Politics and Gender —
A Transnational Research and Teaching Network
Fellowship Reports
All students with individual fellowships have to submit research reports including a description of
the research question, the research process, and the findings. In addition, the fellows are invited
to describe the conditions for research and to evaluate the support by the network/coordinator.
In the following are some citations from these reports.
Student from Fes University on the fellowship at the CvO University of Oldenburg
“Thanks to the unremitting meetings with young scholars from Germany, Yemen and
Morocco, one starts to think beyond local perspectives due to cultural dialogs and at
times culture shocks. Not only do the latter happen between Arab and German
students, but among Moroccan and Yemeni ones as well. During the whole stay
students from all the above mentioned nationalities shared the same research office;
a fact which guaranteed the continuously constructive exchange of ideas, research
interests, cultural specificities and expertise among trainees as well as trainers. From
the perspective of a Moroccan trainee, this experience stands out as an
unprecedented occurrence in matters of material and vocational support.
Unlike the Moroccan university, at the CvO University of Oldenburg I had the
opportunity to make the most of my time for research as the latter university opens at
8 a.m. and closes at 10 p.m. It is this atmosphere of spending the whole day with
researchers and trainers that remains for me as an outstanding feature of the
German universities. In addition, the exchange program has offered to me a smooth
transition from a slow rhythm and individualistic type of research into a highly
sustained and a collective group of young researchers from different nationalities.
As regards the vocational support, I am deeply grateful to the following trainers: Dr
Fatima Sadiqi, Dr Lydia Potts, Martina Kamp and Dr Moha Ennaji. These scholars
offer to the exchange program labeled ‘German Arab University dialog’ a
professional dimension. Not only did I learn from the occasion of having them work
at the same place, but I have profited enormously from their informal and
continuously intensive discussions as well as instructive suggestions for the
improvement of my conceptions of the politics of representation and methodology of
research. Among the tips that I learned from my trainers is the inclusion of
multidisciplinary approaches and overcoming binary opposition that were a major
lacuna in my earlier works.
The project of German Arab university dialog dedicates a special budget to the cost
of travel research which allows students to visit special institutions for the
advancement of the formers investigations. Thanks to this facility, I was able to visit
some special media centers in the Twente University in the Netherlands as well as
attend a study day in the Free University in Amsterdam.
The project labeled ‘German–Arab University Dialogue’ stands for me as a highly
recommended initiative for more feedings among Arab and European cultures in
proportion to Edward Said. The blend of German, Turkish, Moroccan and Yemeni
young scholars at one place is a healthy atmosphere for the promotion of global
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thinking along with reference to cultural specificities. Not only did these students
profit from lectures and seminars presented at the CvO University of Oldenburg, but
also gained vocational experiences together with research methodologies from the
German, Moroccan and Yemeni partners in the project of training fresh academics.
As a case in point, I used to work exclusively on visual and textual representations of
women in the Moroccan media discourses without offering myself an instructive
opening on other media representations of the female gender in other Arab and
Western countries. Thus, getting familiar with different investigation interests and
various ways of analyses in the above mentioned context, I become persuaded by
the virtues of the comparative studies for understanding the position of women in the
Arab media.
Both the network and its coordinators provided the utmost support for developing
critically multidisciplinary methodologies and visions for the benefit of all fellow
students.
Given the importance of place for a better understanding of its culture, fellows in the
program should visit at least the partner countries meaning Germany, Yemen,
Morocco and other potential countries. So the host country should not be all the time
Germany, but other countries who should invest in this greatly recommended culture
dialogs and the exchange of expertise among young students who are the future for
tolerance and the advancement of universal academic investigations.
I also believe that during the stay in the host country fellows should be benefit from
some language courses no matter how elementary they might be. So, while students
are Germany, they should take language classes as well as try to pick up the
language from live and natural contexts. This should be the case in other countries,
and thus while in Morocco they could take Moroccan Arabic classes as well as live
with Moroccan families in order to assimilate the language in a natural context. It is
worth noting in this respect that Moroccan Arabic has become a target language for
most foreigners who even stay for short terms.
It also seems to me of vital importance that the project should create opportunities
for the fellows to publish articles and papers of research. Though publications call for
more academic qualifications, students can be pushed by their supervisors to work
on a particular subject within their area of research with the purpose synthesizing
their core ideas in publishable forms.”
Student from AK Gender/CvO University of Oldenburg on the Initial Partner Workshop in
May 2006, and the fellowship for a field research in Morocco
“Especially the workshop from 25. to 30. May 2006, which took place at the
University of Oldenburg, gave me the golden opportunity to get in contact with other
fellows and professors with same research interests.
In the meeting...every participant presented his or her research he/she is actually
working on or his or her research ideas. This was a great experience for me. It gave
me the chance to present my ideas in front of experts and to present me in the role
of an academic. Even, as some of the participants of the workshop came from
Morocco, the target of my research, they could give me profound knowledge about
the society and culture. Further, they gave me information about good literature for
my topic and hints how to enter the field and respectively the Moroccan society. It
was so helpful for me to discuss afterwards with them the idea of my research and to
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get the feedback. This helped me to ameliorate my questions and methods...[and]
gave me a lot of self-confidence power and encouragement.
At the workshop and the time after, as I wrote above, there had been a very good
support and cooperation from the Moroccan partners. Unfortunately, I did my
research in July and August in Morocco, when the Fes University was closed for
summer holidays. So, I could not participate in courses or seminars.
The scholarship enabled me to do a field research for reaching my MA thesis in
Social Anthropology. Without this scholarship I could not have done a practical
thesis. So, for me it was a golden opportunity. This scholarship was further the
entrance for me into an international scholar network from which I will surely benefit
in future.
It is the beginning of my academic career, as my supervising professor emphasized.”
Student from Fes University on the fellowship at the CvO University of Oldenburg
“Being a beginner in my PhD research project, my...stay in CvO University of
Oldenburg has been a very significant step in my research. It has allowed me to
gather materials, rewrite my PhD proposal, put a schedule to my research,
participate in a international seminar, and to conduct research visits.
My fellowship in Oldenburg has...blessed me with the opportunity to meet
researchers, scholars and experts in the field of my research. All these people have
been very willing to advise, guide and pass me some of their experience. Indeed,
their enormous unconditional help allowed me to rewrite my PhD proposal with new
insights and universal academic formalities.
During my stay, Dr Lydia Potts used to organize a meeting every Friday morning for
all the fellows in Gender and Politics program to discuss their research projects. This
process has been very beneficial as it gave us the chance not only to benefit from
each other, but also to profit from the comments and experience of Lydia Potts and
other professors who used to attended some of those meetings.
[I could attend a seminar, where] I had the chance to meet scholars and students of
different backgrounds and nationalities and discuss the issues raised through the
talks presented. As a participant, I contributed with a presentation..., [which] has
been prepared in collaboration with two German university students.
[In 2006, research visits were part of the fellowship program, webmistress]. I
managed to visit both German Institute of Global and Area Studies and German
Institute for Middle East studies in Hamburg. These centers have valuable
documents in the domain of Middle East and North African Studies. They also recruit
advanced researchers and experts who conduct frequent studies...on...the Middle
East and North Africa. I also had the chance to visit the documentation center at
Media-teck in Paris.
My previous modest knowledge of the West or Europe has been either trough the
media or Moroccan migrants. However, my stay for almost three months in Germany
and travels to France and Holland have helped me to construct my own knowledge
of this civilization and correct my previous blurred images. Indeed, my residence for
a quite of time in Germany has been a significant experience in my personal life.
Given the enormous work of all partners in general and the incredible efforts of both
Dr Lydia Potts and Martina Kamp in particular to prepare the initial workshop, I find it
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hard if not impossible as a fellow of a very modest experience to give further
suggestions that could contribute to the success of the project. Therefore, my
suggestions would fall only within the scope some of the fellows’ needs:

