Rising Scholars Postdoctoral Fellowship Program | The Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
Review of applications will begin February 2, 2022.
BLACK FRANCE:
RACE AND THE GLOBAL FRANCOPHONE DIASPORA
In consort with the Rising Scholars Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, sponsored by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and the Mellon Foundation, the UVA Department of French hopes to provide a departmental home to a Postdoctoral Fellow in Black France (largely construed to include all the current and former territories of France as well as metropolitan France).
We seek a rising scholar (candidates who received, or will receive, their Ph.D. degree between August 24, 2019 and August 24, 2022) whose research and teaching are grounded in a transhistorical understanding of race within the global francophone diaspora and who has a deep interest in the study of culture, language, texts, and the construction of identities. We would particularly welcome someone who would bring a Black Studies perspective to examining the development and spread of a global francophone world and the reciprocal exchange and flow of ideas, cultural forms, languages, and people among continental France, Africa, and the Atlantic world.
We see this 2-year postdoctoral fellowship as part of the College of Arts and Sciences’ mission to further our understanding of the legacies of racial inequity and to enhance the career trajectory of an underrepresented scholar whose work focuses on questions related to the global and comparative dimensions of Race, Justice and Equity. As a department of French, we view this position as a reflection of our collective commitment to pursuing an on-going conversation and reexamination of the very foundations of our discipline.
Possible specializations include but are not limited to:
· Early modern Africa and France (cultural contacts with France, including the beginnings of empire; cultural representations, discourses, and other writings about race in early modern France; African perspectives on Europe);
· West Africa of any period;
· Francophone African and Caribbean literature, with an interdisciplinary specialization in Afro-diasporic literary and cultural studies, including drama and performance studies;
· Migration and immigration, diaspora, exile and marginalization;
· Cultural and memorial vestiges of the slave trade and colonization, including processes of colonial amnesia and erasure;
· Racial discrimination, anti-racism, constructions, and experiences of blackness in France.
· Emerging fields in the humanities, including environmental justice; digital humanities, medical humanities
The Department of French is committed to providing our post-doctoral fellow with support to attain research, teaching, professional development, and community engagement goals. Faculty mentors will facilitate collaborations with an array of departments and working groups at UVA including the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies, Caribbean Studies, Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Global South Studies, Indigenous Studies, Environmental Humanities. Other opportunities for pedagogical and research engagement include Center for Teaching Excellence, Equity Center, Institute of Humanities and Global Cultures, the digital humanities community at DH@UVA and the Center for the Liberal Arts (K-12 outreach).
Native or near-native fluency in French and in English is required.
Application deadline: February 1, 2022
Applicants should access the application through the website: https://graduate.as.virginia.edu/rising-scholars.
Please contact Janet Horne, Chair, Department of French, with any questions
about how we can best support your application. jhorne@virginia.edu