Call for Applications: 2019-2020 USC-Yale Postdoctoral Research Fellowship

 

cfa_usc_and_yale_postdoctoral_research_fellow_2019-2020.pdf

Call for Applications 

2019-2020 USC-Yale Postdoctoral Research Fellowship

Deadline: February 28, 2019

The Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University Libraries and the University of Southern California Libraries Collections Convergence Initiative invite applications from postdoctoral scholars for their 2019-2020 Postdoctoral Research Fellowship.

The fellowship will be awarded to an outstanding postdoctoral scholar from any discipline who will advance genocide research through the comparative analysis of testimonies by Holocaust survivors who gave interviews to both the Fortunoff Video Archive and the USC Shoah Foundation. There are over 1,000 survivors who gave interviews to both archives. (Potential comparisons can include not only the content of the testimonies, but also the interview process, methodology, etc.)

Postdoctoral scholars from around the world are invited to apply. Applicants must have their PhD in hand by July 1, 2019. The scholar must have been awarded a Ph.D. within the past five years of his/her appointment. Award decisions for this fellowship will be based on the originality of the research proposal and the centrality of the comparative analysis of testimonies by survivors interviewed for both institutions.

The recipient will be expected to split the time of the residency between Yale and USC in order to receive deep introductions to both archives and to access additional unique research resources and archival materials at both institutions.

The fellowship offers a salary of $50,000, medical benefits, as well as a fixed amount for moving expenses between New Haven and Los Angeles. The recipient is expected to be in residence during the period of their award, and to be free of other major professional obligations. At Yale University, the fellow will have a shared office in Sterling Memorial Library. At the University of Southern California, the fellow will have a shared workspace at the USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research.

The chosen fellow will be expected to provide each institution with fresh research perspectives and to play a role in each institution’s activities. To conclude the fellowship period, during Spring 2020, the fellow will have the opportunity to present their research at an event that will be organized in partnership between the two institutions.

The Fortunoff Video Archive currently holds more than 4,400 testimonies, which are comprised of over 10,000 recorded hours of videotape. Testimonies were produced in cooperation with 37 affiliated projects across North America, South America, Europe, and Israel. For more information, please consult: https://fortunoff.library.yale.edu/

The USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive holds over 55,000 video testimonies of survivors and other eyewitnesses of the Holocaust, the Rwandan, Guatemalan and Armenian genocides, and the Nanjing Massacre in China. The life history interviews have been conducted in 43 languages and in 65 countries. For more information, please consult: https://sfi.usc.edu/vha

Applications for the 2019-2020 postdoctoral fellowship are due February 28, 2019.  Applicants are required to submit a packet with the following contents:

-A cover letter

-A current curriculum vitae (in English)

-A research proposal (max. 3 pages) discussing:

the topic

methodological approach

the unique advantages a comparative approach provides to the research questions being explored

the project's scholarly significance

-A plan of how the applicant proposes to split their time between USC and Yale

-Two confidential letters of recommendation (to be sent separately by the letters’ authors to the email addresses below)

The application packet may be submitted in PDF format to Fortunoff.archive@yale.edu and cagr@usc.edu. Once an application has been submitted, no revisions will be accepted.

A fellowship review committee comprised of representatives from both institutions will examine all valid applications and the award will be announced approximately one month after the application deadline has passed.

The USC Libraries Collections Convergence Initiative creates a community of researchers, artists, and library curators to deepen the convergence of collections with scholarship and creative practice. Through the initiative, library curators, scholars and creative practitioners come together in more direct working relationships to advance research—particularly with primary sources—and develop strategic collections. This fellowship opportunity is in the subject area of Holocaust, genocide and exile studies.

Founded in 2014, the USC Shoah Foundation Center for Advanced Genocide Research is dedicated to advancing new areas of interdisciplinary research on the Holocaust and other genocides. For further information please consult: http://cagr.usc.edu