Northwestern University seeks Full or Associate Professor of African Art History!

African Art History  – Associate / Full Professor

The Program of African Studies and the Department of Art History at Northwestern University invite applications for full-time associate or full professor position in African art history. We seek scholars of historical and/or modern African art who are able to teach courses in African visual cultures across time, geography, genre, and media. Candidates working on Sub-Saharan Africa are especially welcomed to apply. An ideal candidate will create bridges between the Department of Art History and the Program of African Studies, as well as other Northwestern University departments, programs,  and Chicago area museums and institutions that support the study of African art. The successful candidate’s appointment will be within the Department of Art History, known for innovative, cross-cultural scholarship with existing strengths in African-American, African Diaspora and Middle East and North African arts and visual cultures.

For more information about the department, visit http://arthistory.northwestern.edu. For information about the Program of African Studies, including instructions for how to submit an application, visit the Program of African Studies website: http://www.africanstudies.northwestern.edu/  Review of applications will begin on 15 December 2017. Administrative inquiries may be directed to Tiffany Williams-Cobleigh t.cobleigh@northwestern.edu, 1-847-491-7323.

Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer of all protected classes, including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Women, racial and ethnic minorities, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are encouraged to apply. Hiring is contingent upon eligibility to work in the United States.

Job Announcement: Assistant Professor of African/African Diaspora Art @USC

Position: Assistant Professor of African and/or African Diasporic History of Art, Visual, and/or Material Culture

The Department of Art History in the Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences at the University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA) invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in African and/or African Diasporic history of art, visual, and/or material culture. This position is expected to begin August 2018. The area and period of expertise is open, and various methodological and theoretical approaches are welcome. We have a particular interest in scholarship that contributes to increasing the diversity of the department’s intellectual life and offerings.

The successful candidate will teach courses at the undergraduate and graduate level and participate actively in the intellectual life of the department and the university. Candidates must possess a Ph.D. at the time of appointment and show exceptional scholarly promise. Interested candidates should provide:

1) a cover letter that includes a discussion of research and teaching, 

2) a curriculum vitae, 

3) two writing samples, at least one of which should be a chapter from a dissertation or book manuscript, and 

4) the names and contact information of three referees who will be contacted in a system-generated email to provide letters. 

In order to be considered for this position, applicants are required to submit an electronic USC application; follow this job link or paste in a browser: https://usccareers.usc.edu/job/los-angeles/assistant-professor-of-african-and-or-african-diasporic-history-of-art-visual-and-or-material-cultu/1209/5673781 . Review of applications will begin on November 1. 

Questions about the position can be directed to Professor Sonya Lee (sonyasle@usc.edu).

USC is an equal-opportunity educator and employer, proudly pluralistic and firmly committed to providing equal opportunity for outstanding persons of every race, gender, creed and background. The University particularly encourages women, members of underrepresented groups, veterans and individuals with disabilities to apply. USC will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities unless doing so would result in an undue hardship. Further information is available by contacting uschr@usc.edu.

Assistant Professor of Art History: Art of Africa and the African Diaspora @ Rutgers University

Assistant Professor of Art History: Art of Africa and the African Diaspora, Rutgers University-Newark

The Department of Arts, Culture and Media is seeking a tenure-track Art Historian specializing in the Art of Africa and the African Diaspora, although outstanding candidates with expertise in Latin American/Pre-Columbian Art or Asian/SE Asian Art may be considered.  The position is part of an Art History program within a department that also includes undergraduate programs in Art, Graphic Design, Journalism, Music, Theater, and Video Production, as well as a graduate program in Jazz Studies. 

Responsibilities: Candidates must be able to teach introductory and advanced undergraduate courses in African/African diasporic visual cultures, as well as other art history courses that support the curriculum.  There are also opportunities for interdisciplinary and collaborative teaching both within the Department and across the campus.  Candidates must: be dedicated to providing quality instruction; contribute to the department's multidisciplinary focus; and undertake independent scholarly activity appropriate for advancement within Rutgers University. Responsibilities also include undergraduate advising/mentoring, as well as departmental and university service with a willingness to take on administrative responsibility.

Requirements: Candidates must have: a Ph.D. by the time of appointment; relevant teaching experience; a record of scholarly work and a clear research agenda, demonstrating the ability to build a body of recognized work suitable for tenure at a research university. 

How to Apply: Use the online application portal below to submit: a letter of application addressing qualifications for this position; C.V.; statement of teaching philosophy; statement of research goals; names and email addresses of three references

https://jobs.rutgers.edu/postings/52622

Review of applications begins immediately; on-line application portal closes January 15, 2018.  Rutgers University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer.

On the Gombey Festival in Bermuda

With Hon. E. David Burt, JP, MP, the new Premier of Bermuda, at the Gombeys Festival in Hamilton, Bermuda

Last Friday, I was in Bermuda to give the 12th Annual Dr. Kenneth E. Robinson and Cyril Outerbridge Packwood Memorial Lecture, at the invitation of the territory's Department of Community and Cultural Affairs. The lecture series, for the first time, coincided with the Gombey Festival, which one of Bermuda's major cultural events.

