Call for Early Career Participants Global Humanities Institute 2022

The overarching goal of this Global Humanities Institute is to offer new ways of thinking about the historical, cultural, spatial, and structural processes that have given rise to chronic health conditions among African and African-descended youth and children. Through a focus on communities that share African roots, participants will develop and share research that traces how legacies of slavery, colonialism, and segregation have rendered young Black bodies particularly vulnerable to misapprehension, oppression, and exploitation in medicine, public health, and development initiatives. We will address the ways in which anti-Black racism and symbolic violence combine with structural inequalities to predispose children and youth to embodied experiences of chronic affliction, including most recently those leading to and resulting from Covid-19 infection. In early August 2022, the investigative teams from all four partnering universities will gather in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, for a seven-day-long Institute addressing Childhood and Social Suffering in Global Africa. Sessions will address the theme of the Institute using a broad range of perspectives and methodologies. The Institute will consist of seminars, discussions, participant presentations, workshops, and site visits. Working languages for the Institute and most related activities (as translation allows) will be English, French, and Portuguese.

We hope to inspire a global network of early-career researchers invested in the theme of the institute who will then remain in communication and collaborate with each other into the future. We are committed to assembling a diverse and inclusive community. To that end, we especially encourage applications from members of underrepresented groups and individuals who are committed to these goals.

To be eligible, an applicant must be either a graduate student or within ten years of receiving a Ph.D. (and if working at a university with a tenure system must be pre-tenured). The competition is open to anyone from anywhere in the world who meets this eligibility requirement.

Successful applicants will have their travel to and accommodation at the Institute fully funded, with the expectation that they will participate actively in the Institute. They must commit to engage in and contribute to every aspect of the Institute, attending all sessions throughout the entire Institute. Successful applicants will also have an opportunity to request assistance with the cost of meals while attending the Institute if they are unable to meet those costs themselves.

Applications will have three components; only complete applications will go forward for consideration. Applicants must submit (1) a statement of no more than five hundred (500) words that demonstrates a sustained interest in the themes of the Institute; (2) a CV of no more than three pages; and (3) a brief travel budget so that we can estimate aggregate cost.

You can download the application cover sheet here. Please complete and submit your application to hallcenter@ku.eduby April 30, 2022. Put “Chronic Conditions GHI 2022 Application” in the subject line of your email. We will notify successful applicants by early May 2022. Please write with any questions to Dr. Kathryn Rhine at krhine@ku.edu.