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Friday, September 28, 2012

Spanish Association for American Studies Conference: TRANS

The deadline for paper proposals to the Spanish Association for American Studies conference, "TRANS-": The Poetics and Politics of Crossing in the US," is October 15, 2012. 

Contributors are required to submit paper proposals to the panel chairs before this date.

For a full list of Panels, instructions for submission and application form, see http://www.saasweb.org/

The 11th International SAAS Conference, "TRANS" will be held in La Laguna (Tenerife, Canary Islands) from March 20 to March 22, 2013.

If you have any questions, contact Cristina Alsina.

American Literary History presents a Special Issue: Writing the Presidency

Editors: Stephanie Li and Gordon Hutner

About this issue

The essays contained in this ALH forum on "Writing the Presidency" detail a long tradition of writings by and about US presidents, analyzing how the rhetoric surrounding presidential writing signifies in its immediate political moment, and subsequently how such texts seek to define American patriotism and leadership. Taking up multiple and diverse methodologies, questions, and subjects, the authors gathered here demonstrate how presidents and presidential candidates help construct our national ideals.

Three of the articles from this Special Issue have been made FREE until the end of November.

There Were Two Gerald Fords: John Hersey and Richard Reeves Profile a President
James L. Baughman

Reagan and the Rise of the Blockbuster Political Memoir
Craig Fehrman

The Parallel Lives of Bill Clinton
Stephanie Li

Additional articles in this Special Issue include:

Introduction: Writing the Presidency
Stephanie Li and Gordon Hutner

Profiles in Courage, JFK's Book for Boys
John Michael

The Primary Colors of American Politics
John M. Murphy

"America's Exhibit A": Hillary Rodham Clinton's Living History and the Genres of Authenticity
Sidonie Smith

Commentary: Do the Write Thing: Politics, Prose, and the Presidency
Glenn C. Altschuler

Commentary
Dana D. Nelson

The Rise of the Academic Novel
Jeffrey J. Williams

The Humanities and the National Interest
Eric J. Sundquist

What Can American Studies and Comparative Literature Learn from Each Other
Ali Behdad

Alienation Revisited
Johannes Voelz

To browse the full Special Issue online visit: http://www.oxfordjournals.org/page/4821/14

If your institution subscribes, you will be able to access the full text articles.
To recommend this journal to your librarian view the form here: http://www.oxfordjournals.org/page/4821/15

PhD Position in American Studies at Groningen, Netherlands

Job description

Specialty areas: Early American Culture, Colonial & Imperial Identities

Applications are invited for one PhD-student position at the Graduate School for the Humanities, Literary and Cultural Studies.

Applicants are encouraged to develop their own research plans and should submit a 500-1000 word proposal dealing with early American literature and history. Candidates should plan to study the processes of colonization in North and/or South America, as well as the representation of those processes and their byproducts -- captivity, conversion, and war -- in texts from before 1800. Appropriate case studies could include Barlaeus's praise of Johan Maurits in Brasil, poetic accounts from the Arauco War, and reworkings of the myth of Pocahontas first propagated by John Smith. Research questions might be how New World knowledge changed the ideological justifications for empire; how intercultural contact shaped emerging ideas of race; and whether the Christianization of Indians came to condone (cultural) violence.

The above case studies and questions are merely examples: candidates should come up with their own ideas. Projects should aim to answer such large questions through smaller, specific case studies. Interdisciplinary and comparative proposals, combining, for example, literary, historical, and ethnographical methods, as well as those considering two or more languages are especially encouraged. The PhD student should be highly self-motivated, but will be supervised by and collaborate with more senior scholars.

Organisation

The Faculty of Arts is a large, dynamic faculty in the heart of the city of Groningen. It has more than 5000 students and 700 staff members, who are working at the frontiers of knowledge every day. The Faculty offers a wide range of degree programmes: 19 Bachelor's programmes and over 35 Master's programmes. Our research, which is internationally widely acclaimed, covers the following fields: Archaeology, Cultural Studies, History, International Relations, Journalism, Language and Literary Studies, and Linguistics.

Qualifications

  • MA degree in a relevant area (English, Spanish, History, American Studies)
  • a good knowledge of early American literature and history
  • preferably one or more of the following skills: reading competence in early modern English, Dutch, French, and/or Spanish
  • publication skills and desire to publish
  • academic ambition

Conditions of employment

The University of Groningen offers a salary of € 2,042 gross per month in the first year to € 2,612 gross per month in the fourth year (figures based on full employment). The 0.9 fte appointment is temporary for a specified period of four years. You will first be appointed for 18 months. After the first year there will be an assessment of the candidate's results and the progress of the project to decide whether the employment will be continued.

Appointments will be effective from 1 January 2013.

Affiliation

The PhD candidates will be enrolled in the Graduate School for the Humanities and affiliated with the Institute for the Study of Culture Groningen (ICOG).

Application

Applications should be in English and will contain the following:

  • a letter of application
  • a 500-1000 word research proposal
  • curriculum vitae
  • a copy of your diploma with a list of grades
  • your MA thesis or MA dissertation
  • the names and email addresses of two (academic) referees

The interviews will probably take place in between 7 and 21 November 2012.

You may apply for this position until 15 October 2012 via http://www.rug.nl/corporate/vacatures/jobOpportunitiesRUG

For information you can contact: Ms. Dr Joanne van der Woude

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Fulbright Awards Now Open to Applicants


The Fulbright Commission in Ireland officially opened to applicants on Friday, the 24th of August 2012. The 2013 - 2014 competition for the Fulbright Awards include a monetary grant for post-graduate students, scholars, and professionals to travel to the US to lecture, research, and study for a maximum period of one year.  
Further information about the application process is available on www.fulbright.ie.

All applications must be received by 3:00 p.m. in hard copy and online on 14th November 2012.

The following three types of awards are on offer:
  1. Fulbright Student Awards: For up to one academic year for postgraduate study or research in the United States in any discipline, including the arts. Grants are a maximum of $20,000. Applicants may stay to complete their academic program if it is longer than one year.
  2. Fulbright Scholar and Professional Awards: Grants available for up to €35,000 (Irish Language) and $20,000 (General Awards) for academics and professionals with more than five years’ experience to research and/or lecture in the US, lasting between and three and twelve months.
  3. Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistantship (FLTA) Awards: Ten-month Awards for Irish language teachers to refine their teaching skills in the US by teaching at a US college and taking classes at a post-graduate level. Grants are available for approximately €20,000.


There are a number of sponsored awards for students and scholars in specific disciplines, including:
  • Fulbright-Environmental Protection Agency Award in Water, Climate Change, and Sustainable Environment (Student and Scholar)
  • Fulbright-Marine Institute Award on Any Marine Science/Business Topic (Student and Scholar)
  • Fulbright-Enterprise Ireland Award in Innovation (Student Only)
  • Fulbright-Teagasc Award in Agriculture, Food, and Forestry (Student Only)
  • Fulbright-University of Notre Dame LL.M. in International Human Rights Law (50% tuition waiver) (Student Only)