Assistant Professor - Modern Arabic Literature and Islamic Culture

The Department of Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley seeks applications for an Assistant Professor in Modern Arabic Literature and Islamic Culture, tenure track.

The successful candidate will have a rigorous grounding in modern Arabic and Islamic literature and culture, with additional areas of specialization in one or more of the following: critical approaches such as gender theory, critical race theory, post‐colonial theory, area studies, film and media studies, or social/cultural history.

We encourage applications from individuals who will contribute to diversity in higher education and who show the potential to advance the department’s goal of a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive scholarly environment.

The department is committed to addressing the family needs of faculty, including dual career couples and single parents. We are also interested in candidates who have had non-traditional career paths or who have taken time off for family reasons, or who have achieved excellence in careers outside academia.

For information about potential relocation to Berkeley, or career needs of accompanying partners and spouses, please visit: https://ofew.berkeley.edu/new-faculty

About the Department:

The UC Berkeley Department of Comparative Literature is dedicated to comparative literary study that is both historical and theoretical, covering literary traditions from several inter-related regions and traditions. This combination of intensity and breadth is reflected in the composition of our faculty, seventeen of whom are jointly appointed with national literature departments; the remaining two are closely involved with and provide an important link to the Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory. Our signature combination of teaching and research on literature, film, and other media is based on knowledge of original languages, an understanding of historical context and production, and theoretically innovative perspectives. Texts read in research seminars include both authors from a global range of literary and cultural traditions, and theoretical interventions that question how established patterns of power and knowledge determine the ways in which we read and discuss cultural artifacts.

For more than a decade, our placement record for tenure-track jobs is among the very best in the country. This remarkable record speaks not only to the intellectual culture of the department but also to our faculty’s consistent devotion to teaching and mentoring (six of our nineteen faculty have won the campus’s Distinguished Teaching Award). Our undergraduate program is also flourishing. It draws a wide and diverse range of students, many of whom study heritage languages.


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