Humanities and Social Sciences Postdocs 2020-2021

This page is for postdoctoral positions that begin in 2020-2021.

Last year's page: Humanities and Social Sciences Postdocs 2019-2020

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Wiki Pages from Previous Years (2010-2020)

For more information and answers to some questions about timing, materials requests, application numbers and fields, offers, etc. see previous years' postdoc wikis at:

Upcoming Deadlines

July 2020

31 July 2020: University of Sussex (UK:Sx) - Research Fellow (I) in Digital Culture

August 2020

4 August 2020: Princeton University (USA:NJ) - Postdoctoral Fellowship in Humanities and Social Sciences

September 2020

October 2020

15 October 2020: University of Pennsylvania (USA:Pa) - Wolf Humanities Center Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships, 2021-2022 ("Migrations")

19 October 2020: University of Michigan (USA:Mi) - Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies, Postdoc ("Second Temple Judaism: The Challenge of Diversity")

November 2020

December 2020

January 2021

4 January 2021: Southern Methodist University (USA:Tx) - Clements Center for Southwest Studies Fellowships (3x)

Postdocs

Princton University (USA:NJ) - Postdoctoral Fellowship in Humanities and Social Sciences - Deadline: 4 August

The Princeton Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts, an interdisciplinary group of scholars in the humanities, social sciences, and selected natural sciences, invites applications for the 2021-24 fellowship competition. Three fellowships will be awarded: Two Open Fellowships in any discipline represented in the Society and one Fellowship in Humanistic Studies.

Applicants may apply for more than one fellowship pertinent to their research and teaching. Please see the Society’s website (sf.princeton.edu) for fellowship details, eligibility, disciplines and application.

Appointed in the Council of the Humanities and academic departments, postdoctoral fellows pursue their research, attend weekly seminars and teach half-time as lecturers for a term of three years. In each of the first two years, fellows teach one course each semester; in their third year, only one course. Fellows must reside in or near Princeton during the academic year.

Applicants holding the Ph.D. at the time of application must have received the degree after January 1, 2019. Applicants not yet holding the Ph.D. must have completed a substantial portion of the dissertation - approximately half - at the time of application. Successful candidates must fulfill all requirements for the Ph.D., including filing of the dissertation, by June 15, 2021. Candidates for/recipients of doctoral degrees in Education, Jurisprudence and from Princeton University are not eligible. Applicants may apply only once to the Princeton Society of Fellows.

Selection is based on exceptional scholarly achievement and evidence of unusual promise, range and quality of teaching experience, and potential contributions to an interdisciplinary community. The Society of Fellows seeks a diverse and international pool of applicants, and especially welcomes those from underrepresented backgrounds.

Applicants are asked to submit an online application by August 4, 2020 (11:59 p.m. EST).

Southern Methodist University (USA:Tx) - Clements Center for Southwest Studies Fellowships (3x)- Deadline: 4 January 2021

For nearly a quarter-century, the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University has promoted research, publishing, teaching, and public programming in a variety of fields of inquiry related to Texas, the American Southwest, and the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Central to our mission is the annual sponsorship of four postdoctoral fellows, and we are thus pleased to announce the competition for our 2021-22 cohort. Please see the descriptions below, while noting two major changes from past application cycles:

We will now support work on California in all periods (not only to 1850)
Our senior fellowship is now open to applicants (and no longer awarded by invitation)

The Bill & Rita Clements Senior Fellowship for the Study of Southwestern America, funded by an anonymous donor in memory of Bill & Rita Clements, supports work on Texas, the Southwest, or the U.S.-Mexico borderlands by an established scholar developing a second (or third &c.) book.

The David J. Weber Fellowship for the Study of Southwestern America, funded by the late Bill & Rita Clements as well as an anonymous donor in memory of David J. Weber, supports work on Texas, the Southwest, or the U.S.-Mexico borderlands by a scholar developing a first book.

The Bill & Rita Clements Fellowships for the Study of Southwestern America, funded by the late Bill & Rita Clements as well as the late Louis Beecherl, support work on Texas, the Southwest, or the U.S.-Mexico borderlands by two scholars developing first books.

