2023-24 Gosling-Lim Postdoctoral Fellowship Awarded to Dr. Nor Ismah

The Association for Asian Studies is pleased to announce that the 2023 Gosling-Lim Postdoctoral Fellowship in Southeast Asian Studies has been awarded to Dr. Nor Ismah, Vice-Director at the Institute of Southeast Asian Islam at Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Dr. Ismah will be based at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Michigan, where she will spend the 2023-24 academic year revising her dissertation project, “Women Issuing Fatwas: Female Islamic Scholars and Community-Based Authority in Java, Indonesia,” into a book manuscript.

Dr. Ismah has studied at Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University (B.A., 2002), the University of Hawaii, Manoa (M.A., 2012), and Leiden University (Ph.D., 2023). In addition to her academic scholarship, she has published two novels and is currently working on a third. Author of more than a dozen journal articles and book chapters, Dr. Ismah’s work has been supported by funding from the Ford Foundation, Australia Awards Indonesia, and the United States Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, among many other organizations. She has extensive experience working as a writer and editor, researcher, and facilitator for a variety of educational training programs.

The Gosling-Lim Postdoctoral Fellow in Southeast Asian Studies was established in 2022 thanks to a generous gift from L.A. Peter Gosling and Linda Yuen-Ching Lim. This fellowship is focused on capability-building in Southeast Asian Studies among scholars who are Southeast Asian nationals based in Southeast Asia and at Southeast Asian institutions. Its goal is to enable such scholars to concentrate on publishing their dissertation research, and/or embark on new post-dissertation research, without the distraction of having to teach, consult, or shoulder administrative burdens, and with the opportunity to expand their scholarly networks and expertise. The intent is that fellowship recipients will develop their careers in the region, helping to advance the field of Southeast Asian Studies within the region.

The Association for Asian Studies looks forward to welcoming Dr. Nor Ismah to Ann Arbor later this year.