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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

SOC 8390: Race & Politics in 21st Century America

SOC 8390: Race & Politics in 21st Century America is a new graduate course that will be taught spring 2011 by Professor Enid Logan on Fridays from 11:45 a.m. - 2:15 p.m. In this seminar, students will explore the changing dimensions of the social construct of "race" in the contemporary United States.

SOC 8390: Race & Politics in 21st Century America
See flyer below for more info:
Graduate Race Class Sp11.pdf

Community Organizing Careers Available to U of M graduate students and alums

DART is now accepting applications for the 2011 DART Organizers Institute -- a paid, four-month field school for people interested in launching a career in community organizing. After years of research into best practices, experimentation, evaluation, and refinement, the Organizers Institute has become THE elite field school in the training of grassroots community organizers in the country. The 7-day classroom orientation and 15-week infield training start in July 2011. Application deadline: December 20, 2010.

Community Organizing Careers Available to U of M graduate students and alums
Low-moderate income communities across the country are feeling the bite of the recession that began in December 2007. Cutbacks in human services and education, layoffs and persistent unemployment, home foreclosures, increased youth violence, predatory lending, and other serious issues are day-to-day realities for many. Now is the time for a new generation of community organizers to step up, unite people, and transform our communities. DART is recruiting and training that new generation.
DART is now accepting applications for the 2011 DART Organizers Institute -- a paid, four-month field school for people interested in launching a career in community organizing. After years of research into best practices, experimentation, evaluation, and refinement, the Organizers Institute has become THE elite field school in the training of grassroots community organizers in the country.
Participants will undergo a combined classroom and field training covering such topics as:
* Entering a community
* Identifying and training local leaders
* Strategic planning and issue cutting
* Relationship and community building
* Direct Action on community issues
* Fundraising
The DART Center has built coalitions throughout the country that have won important victories on a broad set of justice issues including:
* Education reform in low-performing public schools
* Job Creation
* Criminal Recidivism
* Predatory Lending
* Affordable Housing
* Wage Theft
The DART Organizers Institute combines a 7-day classroom orientation with 15 weeks of infield training at a local grassroots organization and in-field training site. Organizer Trainees are provided with a cost of living stipend and travel. Room, board, and tuition will also be paid by DART during the seven-day classroom training. After successful completion of the program, DART will place graduates into permanent full-time salaried positions. DART is a 501(c)(3) organization, therefore, employees of the DART Network are eligible for Public Service Loan Forgiveness under the recently enacted College Cost Reduction and Access Act.
The 7-day classroom orientation and 15-week infield training start in July 2011. Training locations and permanent placements will include cities in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia and Florida.
Although it may be helpful, no direct experience is necessary. Organizer Trainees (OTs) hired to participate in the DART Organizers Institute must demonstrate a desire to pursue community organizing as a long-term professional career.Prior to the start of training on July 10, 2011, candidates must have completed a master's degree, JD, or equivalent professional experience. Also, candidates must have proven capacity to build relationships of trust, create and execute a plan, feel comfortable working with religious institutions, demonstrate disciplined thought and action, and work in a team setting. OTs must also have access to a car during training and be flexible regarding relocation. Fluency in Spanish/English is a plus and people of color are encouraged to apply.
The national application deadline is December 20, 2010. To apply or find out more about DART, contact: Erica Horton at erica@thedartcenter.org or (785) 841-2680. Also, you can download the application or view profiles from previous OTs at the DART website: www.thedartcenter.org.

Call for Proposals - 5th Annual CRS Symposium

UCLA School of Law is pleased to announce a call for proposals for the 5th Annual Critical Race Studies Symposium: Race and Sovereignty. The symposium will take place March 31-April 2, 2011 at UCLA School of Law. Proposal deadline: January 7, 2011.

Call for Proposals - 5th Annual CRS Symposium
See flyer below for more detail:
RaceandSovereigntyCFP2011.pdf

University of WI-Milwaukee Honors College Position

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Honors College is now accepting applications for a Dean's Visiting Assistant Professor. This non-tenured appointment is for the 2011-2012 academic year, with the possibility of renewal. Ph.D. in History or related field by June 2011 is required. Application due: January 7, 2011.

