting with one another during the program year to share information, bibliography and research perspectives, NCS fellows will also undertake the group objective of producing a working paper as the basis of ongoing collaboration and ultimately of a volume dedicated to the NCS theme.

NCS Fellows will be expected to pursue research activities related to the NCS research theme throughout the program year; to maintain contact with one another as a means to expanding their own research directions and accomplishing NCS group objectives; and to participate in all activities of the program, including:

• Orientation and Goal Setting Session
• Mid-term Meeting
• Final Plenary Seminar
• International research visit of three-six months
• Ongoing communication and interaction with NCS Distinguished Scholar Leader and other NCS Fellows throughout program year

Back to Top

New Century Scholar Distinguished Leader: Edward Tiryakian

Edward A.Tiryakian, an alumnus of the Fulbright Program, is Professor of Sociology at Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard and held faculty positions at Princeton and Harvard before joining the Sociology Department at Duke in 1967, where he has served as departmental chair and as Director of International Studies. He has held visiting professorships at Freie Universität Berlin, at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Paris; and at the Sorbonne (where he is docteur honoris causa), among others.

Professor Tiryakian is recognized internationally for his contributions in several fields of sociology. His prolific scholarship encompasses the history of sociology, sociology of development, sociology of religion, and nationalism and ethnicity. He has six times been the Director of a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar for College Teachers, including one on "New Nationalisms and Modernity." He has also directed a year-long Mellon Foundation seminar on "New Nationalisms, New Identities, New Perspectives."

Professor Tiryakian has served as president of both the American Society for the Study of Religion and the Association Internationale des Sociologues de Langue Française and twice elected chair of the Theory Section of the American Sociology Association. He holds memberships in numerous national and international sociological associations and has been active on several editorial boards, most currently Nations and Nationalism, International Sociology, and The Journal of the History of Sociology.

His current research projects relate to comparative aspects of national identity in the global age, the bearing of religious factors in American foreign policy, and a reconsideration of macro sociological theory.

Click here [.PDF] to view Professor Tiryakian's complete c.v. with list of publications.

Orientation and Goal Setting

Back to Top

A virtual or in-person orientation will occur in January/February 2003, to launch the program and encourage early interaction among NCS Fellows. The orientation, lead by the NCS Distinguished Scholar Leader, will allow the multinational and multidisciplinary Fellows to introduce themselves to one another and share their various approaches to the program's research theme. The orientation will also provide an overall framework for Program objectives, help participants develop a common vocabulary, and set the stage for future sustained interaction and ongoing collaboration.

The orientation for 2001-2002 NCS Fellows took place at the Rockefeller Conference and Study Center in Bellagio, Italy, thanks to the generous support of the Rockefeller Foundation. Depending on availability of funding and dates, the orientation may be at Bellagio or another locale, and prospective applicants should take note of the proposed January/February 2003 date for the meeting. The exact location and dates will be posted on the CIES web site when available.

All NCS Fellows are expected to participate in the orientation, whether virtual or in-person.

Mid-term Seminar

Back to Top

At the mid-term of the program year - July/August 2003 - the Distinguished Scholar Leader will convene the NCS Fellows once again, either electronically or in person, to report interactively on the progress of accomplishing individual and group goals established at the orientation session. The mid-term meeting will ensure the input of all NCS Fellows on all proposals and products of the Program and ensure joint planning of the final plenary seminar in November 2003. Fellows will have the opportunity to become more familiar with each other's work as an impetus to continuing communication and the cross fertilization of ideas.

The mid-term seminar for 2001-2002 NCS Fellows was hosted by the Hungarian Fulbright Commission and took place in Eger, Hungary, with the continued support of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the State Department. While an in-person mid-term meeting is envisioned for the 2002-2003 Fellows, its implementation will depend on the availability of funding. Prospective applicants should take note of the proposed July/August 2003 date for the meeting.

All NCS Fellows are expected to participate in the mid-term meeting, whether virtual or in-person.

New Century Scholar Final Plenary Seminar

Back to Top

The final plenary seminar will take place towards the end of the program year, in November 2003, in the Washington, D.C. area. At the final plenary seminar, which represents the culminating activity of the Program, the Distinguished Scholar Leader will convene the multinational group of NCS Fellows for one-two weeks to share the results of their research and to report on the accomplishment of group objectives, including plans for the publication of a paper or monograph.

