ASTENE Postgraduate Research Competition

Saturday 15 May 2021

Deadline for abstracts: Monday 1 February 2021

The Association for the Study of Travel in Egypt and the Near East (ASTENE) invites proposals for the inaugural Postgraduate Research Competition. This competition is intended to reward the most promising and engaging research in the interdisciplinary and cross-period fields of Near Eastern studies and travel history.

1st prize – £200    2nd prize – £150     3rd prize – £100

The top 3 prizes will also receive a free year of ASTENE membership, their paper published in the ASTENE Bulletin and a copy of our most recent publication, Pious Pilgrims, Discerning Travellers, Curious Tourists: Changing Patterns of Travel to the Middle East from medieval to modern times (Oxford: Archaeopress, 2020).

This competition is open to all researchers currently studying towards a postgraduate degree from anywhere in the world. Abstracts and papers must be delivered in English. Papers must relate to ASTENE’s research interests and can include (but are not limited to):

·      Accounts of travellers (of any origin point) to the Near/Middle East and North Africa

·      Travel writing including fiction, memoirs, diaries, guidebooks, and journalism

·      The visual culture of travelling including painting, drawing, photography, and other art ephemera

·      Critical approaches to Orientalism & postcolonial, indigenous and feminist perspectives on travel to MENA

·      Histories of mobility, migration and diaspora

·      Digital and other new media projects for understanding the history of travel

Candidates will be selected to present a 20-minute paper at a virtual day of research, debate and networking. They will be judged on the following criteria: An interesting, original subject relating to ASTENE’s research interests, the future potential and impact of the research and research delivered in an enthusiastic and engaging presentation to an audience made up of academics and informed members of the public.

To apply:  Please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words to postgraduatecompetition.astene@gmail.com by Monday 1 February 2021. Please direct any other questions to the same address.

This post has been re-published by permission from the BAVS Postgraduates Blog. Please see the original post at https://victorianist.wordpress.com/2020/12/03/astene-postgraduate-research-competition/