University of WI-Milwaukee Honors College Position
The UWM Honors College offers a General Education/Liberal Arts curriculum: small, writing-intensive, interdisciplinary seminars and individualized instruction for outstanding undergraduates within an urban context. The successful candidate, who will hold the working title of Dean's Visiting Assistant Professor and have a strong commitment to undergraduate teaching and learning, must have: a Ph.D. in History or related field by June 15, 2011 with a specialization in 19th/20th century U.S. history; experience teaching interdisciplinary courses with an emphasis on academic writing, and experience teaching non-History majors. Preferred candidates will also have experience: designing interdisciplinary classes, teaching small, interactive seminar-style classes, teaching courses that include global, media, gender, or ethnic studies, teaching Honors students, and teaching in an urban college or university. Customary teaching load is three Honors seminars per semester, in addition to attending staff meetings, participating in Honors College faculty development initiatives centered on undergraduate teaching, and serving on Honors College committees as needed.
This non-tenured appointment is for the 2011-2012 academic year, with the possibility of renewal. Candidates should apply to: http://jobs.uwm.edu/postings/5191
Candidates must apply by midnight on January 7, 2011. UWM is an AA/EO Employer.

Pcard Receipt Reminder

Please submit receipts for all November PCard purchases to date to Laura by Wednesday, December 1, 2010.

Pcard Receipt Reminder
See attachment below for generic coversheet:
COVERSHEET generic-1.xlsx

SOC 8790: Religion and Society

SOC 8790: Religion and Society will be taught spring 2011 by Professor Penny Edgell on Wednesdays from 2:30-5:00 p.m.

SOC 8790: Religion and Society
See flyer below for more detail:
SOC8790 SP11.pdf

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Meet local author and U of M professor M. Bianet Castellanos on Tuesday, November 30 @ 4:00 p.m.

Bianet Castellanos, Assistant Professor from the Department of American Studies at the University of Minnesota, will be doing an author reading from her book, A Return to Servitude: Maya Migration and the Tourist Trade to Canc√∫n. Professor Castellanos will be reading at the University of Minnesota Bookstore in Coffman Memorial Union on November 30th at 4 pm. All are welcome to attend.

servitude-200.jpg

Meet local author and U of M professor M. Bianet Castellanos on Tuesday, November 30 @ 4:00 p.m.
Castellanos examines the Maya migration within Mexico and the foundational role indigenous peoples play in the development of the modern nation-state. Learn how Cancun, Mexico has evolved as a modern city that has shaped the political economy of the peninsula and the effects it's had on the indigenous communities. A Return to Servitude illustrates how indigenous communities experience, resist, and accommodate themselves to transnational capitalism. Castellanos shows how tourism and the social stratification that results from migration have created conflict for the Maya.
Castellanos will sign copies of her book following the discussion.

Minnesota Fringe Festival: A View From the Inside

Minnesota Fringe Festival: A View From the Inside - A talk with Robin Gillette, Executive Director of the MN Fringe Festival will take place Thursday, November 18, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. in 125 Nolte Center. Minnesota Fringe Festival provides an unjuried and uncensored platform for performance, while still providing ample structure and guidance to make the end results valuable for participating artists and navigable for audiences.

Minnesota Fringe Festival: A View From the Inside

See link for more detail:
https://events.umn.edu/006912

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Spring Instructors: Course Guide Update

Spring Instructors: You should have received notice directly from the scheduling office that the Course Guide is available to be updated for spring 2010 courses. Please submit your course guide description as soon as possible, because we will be using that description to create additional advertising. Jayashree Kamble, the American Studies Undergraduate Adviser, will be following up with spring instructors regarding the Course Guide.

CSCL 5256W - Suburbia

CSCL 5256W, "Suburbia" will be taught by John Archer Spring 2011, on Tuesday and Thursday 9:45-11:00 a.m. This course examines the historical circumstances that gave rise to modern suburbia as we know it, beginning in 18th century England and continuing to the present day, with the greatest emphasis on the United States.

CSCL 5256W - Suburbia
Suburbia2011.pdf

Performing Ethnicities Through Sport-Call for Papers

To mark the merger of Sport Studies into American Studies at the University of Iowa, the Department of American Studies and the Center for Ethnic Studies and the Arts are sponsoring a three-day symposium: Performing Ethnicities through Sport. The symposium will take place April 1-3, 2011 in Iowa City. It aims to bring together scholars engaged in critical and historical studies of American sport in U.S. domestic and transnational contexts to explore the performance of ethnicities through sport.Proposal deadline: December 1, 2010.