NCS Fellows will also interact with and engage in dialogue with other specialists, policymakers and international experts to compare and contrast their findings and to examine the most important national and transnational issues facing issues of ethnic and sectarian conflict in the new century. NCS Fellows will have the opportunity to explore new avenues of inquiry and collaboration and to making recommendations for framing policy discussions at both the national and international levels.

Resource experts representing government agencies, NGOs, and other interested national and international organizations will be invited to attend the seminar and to take an active role in the proceedings.

The reports and recommendations resulting from the final plenary seminar, with an introduction and summary by the Distinguished Scholar Leader, will be published and distributed in a print edition.

International Research Visit

Back to Top

The international research visit is an important component of the Program and all NCS Fellows are expected to make one of three-six months during the course of the program year. Visits may begin at any time after the orientation in January/February and must be completed by December 31, 2003. Scholars are encouraged to plan their international research visits around the final plenary seminar held in November 2003 to facilitate travel arrangements to the seminar.

U.S. applicants may propose visits to any country in which there is an operating Fulbright scholar program; non-U.S. applicants will propose their research visits for the United States. All applicants are responsible for prearranging and confirming their own affiliations, as well as making any housing and other arrangements related to carrying out their research activities at the host institution and in the host country.

Eligibility Requirements

Back to Top

Leading scholars and professionals in any area of the social sciences, history, law, public policy/administration, media and comparative religious studies. Successful candidates will be active in the academic, public or private sector and will demonstrate outstanding qualifications and a distinguished record of experience, research and accomplishment in an area clearly related to the NCS theme. Applicants must be conducting current research relevant to the program's theme and objectives and be open to exploring and incorporating comparative, interdisciplinary approaches in their investigations.

• For academic applicants, a Ph.D. or equivalent terminal degree in a relevant field.
• For applicants in the professional fields, the appropriate terminal degree in a relevant field.
• U.S. applicants must have U.S. citizenship and BE PERMANENTLY RESIDING in the U.S.
• Non-U.S. applicants must be citizens of and residing in the country from which they are applying at the time of application. Non-U.S. applications must be submitted through a participating Fulbright Commission or Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in the home country. Please contact the relevant office to determine whether or not it is participating in the program before you submit an application.
  
• Fluency in English.

Benefits

Back to Top

• Individual awards in the amount of $41,500
• Travel and per diem, where applicable, for Program seminars

All NCS Fellows will receive grants in the amount of $41,500 to cover expenses related to participation in the NCS Program, including: international travel and maintenance; domestic travel and per diem; books, supplies, and other materials or items necessary for completion of proposed research; research assistance; partial salary/benefits. The grant also includes an allowance to cover Fellow's air travel to the final plenary seminar. Travel and per diem connected with tentative in-person orientation at the beginning of the Program and the mid-term meeting will be covered separately. Dependent support is not covered by the grant.

Timeline

Back to Top

General Selection Criteria

Back to Top

Applications will be reviewed and NCS Fellows selected on the basis of the following criteria:

• Qualifications of the applicant, including academic degrees, training, rank and position; national/international reputation in his/her field; quality of professional accomplishments as demonstrated through publications, research grants, other professional achievements
• Potential of the applicant to contribute to an interdisciplinary discussion and treatment of the NCS research theme
• Merits of the research proposal, including its significance, methodology, feasibility and relevance to the New Century Scholars research theme
• Potential of the applicant's proposed research to develop or add new approaches or perspectives to the New Century Scholar research topic
• Potential of the proposed research to contribute to a better understanding of the research topic at the national and international level
• Justification for the proposed international research visit and its significance for advancing the proposed research, especially in terms of adding a comparative or international dimension
• Significance and relevance of applicant's research and other professional accomplishments to the objectives of the NCS Program
• Ability of the applicant to carry out the project

Final selection will be based on the referenced criteria as well as on the need for a diversity of projects, disciplinary fields and geographic areas represented in the program.

Back to Top

Privacy Act of 1974

In compliance with the Privacy Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-579), persons interested in Fulbright grants are informed of the following:

The solicitation of the information requested in application forms is authorized under the Fulbright-Hays Act; the information is intended to be used in screening and selecting grantees and in the administration of the grants; it may be released to appropriate U.S. governmental agencies, the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, binational Fulbright commissions, foreign host institutions, Congress, the news media, and relatives of the grantee trying to reach the individual for bona fide personal reasons.