Applications are due Monday, January 4, 2021. To apply, see www.smu.edu/swcenter/fellowships or direct questions for additional information to the Clements Center at SWCenterfellow@smu.edu.

University of Michigan (USA:Mi) - Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies, Postdoc ("Second Temple Judaism: The Challenge of Diversity") - Deadline: 19 October 2020

The Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan provides residential fellowships for scholars to conduct research around an annual theme. Position offers pending final approval, we are currently accepting applications for the 2021-22 Theme Year, "Second Temple Judaism: The Challenge of Diversity." Diversity of ethnicity, religion, social status, gender, age, and ability was as much a feature of the ancient Mediterranean world as it is in the present. We aim to explore the diversity of religious, cultural, and political life during the period of the Second Temple, from after the Babylonian Exile up to and including the Bar Kokhba Revolt.

The modern notion of Second Temple Judaism was originally shaped by Christian scholars who imagined it as the “intertestamental” period between the Old and the New Testaments, or as the “age of Jesus.” On the other hand, Jewish scholars were uncomfortable with the periodization, only gradually accepting the notion that a significant transition also occurred between “Biblical” and “Rabbinic” Judaism, or “from the Bible to the Mishnah.” Second Temple Judaism, however, is much more than just a combination of “proto-Rabbinic” and “proto-Christian” traditions. It was the seedbed for multiple, distinctive worldviews, as recorded by Josephus and attested by the Dead Sea Scrolls, the so-called OT Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, the New Testament, and the rich literature of Hellenistic Judaism.

The Frankel Institute aims to develop fruitful conversation about ancient Jewish diversity. We invite fellows to question the separation of the “canonical” from the “non-canonical,” and the “Christian” from the “Jewish.” We particularly welcome proposals that integrate the “traditional” tools of philology, intellectual and social history, and archaeology with “newer” methods of analysis (gender studies, post-colonial studies, etc.). By bringing together a group of international scholars who approach the material from different perspectives in an interdisciplinary and inclusive fashion, the Frankel Institute seeks to contribute to our understanding of the vibrant diversity of Second Temple Judaism and redefine its place within Jewish Studies.

Applications and Letters of Recommendation are due by Oct 19, 2020

Applications are reviewed by the Institute’s Steering Committee and at least two external evaluators drawn from the Institute’s Academic Advisory Board. Notifications will be made no later than March 2021.

Document Checklist

To complete your application, you will need to upload the following documents in PDF format.

Abstract of your proposed fellowship project (100 words)
Description of your proposed fellowship project (1,000 words)
Current CV with a list of your publications
1-2 samples of completed work and/or work in progress (not more than 40 pages each)

All documents and other materials must be in English.

Letters of Recommendation

Letters of recommendation will be solicited and submitted within the online application.
You must request three letters of recommendation.
Letters of recommendation are due by Oct. 19, 2020, so please be sure to give your recommenders enough time to submit their letters. We recommend requesting your letters of recommendation as early as possible.

Eligibility

Fellowship applications are accepted from both tenured and untenured faculty as well as from recent Ph.D.’s without a tenure-track position and professors emeriti. Where appropriate, applications are accepted from independent artists, documentary film-makers, and writers.

You may apply either for a full academic year fellowship or for a single semester. Past Frankel Institute Fellows must have a 4 year break before they are eligible to apply.

University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, & the Arts Faculty Eligibility:

All LSA faculty eligible to apply must be tenure–track, full–time faculty members engaged in major scholarly and/or creative projects in the humanities and/or interpretive sciences. They must have completed two consecutive terms of full–time teaching since their last leave of any kind. As this is a scholarly activity leave, terms on this award do not count toward sabbatical. Further, LSA faculty may apply to only one of the following in a given year: (1) Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies, (2) Institute for the Humanities, or (3) Michigan Humanities awards.

University of Michigan Emeritus faculty members are not eligible for the fellowship.

Compensation

Depending on rank, experience, and length of stay at the Institute, Fellows receive compensation ranging between $45,000–$66,000. Additionally, University of Michigan health benefits are available for fellows who carry a 50% or greater appointment for four consecutive months.