Performing Ethnicities Through Sport-Call for Papers
University of Iowa Department of American Studies and the Center for Ethnic Studies and the Arts (CESA)
Announce a Call for Papers for
PERFORMING ETHNICITIES THROUGH SPORT
April 1-3, 2011
University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Sport can be understood as a live performance whose study powerfully engages questions of the body, its identities and capabilities, and its interactions with natural and built environments; sport is also widely broadcast and represented in the media. Critical sport scholars and American studies scholars use a range of theoretical perspectives and draw from many fields to illuminate these and sport's other manifold historical and contemporary resonances. This symposium aims to bring together scholars engaged in critical and historical studies of American sport in U.S. domestic and transnational contexts to explore the performance of ethnicities through sport.
We invite proposals for standard 20-minute paper presentations and panels, as well as other formats, including roundtables, workshops, and performances on this theme.
Keynote Speakers
Three distinguished Iowa alumni will give keynote talks. They are:
• Sarah K. Fields, The Ohio State University, author of Female Gladiators: Gender, Law, and Contact Sport in America (2005): "The Absence and Presence of Race: Ross v. Creighton University."
• Daniel A. Nathan, Skidmore College, author of the award-winning Saying It's So: A Cultural History of the Black Sox Scandal (2003): "Playing Together, Playing Apart: Sport, Community, and Identity."
• Mary G. McDonald, Miami University, Ohio, co-editor of the award-winning Reading Sport: Critical Essays on Power and Representation (2000): "In the Embrace of Michelle Obama's Arms: Intersectionality and Celebrity Body Politics in 21st Century America."
For each proposal, please submit:
• Name(s) of all participants
• Address, telephone number, and e-mail address for each participant
• Institutional affiliation(s), if any
• Title(s) of paper
• 250-word proposal
• 100-word biographical note for each participant
Send proposals via electronic mail by December 1, 2010, to: cesa@uiowa.edu.
Proposals will be evaluated by the conference program committee, and notification of acceptance will be made by January 15, 2011.
For further questions or information on PERFORMING ETHNICITY THROUGH SPORT, please contact: Center for Ethnic Studies and the Arts, Department of American Studies, University of Iowa, 210 Jefferson Building, Iowa City, IA 52242; phone (319) 384-3490; e-mail: cesa@uiowa.edu; http://www.uiowa.edu~cesa

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Committee on Institutional Cooperation and Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral Fellowship

We were just informed of this fellowship opportunity today, please note the deadline is November 17th. The Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) and the Smithsonian Institution (SI) invite fellowship applications for one-year fellowships to support research in residence at Smithsonian Institution facilities. Fellowships carry a stipend of $30,000.Graduate students may submit complete applications to the graduate school.

Committee on Institutional Cooperation and Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral Fellowship
Fellowship Instructions:
CIC SI Fellowship Instructions.2011-1.doc
Fellowship Application:
CIC SI Fellowship Application.2011.doc
Letters of Reference Info:
CIC SI Fellowship Letters of Reference.2011.doc

RA Position for University of Cambridge

Lecturer at the University of Cambridge Dept. Of Middle Eastern Studies seeks short-term research assistant. This is a position for an undergraduate or graduate student to conduct basic library and archival research at the University of Minnesota IHRC library, or libraries in the Harvard University or Columbia University area, starting immediately. RA will be expected to work five-ten hours per week. All research must be completed by 31 January 2011. Through email interaction with the Primary Investigator, RA will collect, organize, and send research materials gathered from relevant libraries, electronically and digitally where possible. Application deadline: November 15, 2010.

RA Position for University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge, Dept. Of Middle Eastern Studies
The University of Cambridge is one of the world's leading Universities, with an outstanding reputation for academic achievement and research. For more information on the Dept. Of Middle Eastern Studies, see http://www.ames.cam.ac.uk/dmes/
Lecturer at the University of Cambridge Dept. Of Middle Eastern Studies seeks short-term research assistant. This is a position for an undergraduate or graduate student to conduct basic library and archival research at the University of Minnesota IHRC library, or libraries in the Harvard University or Columbia University area, starting immediately. Through email interaction with the Primary Investigator, RA will collect, organize, and send research materials gathered from relevant libraries, electronically and digitally where possible. RA will be expected to work five-ten hours per week, at an hourly rate of £12.19 - £13.32, depending on education and experience. Total hours will depend on research results and grant budget. All research must be completed by 31 January 2011.
Active interest in Middle East politics and history helpful but not necessary. Applicants should have basic social science research skills, including familiarity with a wide range of library databases, and have access to one of the above-mentioned libraries. A highly organized and detail-oriented student is required for this position.
To apply:
1) Fill out Part I (required) and Part 3 (optional) of form "Chris 6", available at http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/hr/forms/chris6/
and return with your CV, to Dr. Lori A. Allen at laa29@cam.ac.uk, no later than 15 November 2010, 12:00 noon, EST.
If you do not hear anything by 20 November 2010, your application has not been successful on this occasion.
For detailed information:
Further particulars2 - research assistant_29_10.doc

Jack Kent Cooke Dissertation Fellowship Award

The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation is currently accepting applications for their Dissertation Fellowship Awards. They will award two, $25,000 fellowships in 2011. They look to support advanced doctoral candidates in a variety of fields, including education and the social sciences. Application deadline: February 1, 2011.

