Assistant Professor of African American Studies

The Department of African American Studies invites applications for a full-time tenure-line faculty position in African American Studies at the rank of Assistant Professor to begin August 2022.  Our new colleague will specialize in the interdisciplinary study of the social dimensions of technology (Digital Studies/Data Science) and will utilize interdisciplinary and anti-racist methods derived from Black Studies to challenge: how technology develops and changes; how it is represented and understood in culture; how various social and historical contexts shape technology; and the limits placed on indigenous knowledge production. The Department is especially interested in candidates who center comparative Black studies approaches and intersectional feminist perspectives in their teaching and research.  The Department is also interested in candidates who consider decolonial, transnational, and indigenous theories and praxis in addressing issues of identity, power, and social constructions of “technology” “culture,” and “nature” as they are implicated in the dispossession of racialized communities and the sovereignty of their knowledge production. Candidates may focus on any geographical area within African and African Diaspora communities and cultures. 

Digital Studies/Data Science areas of research may include: surveillance technologies (facial recognition, biometrics, and digital profiling); technology policy, law, and race; Black digital aesthetics; digital archiving and representation and interpretation of archival content and collections, including studies of archival representations of gendered  and racial minorities; knowledge production and ownership of archival records; integrity and user acceptance of digital archives;  AI; algorithmic bias, learning, and information organization; Black and indigenous archive and preservation studies; intersectional digital studies of memory and contested history; alternative digital histories and knowledge production; digital social movements; race and hactivism; development, application, and evolution of data and metadata standards over time by different user communities; race and data mining, databases, and privacy; social media analysis; and computational language and culture. 

Our new colleague will have a standard annual 2-2 teaching load and will serve as an advisor and mentor at the undergraduate level.  Part of the 2-2 teaching load will entail the teaching of one of the core courses for our major/minor, as well as one upper-division undergraduate topical seminar.  This position will be pivotal to the department’s two new concentrations for majors: Race, Space, and Public Policy (RSPP) and Creativity, Design, and Emerging Forms (CDEF). Our new colleague will also be expected to pursue an innovative research agenda and fulfill service obligations to the department, college, and university.  

Qualifications: 

Ph.D. in hand by July 1, 2022. The demonstration of a commitment to academic excellence and diversity, equity, and inclusion in teaching/mentoring, research, and/or service. 

Application Instructions:

Click https://apply.interfolio.com/93060 to submit the following required materials:

1) a letter of interest that includes research statement; 

2) a curriculum vitae;

3) a writing sample (up to 20 pages); 

4) statement explaining how you have in the past and will in the future at Georgetown enrich a community that seeks a diversity of perspectives and people; 

5) three confidential letters of recommendation to be uploaded through the Georgetown Interfolio site.

Applications are due by September 30, 2021.  Review of applications will begin on October 1, 2021 and will continue until the position is filled.

For questions related to this position, please email afamstudies@georgetown.edu.

Georgetown University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer fully dedicated to achieving a diverse faculty and staff.  All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, and sexual orientation), disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please click here for more information, or contact the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity & Affirmative Action (IDEAA) at (202) 687-4798.