The Structural Islamophobia Research Lab (SIRL) Fellowship
The Structural Islamophobia Research Lab (SIRL) – at the Institute of Islamic Studies (IIS), University of Toronto – supports the best and brightest minds committed to examining institutionally entrenched modes of Islamophobia that defy simplistic analyses and require creative research methods.
This page will list three SiRL post-doc applications:
- Islamophobia and Canada’s Immigration Regime
- The History of Anti-Islam in the Western Tradition
- Islamophobia and Anti-Palestine Racism
1. Islamophobia and Canada’s Immigration Regime
This call for applications is for candidates to examine the potential existence of Islamophobia in the immigration regime in Canada. Within this broad scope, we invite inquiry into whether racial and Orientalist notions are coded into laws, policies and institutional practices in various arenas of the immigration regime, and how these notions may shape regime findings and actions, such as inadmissibility, CBSA stops and detentions, and visa programs from Muslim majority countries.
Over the years, and specially under the War on Terror, several aspects of Canadian immigration have come under scrutiny (such as security certificates, unconstitutional detentions, and others); nevertheless, there remains a gap in a holistic analysis of Islamophobia in Canada’s immigration system. This call for applications is designed to reverse this trend. The successful researcher project will ideally be well-versed in critical race and decolonial theoretical approaches, which would inform the analysis undertaken, and relevant social science methodologies to undertake complex research endeavors.
Eligibility Requirements
- Open to candidates with a completed PhD no earlier than December 2021.
- PhD candidates may apply if they complete their dissertation defence successfully no later than July 1, 2025
- All nationalities may apply
Preference will be given to those with:
- a proven record of research on immigration laws and policies in Canada
- experience obtaining and analyzing government data/records incl. using ATIPs
- knowledge of diverse social science methodological approaches
- a theoretical commitment to critical race and decolonial approaches
- experience working with Muslim communities and organizational partners
Details on the Fellowship
- Renumeration: $60,000 CAD per year
- Duration: one to three years
- Location: required to be in residence at the University of Toronto
- Start Date: no earlier than February 3, 2025 and no later than September 1, 2025
- Only one fellowship on this topic is available at this time
Application Process
- Application materials include CV, statement of interest, and a writing sample.
- Please submit all application materials via email to islamicstudies@utoronto.ca
- In the subject heading of the email, please use the following: “SIRL Application”
- The application deadline is December 2, 2024
- Decisions will be announced by January 20, 2025
For any questions, please direct inquiries to islamicstudies@utoronto.ca
A PDF version of this posting can be found here.
2. The History of Anti-Islam in the Western Tradition
While many mark the beginning of “Islamophobia” as a term of art in a Runnymede Trust report of the 1990s, historians of medieval Islam and Europe know that the history of anti-Muslim hate begins well before recent events in our world. Often that history is framed by reference to studies on Islam in the European imagination, as well as interactions between Islamic suzerains and European ones. Historians such as Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Norman Daniel, Adnan Hussain, Natalie Rothman, Richard Southern, and John Tolan have written extensively on representations of Islam in European medieval and early modern archives. What is less prevalent in this historiography is the medieval foundations for anti-Muslim hate, and the way those historical tropes find expression today, as in the case of France’s Unit 732. Medievalists of colour, such as Geraldine Heng, have in recent years applied a critical race lens to the historiography of medieval Europe, raising important questions about the absence of race in the prevailing canon. Medievalists such as David Nirenberg have written seminal treatises documenting the longue durée of anti-Judaism in the Western tradition. Under-represented in this historiography is the study of anti-Islam in the archives of late antique, medieval, and early modern European history.
This call for applications is designed to fill this research gap in our collective history. The successful researcher will ideally be trained with the necessary language skills, archival experience, and the necessary historical and decolonial theoretical/methodological approaches within the relevant historical disciplines.
Eligibility Requirements
- Open to candidates with a completed PhD no earlier than December 2021.
- PhD candidates may apply if they complete their dissertation defence successfully no later than July 1, 2025
- All nationalities may apply
- Preference will be given to those with requisite language capacity, a record of research using European archives to examine the representation of Islam and Muslims, using a critical race/decolonial lens.
Details on the Fellowship
- Renumeration: $60,000 CAD per year
- Duration: one to three years
- Location: required to be in residence at the University of Toronto
- Start Date: September 1, 2025
- Only one fellowship on this topic is available at this time
Application Process
- Application materials: Please include CV, statement of interest, writing sample, and research proposal.
- Re: Research Proposal. The Research Proposal should specify the research objectives, research plan, theoretical approach, methodology, and preliminary ideas for knowledge dissemination. The proposal or statement should speak to the candidate’s training, interest, and background that prepares them to take on the proposed research project (max 2000 words).
- Please submit all application materials via email to islamicstudies@utoronto.ca
- In the subject heading of the email, please use the following: “SIRL Application: History of Anti-Islam”
- The application deadline is December 29, 2024
- Decisions will be announced by by late February
For any questions, please direct inquiries to islamicstudies@utoronto.ca
A PDF version of this posting can be found here.
3. Islamophobia and Anti-Palestine Racism
In the context of Israel’s unabated violence in Gaza and other occupied Palestinian territories since October 2023, this call for application invites an examination into the politics, discourses, and dynamics related to Palestine that have emerged in Canada. This call invites inquiries that undertake theoretical and empirical inquiries into the relationship between Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism, examining intersectionality, distinctions, and erasures. In some regards, two pathways of a colonial racial logic and Orientalism have emerged in the contemporary moment. One relates to the racist discourses and institutions that have cropped up as part of the War on Terror to manage the “Muslim” problem. The other is that of anti-Palestinian racism which can, according to the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association, involve the erasure of Palestinian history and identity while defaming those advocating for Palestinian self-determination as antisemitic or supporters of terrorism. There are touchpoints between Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism: weaponizing “terrorism” to justify state violence against Palestinians or using Islamophobic civilizational discourse to frame Palestinians as inherently violent or distracting from Israel’s settler-colonial human rights violations with caricatures of an obstinate and hateful Muslim majority. Yet much work is needed to properly define and study the relationship (and disjuncture) between Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism. At a time when terms like Islamophobia and Anti-Palestinian Racism are featured in public discourse, this fellowship is an invitation to develop robust theoretical and empirical insight into how to conceive of these terms and their relationship.
The successful researcher project will ideally be well-versed in critical race, historical, and decolonial theoretical/methodological approaches, and relevant humanistic and interpretive social science methodologies to undertake complex research endeavors.
Eligibility Requirements
- Open to candidates with a completed PhD no earlier than December 2021.
- PhD candidates may apply if they complete their dissertation defence successfully no later than July 1, 2025
- All nationalities may apply
- Preference will be given to those with experience working with Muslim and Palestinian communities, archives, and institutions
Details on the Fellowship
- Remuneration: $60,000 CAD per year
- Duration: one to three years
- Location: required to be in residence at the University of Toronto
- Start Date: September 1, 2025
- Only one open-subject fellowship is available at this time
Application Process
- Application materials include a CV, statement of interest, research proposal (2000 words max), names and contact information of two referees (letters will not be immediately requested), and a writing sample.
- Please submit all application materials via email to islamicstudies@utoronto.ca. In the subject heading of the email, please use the following: “SIRL IS/APR Application”
- The application deadline is January 6, 2025
- Decisions will be announced by March 2025
For any questions, please direct inquiries to islamicstudies@utoronto.ca
A PDF version of this posting can be found here.
