Aarhus University, Department of Anthropology

Associate Professorship in Anthropology

The Department of Anthropology, part of the larger School of Culture and Society, invites applications for the position of associate professor of anthropology. The associate professorship is a permanent, full-time position, commencing on 1 August 2020 or as soon as possible thereafter..
 
Place of employment: The Department of Anthropology, Moesgaard Allé, 8270 Højbjerg, Denmark.
 
The university wants its staff to reflect the diversity of society, and thus welcomes applications from all qualified applicants regardless of their personal background.
 
Job description
We are looking for a colleague who is eager and able to contribute to the continuing development of the department’s thriving research and educational environments. We are looking for someone with a strong understanding of, and training within, the general field of social/cultural anthropology. Applicants with a regional specialisation in Latin America who are able to conduct research in – and introduce students to – Spanish-speaking areas of the world will be preferred. Thematically, we are particularly keen to strengthen the department’s capacities within the fields of political anthropology, the anthropology of human rights and/or transitional justice.
 
We are looking for applicants with excellent and well-documented core anthropological research credentials, including experience and expertise gained through long-term ethnographic fieldwork, an outstanding publication record, and a documented ability to attract external funding and nurture international collaboration.
 
The successful applicant will be responsible for planning, developing and teaching anthropology at BA, MA and PhD level, as well as possibly contributing to the department’s Master’s programme in human security. The successful applicant must be able to teach general courses in anthropology (see language requirements/expectations below). We emphasise the importance of maintaining a dedicated and respectful relationship between staff and students, so the ideal applicant should be able to demonstrate and exemplify their commitment to participatory teaching initiatives and student involvement as part of their teaching portfolio.

Talent development
The associate professor will be expected to supervise PhD students and contribute to the development and implementation of PhD courses in anthropology.

Knowledge exchange
It is expected that the successful applicant will engage in knowledge exchange as described in the strategy for the Faculty of Arts, for instance research cooperation with private companies, government consultancy, cooperation with civil society partners or the public dissemination of knowledge. Applicants should document any prior experience within the field of knowledge exchange.
 
Qualifications
Applicants must hold a PhD or its equivalent in social/cultural anthropology, as well as having documented teaching qualifications equivalent to those acquired through an assistant professorship. They must also be able to document the following:

• Relevant academic publications at the highest international level
• Solid ethnographic fieldwork experience
• Experience of active participation in international research collaboration
• Experience of research organisation, including the obtaining and administration of external funding
• Strong teaching competences and experience of supervising at MA level
• A commitment to teaching development, the supervision of student projects and talent development

Please note that applications which do not include samples of publications (maximum eight) will not be considered. A list of publications is not sufficient. Please see further below under the headline 'Formalities'.

Past research achievements will be assessed based on the active research time of the applicant in question. So we ask applicants to specify any career breaks they have had (e.g. due to maternity/paternity, illness, etc.), in order to gauge their research productivity.

References or recommendations should not be included with the application. Applicants who are selected for a job interview may be asked to state professional references.

Language
At the Department of Anthropology, Bachelor’s courses are generally taught in Danish, while courses on Master’s programmes are taught in English or Danish. Applicants must be able to teach and supervise in English at university level.
 
If the successful applicant is not fluent in Danish, he or she will be expected to acquire the language within a period of approximately three years.
 
Applications must be uploaded in English.
 
For further information about the content of the position, please contact Head of Department Mads Daugbjerg (mads.daugbjerg@cas.au.dk)
 
For further information about the application procedure, please contact HR supporter Marianne Birn (mbb@au.dk)
 
The Department of Anthropology
The Department of Anthropology at Aarhus University is among the largest and strongest academic environments within its field in Europe. Its scientific staff consists of around 22 tenured full and associate professors, 10-12 assistant professors and post-doctoral fellows, and a cohort of more than 40 PhD students. More than 500 Bachelor’s and Master’s students are enrolled in the department’s teaching programmes at any given time. The department has a strong international profile, attracting visiting researchers, fellows and students from across the world.
 
The department’s researchers are committed to the anthropological tradition that combines rich empirical research based on ethnographic fieldwork with theoretically based historical and comparative studies. Its core research encompasses broad cross-disciplinary work on theories about what it means to be human, detailed methodological reflections on the basic conditions and current challenges of fieldwork, thorough engagement with specific regional and thematic problems, and continuing experiments with anthropological forms of representation. Regionally, the department’s expertise extends throughout most geographical areas of the world. Its researchers are engaged on all continents, with a particularly substantial strength in Southern and South-East Asia, combined with a strong ethnographic commitment to Denmark and Danish society. Thematically, the department is no less diverse, with a history of research clusters within the anthropology of politics, religion, modernity and medicine having been reinforced, in recent years, by new research foci such as land and border conflicts, migration and mobility, urbanism, design and planning, environmental and multi-species ethnography, heritage and memory, as well as visual anthropology and experimental methodologies.

The department’s teaching programmes offer first-rate training in theory, data collection and analysis, combined with a strong emphasis on learning through fieldwork practice and other ways of external engagement, including corporate and governmental contexts. We offer Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes in anthropology as well as an interdisciplinary, English-language Master’s programme in human security, a supplementary (minor) programme in sociology, and a Danish-language, part-time programme in health anthropology designed for healthcare professionals. As part of their Master’s degree programme in anthropology, students choose a track specialisation in general or visual anthropology, preparing them for field studies and thesis writing within these areas. Likewise, our human security students engage with international partners such as NGOs in analysing and addressing security-related challenges across the globe. Our close relationship with the adjacent Moesgaard Museum and its staff – some of whom hold positions shared between the university and the museum – provides students and staff with opportunities for creating exhibitions or otherwise engaging in research communication with the general public.
 
The School of Culture and Society
At the School of Culture and Society, the object of research and teaching is the interplay between culture and society in time and space:
 
- From the traditional disciplines of the humanities and theology to applied social research
- From Antiquity to the issues facing contemporary societies
- From Danish cultural forms to other very different worlds
- From local questions to global challenges
 
The school’s ambition is to produce compelling research with an international resonance, as well as offering teaching and talent development of the highest quality. The school has a broad cooperative interface with society as a whole, both in Denmark and abroad, and contributes to social innovation, research communication and further and continuing education.

For further information about the school, please see http://cas.au.dk/en/.

Aarhus University
Aarhus University is an academically diverse and research-intensive university with a strong commitment to high-quality research and education and the development of society nationally and globally. The university offers an inspiring research and teaching environment to its 38,000 students (FTEs) and 8,000 employees, and has an annual revenues of EUR 885 million. Learn more at www.international.au.dk/