Northeastern University, Africana Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Black Feminist Studies

The Northeastern University Africana Studies Program and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program announce a 2-year Postdoctoral Fellowship in Black Feminist Studies to begin July 1, 2022.  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, 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 complex questions around gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity. Special consideration will be given to candidates with expertise in Black queer studies and/or the digital humanities. The Postdoctoral Fellow will have access to a mentor, research centers, and have one writing workshop presentation and session with faculty from across the university. Africana Studies is an interdisciplinary program with a mission of teaching and conducting research in social sciences and humanities fields on the historical and contemporary experiences across the local and global African Diaspora. Recent hires in Africana Studies at Northeastern have resulted in a vibrant community of Black feminist scholars in the fields of history, religion, anthropology, and literary studies making this an especially exciting moment for a Postdoctoral Fellow in Black Feminist Studies to join us.  

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; memes of gender or sexuality that inform digital humanities theory and practice; expressive uses of media in the construction of gendered and raced subjectivities; feminist inflections of digital representational practices and systems.

Applicants should have received the PhD in a relevant field between May 2019 and May 2022 and have college or university teaching experience. 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 and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies community and will teach cross-listed courses in the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies programs. One course will be the Introduction to Africana Studies or class or another undergraduate course that will cultivate 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.

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 combination teaching and research fellowship 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, WGSS, 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

To apply, visit the College of Social Sciences and Humanities faculty positions website at https://careersmanager.pageuppeople.com/879/cw/en-us/job/508625/postdoctoral-fellow

All applications should include a letter of interest, curriculum vita, five-page project proposal that clearly lays out a project at the intersection of Digital Humanities and Gender Studies, 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 fullest consideration, applications should be submitted by February 1, 2022. 

Northeastern University is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.