About the Opportunity
The College of Social Sciences and Humanities (CSSH) is a leader in the Experiential Liberal Arts. The College is strongly committed to fostering excellence through diversity and enthusiastically welcomes applications from members of groups underrepresented in higher education administration.
The College’s schools, departments, and programs—with disciplines ranging from economics and history to English, urban affairs, international affairs, and American Sign Language Interpreting—form an interdisciplinary environment with global perspectives and a culture of inclusion. Our faculty connects liberal arts education with the challenges of our time, fostering ethical reasoning and critical thought with attention to the enduring significance of history, literature, and culture. Strategic Areas of Focus for the College’s education and research throughout its global network are (1) Resilience, Sustainability, Health, and Equity, (2) Cultural Transformations, Governance, and Globalization, and (3) Network Science, Computational Social Science, Digital Humanities, and Information Ethics.
CSSH has long been committed to creating a culture of inclusion for our students, faculty, and staff. Diversity and inclusion, as well as questions of race, racism, and anti-racism, are part of all our programs, all our research centers, and our three areas of strategic focus—and are always works in progress. At the same time, we focus on how modes of constructing social hierarchies, including race, gender, sexuality, class, ability, and others, intersect with one another.
The Northeastern University Africana Studies Program, in partnership with the Department of History and Program in Public History announce a 2-year Postdoctoral Fellowship in Black Feminist Studies and Public History to begin July 1, 2024. Specialization may be in any area of Africana Studies in disciplines of social sciences or humanities, with a clear commitment to feminist interdisciplinary work. We welcome textual, theoretical, and/or empirical projects in any field or period that engage questions at the intersection of Africana Studies and feminism, gender, and sexuality. Research proposals should involve substantive theoretical engagement within Africana Studies and feminist/gender studies; the strongest proposals will include a project component and will embrace an intersectional approach that reckons with gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity. Scholars working in Black feminist or African diasporic women's histories, Black queer studies, or the digital humanities are strongly preferred.
The Postdoctoral Fellow will have access to a mentor and have one writing workshop presentation and session with faculty from across the university. Recent hires in Africana Studies at Northeastern have resulted in a strong community of Black feminist scholars in the fields of history, anthropology, and literary studies making this an especially exciting moment for a Postdoctoral Fellow in Black Feminist Studies.
Areas of particular interest in the Northeastern context include the transmission, circulation, and organization of social movements for gender and sexual equity; sexual and racial communities, cultures, and markets, particularly as these are inflected by digital culture; digital humanities theory and practice; expressive uses of media in the construction of gendered and raced subjectivities; feminist approaches to digital representational practices and systems.
Responsibilities:
The fellowship offers the successful candidate a unique platform for professional advancement: financial and material support for independent research; the ability to develop substantive interdisciplinary teaching expertise; and the opportunity to play an instrumental role in nurturing the growing digital humanities community at Northeastern University. The fellowship includes a stipend of $60,000, health insurance, office space, mentoring, and clerical support, in addition to $5000 per annum for research and travel expenses.
This fellowship combines research and teaching and is designed to support fellows in developing both their teaching skills and their research programs. We expect:
- active participation in intellectual life of Africana Studies, Public History, and of the College
- teaching excellence
- research, publication, and engagement with digital practice
- interaction with undergraduate and graduate students as well as faculty
- one public lecture
- research that explores the implications of humanities research paradigms
- submission of revised manuscript for book manuscript workshop in the second year
The Postdoctoral Fellow will teach one class during the first year and two classes during the second year. Postdoctoral fellows will present their work to the Africana Studies, Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and Public History communities and will teach cross-listed courses in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Public History programs. One course will be the Introduction to Africana Studies class or another undergraduate course that will attract a broad audience. In addition, fellows will be encouraged to participate in the Northeastern Humanities Center seminar series as well as the Northeastern community at large where the themes of racial and social justice are of particular interest in this critical moment.
Qualifications:
- Applicants should have received their PhD in a relevant field between May 2020 and May 2024 and have college or university teaching experience.
Documents to Submit:
All applications should include a letter of interest, curriculum vita, five-page project proposal that clearly lays out a Black Feminist Studies project, a writing sample of no more than twenty-five pages, a one-page proposal for an undergraduate course (other than the Introduction), and three letters of recommendation.
For full consideration, applications should be submitted by February 5, 2024
Position Type
Research
Additional Information
Northeastern University considers factors such as candidate work experience, education and skills when extending an offer.
Northeastern has a comprehensive benefits package for benefit eligible employees. This includes medical, vision, dental, paid time off, tuition assistance, wellness & life, retirement- as well as commuting & transportation. Visit https://hr.northeastern.edu/benefits/ for more information.
Northeastern University is an equal opportunity employer, seeking to recruit and support a broadly diverse community of faculty and staff. Northeastern values and celebrates diversity in all its forms and strives to foster an inclusive culture built on respect that affirms inter-group relations and builds cohesion.
All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
To learn more about Northeastern University’s commitment and support of diversity and inclusion, please see www.northeastern.edu/diversity.
