The Lebanon Dissertation Summer Institute (LDSI) is on hiatus until further notice. Please check this page or email us on cames@aub.edu.lb for updates.
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The Lebanon Dissertation Summer Institute (LDSI) is an annual, two-week “bootcamp,” that aims to provide a framework for facilitating and advancing critical doctoral dissertation research on Lebanon. It is organized under the auspices of the Arab Studies Institute in partnership with AUB’s Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies. It is co-convened and co-directed by Dr. Nadya Sbaiti, on the faculty of CAMES, and Dr. Ziad Abu-Rish, in the Department of History at Ohio University, USA.
The Lebanon Dissertation Summer Institute brings together a cohort of PhD students representing an array of disciplines, research agendas, and institutional affiliations. They are chosen from an open pool of applicants through a competitive selection process. Central to this process will be increasing students’ familiarity with the contours of knowledge production as well as of field research in Lebanon. This is done through a series of state-of-the-field lectures, reading seminars, and site visits to archives, libraries, and research centers, as well as walking tours and public events. Such visits are conducted in collaboration with local researchers, practitioners, and advocates.
The goals of the Institute include:
- Deepening participants’ theoretical and empirical foundations;
- Introducing applicants to the main questions and methods of various disciplines;
- Facilitating logistical preparation for archival and other forms of research fieldwork;
- Fostering the development of a doctoral dissertation research and writing community;
- Expanding critical knowledge production on Lebanon.
In order to be considered, applicants must fulfill the following criteria:
- Currently enrolled in an accredited doctoral program of any university around the world, including those residing in Lebanon, or enrolled at a university in Lebanon. Please note: applicants can be based in humanities or social science divisions of their academic institutions, and can be seeking a discipline-specific or interdisciplinary degree.
- Advanced to candidacy or ABD (i.e., have formally defended their dissertation research proposal and passed their general and/or qualifying exams) by no later than 1 June 2019.
- Possess advanced Arabic proficiency in reading and speaking and intermediate Arabic proficiency in writing.