Postdoctoral Fellowship (EXPIRED)

Postdoctoral Fellowships at Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis 2015-2016

The Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences and the Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis invite applications from all disciplines for post-doctoral resident fellowships to be held during the academic year of 2015-2016 from individuals working on topics related to Ethical Subjects: Moralities, Laws, Histories, directed by Professors Seth Koven and Judith Surkis, Rutgers Department of History.

Who and what counts as an ethical subject? “Ethical Subjects” brings together two sets of inquiries: how certain domains of deliberation come to be topics of ethical scrutiny, and how people claim recognition as moral agents in the world. In different times and places, moral argument and moral feeling have been mobilized in the name of many causes, from “civilizing missions” to civil disobedience. They continue to figure prominently in debates about “development,” humanitarian intervention, bioethics, inequality, civil and human rights. In these debates cynicism and sincere conviction can jostle one another uneasily. In attending to multiple perspectives, “Ethical Subjects” challenges methodological divides between “bottom-up” and “top-down” approaches. We hope to explore an overlapping terrain, between the study of lives, subjects and practices, on the one hand; and legal, ethical, political, and religious frameworks, on the other. 

Our project is guided by several key questions: Under what historical conditions do particular issues (e.g., the traffic in women or children’s rights, forms of unfree and exploitative labor, drone warfare or marriage) first become a focus of ethico-political debate and regulation (state or international), while others remain in the shadows? How are morality and law disarticulated and rearticulated when people and ideas move across borders? Can humanist inquiry help to negotiate the complex interrelations between morality and law when these come into conflict? What new kinds of politics and ethical practices emerge out of such disjunctures?  “Ethical Subjects” will explore such questions in an intensive series of seminars and discussions during the year.

Fellows will receive stipends of $42,000 annually as well as an annual research allocation of $2,000; they will also receive Rutgers University health benefits. Fellows will teach one course per semester during the one-year appointment, pursue research, and participate in seminars and other activities at the Rutgers Center for Historical Analysis.  The theme for 2015-2016 will be “Ethical Subjects.” (See http://rcha.rutgers.edu/ethical-subjects/project-description for details). Applications consisting of a CV, a three to five page description of your research project and its significance to the theme, and 3 letters of recommendation should be submitted electronically to http://apply.interfolio.com/27514. Applications must be received by January 16, 2015. Not limited to recent Ph.D.s; applicants must have finished all requirements for the Ph.D. by July 1, 2015.