Collaborative Research Seminar - Framing Muslims: New Directions

A collaborative workshop has been organised by the Ferguson Centre for African and Asian Studies, Open University and the Framing Muslims Project, SOAS as follows:

25 June 2009, 2pm
Venue: MR01, Wilson A Block, Ground floor
Milton Keynes Campus, Open University

Speakers:
Madeline Clements (English, University of East London)‘Lunar streets and the Lonely Planet: locating Karachi in Kamila Shamsie’s Kartography’

Maruta Herding (Sociology, Cambridge University)‘'Pop-Islam': The Emergence of an Islamic Youth Culture in Western Europe’

Peter Morey (English Literature, University of East London)
‘How (not) to Recognise a Muslim Stereotype: the Spooks Controversy’

Amina Yaqin (Postcolonial Studies and Urdu, SOAS)
‘What is a Muslim Diaspora? Locating Muslim transnational subjectivities in British media post 9/11’

ALL ARE WELCOME

If you would like to book a place please contact Heather Scott, Research Centre Secretary at h.scott@open.ac.uk

This seminar is one of a series. The specific questions which the seminar series and interactive website will address include the following:

• How is the production and reception of images of Muslims governed?
• How have the roles and conventions of such representations changed since 9/11?
• What are the strengths and limitations of existing theoretical paradigms when addressing questions of representation and power?
• How might we understand oppositional modes of Muslim representation, and how is the space for such forms negotiated?
• How has the legal status of certain Muslim practices and structures been called into question, and how has this questioning been mediated?
• How has the re-entrenchment of national belonging been used to question models of multiculturalism?

For more information see: http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/ferguson-centre or http://www.framingmuslims.org

Free Ethic Lectures

How should ethics be built into our strategies for business, for government and for life?

The downturn has an upside. The current economic turmoil is the perfect opportunity for business, governments, and individuals to rethink their ethical orientations from the bottom up. The Open University would like to invite you to one of the following free lunchtime lectures on 'Integrity in Public Life' to explore some of the most pressing ethical dilemmas.

The lectures are free and open to all, and will be hosted at St Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield, London from 12.50 - 2pm (see: http://www.greatstbarts.com/Pages/Other/News/lectures.html ) . Places are limited, to book your place please email Marie-Claire Le Roux (m.leroux@open.ac.uk)


20th May - Lord Butler: Integrity and Politics

Lord Butler will draw on his experience as a previous head of the Civil Service, and lead author of the Butler Report, to discuss the ethical pitfalls facing politicians and civil servants, and how to avoid them.


27th May - Professor John Cottingham: Integrity and Fragmentation

Professor Cottingham, the distinguished philosopher from the University of Reading, will argue that we are harmed by living in a compartmentalised culture. Our institutions are manned by specialists who have mastered a particular field, but are not expected to form a view of the whole. Yet the classical ideal of the unity of the virtues suggests that people cannot live well unless their activities are integrated into a meaningful structure, informed not just by narrow technical expertise but by an overall vision of the good for humankind. We need this idea today.


17th June - Baroness O'Neil: Trustworthiness, Accountability and Character

Baroness O'Neill, cross-bench peer and President of the British Academy, focuses on the place of trust in public life, and explores what we should take as evidence of trustworthiness. Character, codes of conduct and formal systems of accountability can all be helpful for judging trustworthiness, but what can we do when they don't provide enough evidence?


This lecture series has been organised by the Open University's Ethics Centre (http://www.open.ac.uk/ethics-centre/). The Open University would like to thank F&C (http://www.fandc.com/new/UK/) for their support of these lectures.

Up to £500,000 Big Lottery Funding available for Third Sector Research Programme (UK)

Under this programme, community and voluntary groups are able to apply for grants of between £10,000 and £ 500,000 (and for exceptional projects up to £1 million) for up to five years to undertake research in the areas of social, medical or socio-medical research. Applicant organisations are encouraged to link up with universities and the wider research community, however universities themselves are ineligible to apply for funding. It is expected that the findings from funded research will ultimately lead to the development of better services for people in the UK. The Research programme aims to influence local and national policy and practice by funding VCS organisations to produce and disseminate evidence-based knowledge. In the longer term the programme, through producing sound evidence, aims to help develop better services and support for beneficiaries.

Three pre-application seminars will be held in late January/early February 2009. The dates and venues are:

• 20 January - Newcastle
• 27 January - Birmingham
• 3 February - London

Application Form: Register with the programme on-line. If your registration is accepted you will be sent a password to open the on-line application form.
Deadline: Applications can be submitted at any time up to the 29th May 2009(The previously scheduled Round 2 has been cancelled).
Contact: Research Programme, B329 Harwell, Oxon, OX11 0QJ.
Tel: Research Helpline - 0845 0711068 (textphone 18001 0845 0711068).
Email: researchprogramme@aeat.co.uk
Website: http://www.bigresearchprogramme.org.uk/content.php?key=home