IMÉRA MEDITERRANEAN PROGRAMME ┋Averoès Chair

Averroes/Ibn Rochd (in Arabic) is an Andalusian philosopher and jurist (born in Cordoba in 1168 and died in Marrakech in 1198) who undoubtedly produced the most important philosophical work of the Middle Ages. It is in particular his commentaries on Aristotle that are authoritative and that have earned him great notoriety in the Muslim, Jewish and Christian world. His Decisive Speech / Fasl al maqal, is in particular a major work which marks the place of reason in Islam and which opens the way to critical thought. This chair proposes in particular to provide an open and free environment for critical thought in contemporary Islam. Beyond all forms of literalism, of exegesis which prohibits exegesis, it is a question of inscribing Islamic thought in history, in forms of contextualization which invite comparative analyzes of the religious fact.

This is a chair that invites a resolutely interdisciplinary approach, even if it places the Islamic approach at the center of its questions. It also brings together philosophy, history, anthropology, sociology, the study of texts and their translations, as well as questions of transmission between cultural and religious heritages. The Averroes Chair proposes to work between disciplines and to promote new forms of intelligibility of the Muslim religious fact.

Of the Mediterranean Islam: this reference to Mediterranean Islam comes from Jacques Berque and Mohammed Arkoun and seeks in particular to overcome the divisions and classic oppositions born of a certain orientalism. Questioning Mediterranean Islam, through the Averroes chair, is a way of crossing borders, borders of knowledge as well as symbolic and institutional borders. It is also a way of taking into account the religious plurality and the diversity of historical and cultural heritages, Judeo-Arab heritage as well as Greco-Latin heritage. Inscribing the Muslim religious fact in historical trajectories that link one shore of the Mediterranean to the other is a way of overcoming frontal oppositions and drawing other genealogies that invite possible common worlds.

SCHEDULE

• Deadline : 17 October 2022 at 1 pm (french time)
• Duration of residences: 5 months
• Residence periods : 12 February 2024 to 5 July 2024 (5 months - Semester 2)

ELIGIBILITY

Future holders of the Averroes chair will be called upon to:

• Be critical thinkers.
• Have intellectual and scientific authority in their field.
• Have the ability to transmit knowledge in the public space, in particular through conferences.
• Propose an original approach in their field of research.
• Be knowledgeable about the major issues of knowledge and if possible the major challenges of our time.

To be eligible, candidates should:

• Hold a doctorate or PhD.
• Not have resided in France for more than 12 months in the three years preceding the call for applications.
• Have an employment contract (permanent or not) in a foreign university or research institution during the residency.

REMUNERATION AND ACCOMMODATION

The chairholder will receive a 3,000 euro fixed monthly allowance during their stay.

They will also benefit from paid travel expenses and free accommodation on IMéRA premises.

SELECTION CRITERIA

The criteria for evaluating applications include, without limitation:

• Researcher’s scientific excellence as per the highest international standards in the field.
• Scientific quality of the project, in particular its cross-disciplinary facet, crucial for the researcher's integration into IMéRA’s collective creation dynamics.
• Researcher's ability to carry out prospective reflection.
• Researcher’s international recognition and the original quality of the proposed public lecture series.

APPLICATION

The file to be submitted online consists of the following documents:

• Duly completed* application form (candidatures-imera.univ-amu.fr).
• CV including a list of publications.
• Presentation of the research project (max 5 pages) followed by a selective bibliography.
• A letter of support from an Aix-Marseille University researcher or associate/assistant professor OR a letter of motivation clearly explaining the interest for the candidate to interact with Aix-Marseille University’s laboratories and to lead a project from Aix-Marseille.