Truth be told, I did not know about this impressive masking tradition, until my invitation in September to speak about masking in Africa and the African Diaspora. Learning about the Gombey was revelatory, especially for someone like me who holds dear the Igbo tradition of beautiful, colorful dancing masks, such as Ulaga, Ogba-Mgbada, Agbogho Mmuo, Ogwulugwu, and others. The Gombey, in its emphasis on vigorous dance routines, reminiscent of various West Africa masks, is celebrated for its high tempo, lyrical and acrobatic dance. The history of the Gombey and its relationship to other similar masked performances in St. Kitts, Dominican Republic, and other Caribbean Islands are still being sorted out by historians. It sure deserves an art history/visual culture dissertation-level study, not simply because I suspect it would open up new ways of thinking about the cultural histories of these Islands' interrelationships, but also their connections to Africa. But also simply because this is one hell of a masking phenomenon, with a history conflictual relationship with Colonial-era regimes and elite society.

Remembrance for Terry "Termite" Simmons (1954-17), a celebrated leader of the Gombeys

Bermuda Donqili Dancers, Directed by Michael Simmons

Guro mask acquired from Cote d'Ivoire introduced to the Festival for the first time by Michael Simmons

The major question, now that the government of Bermuda has more or less taken up the Gombey as a key part of the territory's cultural heritage and folklife, is how to sustain it, without turning it into full-blown tourist item, and in the process sidelining the families and groups for whom the event still is a vital part of their heritage, an important vehicle for asserting their links to the past even as they struggle to make a living in the present.

Fung Global Fellowships @ Princeton

**** Trust me, this is an amazing truly interdisciplinary fellowship for non-US-resident scholars. If you are eligible and ambitious, and you live and work, say, on the African continent, go for it!--Chika




Call for Applications: 

The 2018-19 program topic is ”Interdependence.” Food, clothes, entertainment, and the security and health of the planet depend on what distant people do for, with, and against others. Sometimes, recognition of interdependence has led to cooperation, other times to conquest or competition, and frequently to a mixture of all three. Oftentimes, new social identities and movements, national, regional, and religious, emerge in response to rising interdependence and the convergences and inequities it has produced. The goal of the 2018-19 Fung Global Fellows cohort will be to explore the ways people learned to rely on or to reject strangers far away, as well as to imagine how global relationships came to be and could be different. We invite applications from scholars whose work addresses this topic in any historical period or world region and from any disciplinary background.

Applications are due by November 1, 2017 (11:59 p.m. EST).

*** DEADLINE EXTENDED TO NOVEMBER, 20, 2017 (11:59 p.m. EST)***

Eligibility Criteria:

1. Eligible are scholars who received their Ph.D. or equivalent within 10 years of the proposed start date of the fellowship; for the 2018-19 program that is no earlier than September 1, 2008. The receipt of the Ph.D. is determined by the date on which all requirements for the degree at the applicant’s home institution, including the defense and filing of the dissertation, were fulfilled.
2. Applicants must hold a position outside the United States of America at the time of application, to which they are expected to return at the conclusion of the fellowship.
3. Fellowships will be awarded to candidates who have already demonstrated outstanding scholarly achievement and exhibit unusual intellectual promise but are still at the beginning of their careers. Criteria for the fellowship include the strength of the candidate’s research projects, the relationship of those projects to the program’s theme, the candidate’s previous scholarly work, the candidate’s ability to contribute to the intellectual life and intellectual exchange of the program, and the candidate’s work experience outside the United States. The selection committee is looking to establish a cohort of fellows whose work represents diverse analytical approaches and disciplinary backgrounds and addresses a wide variety of places.
4. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
5. Fellows must be in residence in Princeton during the academic year of their fellowship (September 1 - June 30) so that they can interact with one another and participate actively in the program’s seminars and other events on campus. Fellows are also expected to present their ongoing projects in seminars organized by the program.

Application Requirements:

The following items will need to be submitted by the applicant, in English:

• Online application
• Cover letter (1.5 pages maximum)
• Curriculum Vitae (including publications)
• Research proposal (maximum of 3 pages, single-spaced)
• One writing sample (article or book chapter, maximum of 50 pages)
• An official letter from the applicant’s employer affirming that, should the fellowship be awarded, the applicant would be permitted to accept it and to spend the academic year 2018-2019 at Princeton University
• Names and email addresses for three referees, who will be contacted with an invitation to upload their letter of recommendation to the online application system

Please see frequently asked questions and answers on the application process. Further inquiries about the program may be directed to fung-gfp@princeton.edu.

Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship Applications due Oct 15

Applications for the 2018-2020 A.W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship are due Oct. 15. In this round, the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA) explicitly encourages applications in the fields of the visual arts and cultures of African Americans, Africa, and the African diaspora.



If interested, click on the Postdoctoral Fellowship Website for more information. This is a fantastic, highly competitive and valuable fellowship. It is great to see that CASVA is emphasizing applications from Africa-related fields. 



Applicants must have received their PhDs between October 1, 2012, and October 1, 2017, to qualify for the postdoctoral fellowship. If earlier than 2012, you may want to apply for the senior scholars' fellowship, and if you are still working on your dissertation, there are a few predoctoral fellowships (Mellon and Ittleson), but for these, you need to be nominated by your academic department.