The Medieval Academy Blog

Position Available: Private Library in Abu Dhabi

Librarian needed to organize and manage a substantial and growing private library in Abu Dhabi. The ideal candidate will have extensive knowledge of books, both antiquarian and modern, managerial expertise in the acquisition and cataloging of books, and in the organization and services of libraries. The librarian will also provide reference and research assistance for the collection, and supervise daily operations.

Utmost discretion will be mandatory; candidates will be required to sign a non-disclosure statement. The collection will be housed in a new library facility that is currently under construction, and the librarian will administer, supervise, and interpret the collection for library users. The candidate will work closely with book dealers and recommend purchases in keeping with the library’s collection development policy.

Requirements:  Library degree from an accredited graduate library school, and a minimum of five years experience in the field, including experience with rare books and manuscripts.

Preferences: Advanced degree in a related field and proficiency in Arabic language.  The candidate will have a minimum of five years experience in the field, including experience with rare books and manuscripts.

Salary range:  $75,000  to $85,000 plus housing and benefits.

Applications:  Please send cover letter and CV, and the names of two professional referees to John F. Dean (American consultant to the hiring committee in Abu Dhabi) at jfd5@cornell.edu

Postdoctoral Research Position

The INALCO offers a postdoctoral research position in medieval Hebraic language and literature – a temporary contract (6 months) in the event of the approval of an ANR financing scheme (INALCO – MSH Lorraine – CNRS ATILF).

The contract begins on February 1st 2014.

Description of the research project framing the position and main focus of the postdoctoral researcher

Aims of the research project
Aliento (Linguistic and intercultural analysis of short sapiential statements and of their transmission East/West, West/East) is a research project whose aim is the creation of a database about the sources, transmission, circulation and posterity of the sapiential statements of the Iberian Peninsula (from the ninth to the sixteenth century) between the Three Cultures. Aliento has been budgeted for three years by the National Agency for Research. At this stage there are four main objectives:

1.    Accurate annotation using an XML/TEI tagging system on the sense, the form, the structure and the moral of each brief sapiential statement found in eight texts from a reference corpus (Arabic, Spanish, Hebrew, Catalan and Latin). The point is to link the brief sapiential statements (about 9,570 items) and, by means of a close collaboration between experts, develop a robust tagging protocol for this type of items which can be transferable to other corpora (formalisation, normalisation, creation of a common ontology to this type of statements).
2.    Cooperatively create a piece of software capable of matching items and displaying a trilingual interface that will allow the monitoring of results, i.e. the links created between the brief sapiential statements.
3.    Analysis of the matching results and production of scientific results in the field of humanities: study of the circulation of brief sapiential statements, their transformation and their degree of acculturation according to their own intertextuality.
4.    Creation of a library of medieval sapiential texts accessible on-line by means of standardised meta-data in TEI format and accompanied by data on the text, authors, translators, compilers and references
The current research project ANR ALIENTO is the result of four consecutive years of research.

For further information: www.aliento.eu

Focus of the postdoctoral researcher:
The postdoctoral researcher must have an extensive background in medieval Hebraic language and literature (especially sapiential, moral and/or philosophical texts from Spain or Provence) as well as solid technical know-how in computing. As a specialist in Hebraic texts s/he will have to tag with precision the brief sapiential statements with compatible XML/TEI annotations on the sense, the form, the structure and the moral of each brief sapiential statement to be found in the books of sayings in Hebrew: Musrei ha-pilosofim translated by al-Harizi, 13th century and Miv’har ha-pninim, the translation of Mukhtar al-Jawâhir by Yehudah ibn Tibbon and attributed to Shelomo ibn Gabirol, 12th century.
S/he will work in Paris (INALCO) in close collaboration with the research group ALIENTO (Nancy – Paris).
S/he will take part in the research meetings and workshops co-organised with the ATILF and will contribute with her/his expertise in medieval Hebraic texts and language.
Background
– Doctorate in medieval Hebraic language, literature and culture.
– Extensive knowledge of the circulation of Hebrew texts in the Mediterranean area.
– Knowledge of Arabic will be taken into consideration.