Contact

Please contact js-secretary-admin@umich.edu with any questions regarding the application.

University of Pennsylvania (USA:PA) - Wolf Humanities Center Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships, 2021-2022 ("Migration") - Deadline: 15 October 2020

Description

The Wolf Humanities Center awards five (5) one-year Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships each academic year to junior scholars in the humanities who are no more than five years out of their doctorate. Preference will be given to candidates not yet in tenure track positions, whose proposals are interdisciplinary, who have not previously enjoyed use of the resources of the University of Pennsylvania, and who would particularly benefit from and contribute to Penn's intellectual life.

The programs of the Wolf Humanities Center are conceived through yearly topics that invite broad interdisciplinary collaboration. For the 2021-2022 academic year, our topic will be MIGRATION.

The Fellowship carries a stipend of $59,300 plus a $3000 research fund and single-coverage health insurance (fellows are responsible for coverage for any dependents). Fellows teach one undergraduate course in addition to conducting their research.

We are keen to support projects that contribute to the dismantling of racism as it exists within the humanities. We know that such efforts can take an infinite variety of forms, and we encourage you to include in the course of your application an explanation of how your scholarship contributes to this effort if it does.

Qualifications

The PhD (and its international equivalent, such as the DPhil) is the only eligible terminal degree, and applicants must be humanists or those in such allied fields as anthropology or history of science. Ineligible categories include an MFA or any other doctorate such as EdD, social scientists, scholars in educational curriculum building, and performing artists (note: scholars of performance are eligible).
Scholars who received or will receive their PhD between December 1, 2015 and December 1, 2020 are eligible to apply. You must have your degree in hand, or have passed your defense, no later than December 1, 2020 to be eligible. Your application will not be considered unless this condition is met (i.e., you are ineligible to apply if you will defend or otherwise submit your dissertation anytime in 2021). You are eligible to apply if you pass your defense by December 1, 2020, but will not graduate until May 2021.
Scholars are required to spend the year (August–May) in residence at Penn.
During their year in residence, Fellows pursue their proposed research, are required to teach one course during the year, and must also participate in the Center's weekly Mellon Research Seminar (Tuesdays, 12:00–1:50), presenting their research at one of those seminars.
The fellowship is open to all scholars, national and international, who meet eligibility requirements.
Visa eligibility: International scholars outside of North America are appointed under a J-1 visa (Research Scholar status). Scholars seeking to hold an H-1B visa during the fellowship year at Penn are ineligible (no exceptions can be made). The Wolf Humanities Center reserves the right to cancel awards if the recipient is unable to meet this condition. Applicants should consult the international programs office at their current university to confirm eligibility before applying for this fellowship. If awarded a fellowship, international scholars are required to be in residence August 1, 2021–May 31, 2022.

University of Sussex (UK:Sx) - Research Fellow (I) in Digital Culture - Deadline: 31 July 2020

Hours: Full time considered up to a maximum of 1 FTE. Requests for flexible working options will be considered (subject to business need).

Contract: Fixed term for 2 years

Closing Date: 31 July 2020. Applications must be received by midnight of the closing date.

Expected Interview Date: TBC

Expected Start Date: 1 September 2020

The School of Media, Arts and Humanities at the University of Sussex wishes to appoint a Research Fellow in Digital Culture from 1 September 2020 to contribute to developing research in digital media cultures in the school.

The successful candidate will normally:

Possess a completed doctorate in a relevant academic discipline.
Demonstrate evidence of engagement in high-quality research activity.
Contribute to the development of digital media, arts and humanities research.
Engage with digital production, arts and/or cultural practices, and/or digital humanities and methods.
Demonstrate research links to feminist science studies, critical race studies and/or work on gender and sexuality.
Please contact Professor Kate O’Riordan: k.oriordan@sussex.ac.uk for informal enquiries.

Applications are particularly welcomed from black and minority ethnic candidates, and people living with disability, who are under-represented in academic posts in the school. We believe that the diversity of our staff and student community is fundamental to creative thinking, pedagogic innovation, intellectual exchange, and our interdisciplinary approach to research and learning. http://www.sussex.ac.uk/equalities/

For full details and how to apply see our vacancies page.