Fellows could be given the chance to benefit from German language courses,
a fact which is likely to help them in their research.

Fellows are in need of an ongoing supervision of all professors-partners in
their research projects.

Fellows should benefit from other chances to stay in Oldenburg to benefit
from the research materials available in there.

Fellows should be supported and updated with materials and publications in
the domain of their research.”
Student from Sana'a University on the fellowship on the Initial Partner Workshop in May
2006, and a fellowship at the CvO University of Oldenburg
“I learned a lot from all the participants in the workshop. All the presentations added
in some way or the other to my research topic. I profited from the discussions, and I
think I can use the ideas that were presented and incorporate them in my research
paper.
The library tour was fascinating. I think I will benefit immensely from the books and
resources available at the library. Also the easy access to computers and the
internet will help profoundly in the writing of my research paper. Moreover, the
general atmosphere at the university and the friendly people will make my stay
enjoyable. All these factors will motivate me to work harder and complete my
research paper. I look forward to stay and work on my research paper at the CvO
University of Oldenburg.
[In Sana'a,] I will...continue. When I will return to my country I will start to visit all the
libraries in Yemen to start writing in my search. In Germany, I found everything is
easy and possible to study. Additionally, I can take the bus and the train with my
student card. The service at the library is really uncomplicated and it is very big, but
at the same time I can find any book in the library by using the computer, and I can
copy anything by card. This is a great opportunity and I hope to benefit from it as
much as I can.”
Student from Fes University on the fellowship at the CvO University of Oldenburg
“My research fellowship in the CvO University of Oldenburg allowed me a period of
concentrated research activity. It has been a real career development opportunity
that I have benefited from widely as it has assisted me in pursuing the theoretical
and methodological steps of my research which started two years before.
The plan of my visit, set up by the German coordinators involved meetings with
fellow doctoral students and visiting of universities and research institutes based in
Germany and organising group discussions.
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The plan I have set for my visit involved concentrating on getting the new
publications on my topic and ordering the newly published books. I visited other
universities in Germany: namely the Universities of Bremen, Hamburg the Free
University in Amsterdam. Additionally, I have met other exchange students working
on gender, and I have been able to get newly published articles dealing with the
issue of gender and politics from the electronic resources of these universities.
Thanks to the help I got from a German fellow, I had also the opportunity to organise
for my visit to the Institut du Monde Arabe, the University of Paris 8 in Paris, and the
University of Toulouse.
In September, I have finished my research fellowship with satisfaction about the
experiences I got in developing my research career, and to know more about the
field of research by meeting researcher from other geographical spaces. I was able
to establish new ties with researchers and institutes in Germany, France and the
Netherlands, and I wish to consolidate these ties by having another research
fellowship, in which I aspire to be more active and engaged in research projects.
This will allow me at the same time to ground for my wish to write a comparative
study about the impact of the use of positive discrimination strategies on women’s
empowerment in different social, cultural and political contexts.
I am very grateful to the coordinators and to the CvO University of Oldenburg, they
provided me with many research facilities: a personal stipend was paid each month,
a coverage for my travel expenses was paid, besides other additional research costs
for photocopying and ordering new books from libraries all over Germany and also
accommodation was afforded.
The fellowship has provided me with a real opportunity to expand my research skills
and management.”
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