Terms of contract
Length: 6 months
The postdoctoral researcher can be of any nationality. English may be used as the working language for researchers not speaking French.
The contract begins on February 1st 2014.
Applications must be submitted before January 10th 2014.
The gross salary will be about 2,400 euros per month. The net salary will be about 2,000 euros per month, to which it should be added the Paris public transport card.

Please send a curriculum vitae, a summary of your dissertation and a letter of application to

Marie-Christine Bornes Varol at Varol@noos.fr
Send them as well to the following email addresses:
marie-sol.ortola@univ-lorraine.fr
and
frederique.bey@univ-lorraine.fr

The Department of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages at the University of Connecticut, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, solicits applications for a tenure-track appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor.  We are seeking a specialist in Italian Studies (13th-16th centuries) with broader interdisciplinary and trans-cultural focus in the area of Mediterranean Studies. This position will be in Italian Studies, but the candidate will have the opportunity to serve as an important link to Medieval Studies, the Middle Eastern Minor, the Program in Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies, and/or Hebrew and Judaic Studies.

Minimum Qualifications:  A Ph.D. (or foreign equivalent) in Italian Studies, Medieval and Renaissance Studies, or a related field by June 1, 2014; native or near-native command of Italian and English; evidence of an active research agenda; strong commitment to innovative teaching.

Preferred Qualifications:  Research specialization in the following possible areas:  migration, race, and slavery; symbolic, cultural, material trade and exchange with the Levant or Africa; cultural and intellectual exchange and interaction with Southern, Central, and Northern Europe, or the Ottoman Empire, or the Judaic and Levantine intellectual traditions.  Knowledge of Arabic or another non-European language.

This is a full-time, 9-month, tenure-track position with an anticipated start date of August 23, 2014.  Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.

Candidates please apply at http://www.jobs.uconn.edu/facult/ and submit letter of application, curriculum vitae, evidence of successful teaching, and an article-length writing sample by January 25, 2014.  Additionally, please follow the instructions in Academic Jobs Online to direct three reference writers to submit letters of recommendation on your behalf.  If you have questions or need further information you may contact Dr. Rosa Helena Chinchilla vie email at rosa.chinchilla@uconn.edu.  The University of Connecticut is an EEO/AA employer and is strongly and actively committed to diversity within its community. Members of populations traditionally under-represented in US institutions of higher education are especially encouraged to apply. (2014325)

The Department of Italian Studies and the Program of Middle East Studies invite applications for a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship offered by the Cogut Center for the Humanities at Brown University for a term of two (2) years beginning July 1, 2014.

Applicants will have received a Ph.D within the past five (5) years from an institution other than Brown in the fields of Italian Studies, Middle East and North African Studies, Comparative Literature, History, History of Art and Architecture, Anthropology, or any other related field with the Mediterranean as a primary focus. The candidate should have worked in Italian and Arabic. Cogut Fellows participate in the activities of the Center and teach two courses each year in English. The term of the fellowship is two years.

We solicit applications by scholars who approach the Mediterranean in a non-traditional and interdisciplinary manner, but who nevertheless have the Mediterranean as the central focus of their research. Scholars concentrating on the constructed or built environment, on migration studies, media, literature, critical geography or archaeology are especially welcome to apply.
Applicants should submit, along with a cover letter, a curriculum vitae, a research statement, a writing sample (in English and of approximately 25 pages), three letters of recommendation,and two course proposals dealing with the topic of Mediterranean Studies.

Stipend: $61,449 (2014/15), 63,907 (2015/16) plus benefits and a yearly $2,000 research budget.

Review of applications will begin on February 1, 2014 and will continue until the position is filled. For additional information contact Suzanne_Stewart-Steinberg@brown.edu (Italian Studies) or Beshara_Doumani@brown.edu (Middle East Studies).  Brown University is an EEO/AA employer.  We strongly encourage women and minorities to apply.

For complete job description and application instructions please see:

apply.interfolio.com/24051