Ethnic & Immigrant Congregations Project- UI

From: U61477@uicvm.uic.edu (NEICP) Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam SUBJECT: DISSERTATION AND POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS Date: 2 Aug 93 15:04:33 GMT Sender: azhar@duke.cs.duke.edu Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago, academic Computer Center

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO ANNOUNCES

GRANT FOR NEW ETHNIC & IMMIGRANT CONGREGATIONS PROJECT

R. Stephen Warner, project director and professor of sociology at UIC, announced an award of $220,354 by Lilly Endowment Inc. to conduct a training and fellowship program promoting ethnographic studies of new ethnic and immigrant congregations. NEICP will provide intensive training in field research methods and one year of fellowship support.

Warner said that fellowship opportunities are open to doctoral candidates and recent postdoctorates in all fields of social science and humanities, including anthropology and religious studies. He added that applications are particularly encouraged from individuals in Latino/a Studies and Asian Studies. It is the goal of the project, he said, to portray the increasing diversity of communal religious life in the U.S., for example Hispanic and Korean churches, Islamic centers and mosques, and Buddhist and Hindu temples. But he noted that the final mix of congregations the project will study depends on the quality and variety of proposals they receive. "It is our intention," he concluded, "to recruit fellows from the widest possible pool of applicants."

The New Ethnic and Immigrant Congregations Project will fund: * a six-week ethnographic training institute in Chicago for all participants (summer 1994); * ten-month research fellowships ($12,000 dissertation fellowships, $6,000 postdoctoral fellowships) in 1994-95; * a one-week writing workshop for all participants (summer 1995); and * a national conference to present research results (spring 1996).

Information packets and application forms for fellowships will be available from the NEICP office at the address listed below between August 1 and December 1, 1993. Completed applications must be postmarked no later than January 2, 1994. The New Ethnic and Immigrant Congregations Project is administered by the Office of Social Science Research at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Additional funding for the project is pending.

BACKGROUND

"Field research" means on-site social research--sometimes called ethnographic research--consisting of participant observation, depth interviews, and analysis of archival and textual materials. Field researchers produce descriptive reports written with attention to theoretical and topical literature.

"New ethnic and immigrant groups" is an inexact term referring to groups who are expanding the boundaries of U.S. religious life beyond the mostly Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish communities of European- Americans and African-Americans characteristic of a generation ago. These groups include Latino/a Americans, Asian Americans, and Middle Eastern Americans.

"Congregation" refers to the local, face-to-face religious assembly, whether it be known as a "parish," "congregation," "masjid," "center," "temple," "wat," "gurdwara," "house church," or "saint's association." Congregational studies focus on ongoing associational and communal expressions of religious life.

New Ethnic and Immigrant Congregations Project Office of Social Science Research (M/C 307) University of Illinois at Chicago 1007 West Harrison Street Chicago, Illinois 60607-7136 (312) 996-1801 FAX (312) 996-9484 BITNET: u61477@uicvm Internet: u61477@uicvm.cc.uic.edu