Jack Kent Cooke Dissertation Fellowship Award
Overview
The Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, through its scholarship and grantmaking programs, helps exceptionally promising, low-income students, from middle school to graduate school, reach their full potential through education. Our work allows us to see first-hand how high-achieving, low-income students overcome obstacles and excel academically. Our research, however, has shown that many high-potential, low-income students are unable to successfully navigate these obstacles. In The Achievement Trap (2007), we found that there is a significant drop off in the number of low-income students who are identified as high-achieving throughout the primary and secondary education system. These student experiences raise important questions about the factors and contexts that help some low-income students overcome personal adversity and challenging socioeconomic circumstances to excel academically, and how a deeper understanding of such matters can be used to design programs and interventions that will help more low-income students identified as high achieving early in their primary and secondary school years to sustain their academic achievement levels through college and beyond.
In response to this gap in knowledge, the Foundation has created the Cooke Dissertation Fellowship to focus more scholarly attention on high-achieving, low-income students to better understand their educational pathways and experiences and enable parents, policymakers, and practitioners to better support such students in achieving their full potential.
Dissertation fellowships are available for advanced doctoral students and are intended to support the student for work done after the student's dissertation proposal has been accepted. Applications are encouraged from a variety of disciplines such as, but not limited to, education, sociology, economics, psychology, statistics, and psychometrics.
The fellowship is a one-time award of $25,000, which may be used for a period of not less than nine months and up to 18 months.

Requirements

Selected Fellows agree to comply with Foundation requirements and requests for the duration of the fellowship. Some key requirements and terms are:
* Fellows must be enrolled in a graduate degree program, and provide documentation of academic progress each term.
* Fellows must participate in Fellowship activities, including the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Scholars Weekend, August 4 - 7, 2011. The Foundation will provide travel expenses, lodging, and meals.
* Fellows must be willing to present their research to Foundation staff and/or Scholars
How Funding May Be Used
The Cooke Fellowship must be used to support a graduate student while writing his or her dissertation. How the funds are expended depends on each recipient's individual need. This fellowship does not provide funding for distance learning programs or for degrees heavily dependent on distance learning components. The fellowship does not cover overhead.
More information
If after reviewing the FAQs and Guidelines, you still have questions, please contact the Foundation at 703-723-8000 or through the email address fellows@jkcf.org
website: http://www.jkcf.org/scholarships/graduate-scholarships/jack-kent-cooke-dissertation-fellowship-award/

deadline for submission

February 1, 2011

"LGBT/Queer Studies: Toward Trans/national Scholarly and Activist Kinships" Call for Papers

The LGBT Studies Program & Minor at Syracuse University is pleased to announce a call for papers for their international conference, "LGBT/Queer Studies: Toward Trans/national Scholarly and Activist Kinships". The conference will take place in Madrid, Spain from July 3-5, 2011. They invite scholars and activists to join in an exploration of the methods, possibilities, challenges, and dangers of doing LGBT/queer scholarship, activism, pedagogy, and curriculum in a transnationalized and technologically mediated world. Proposal deadline: December 15, 2010.

"LGBT/Queer Studies: Toward Trans/national Scholarly and Activist Kinships" Call for Papers
An International Conference
Madrid, Spain
July 3, 4, and 5, 2011
Note: Gay Pride is July 2 in Madrid
Organized by the LGBT Studies Program & Minor
Chancellor's Leadership Project
Syracuse University
Syracuse, NY, USA
We invite scholars and activists to join in an exploration of the methods, possibilities, challenges, and dangers of doing LGBT/queer scholarship, activism, pedagogy, and curriculum in a transnationalized and technologically mediated world. We want to address the many challenges of understanding and responding to the complexly lived lives of queer subjects, as they are shaped by local and global upheavals and opportunities. What does the 'transnational' mean? How are queer lives rendered visible and legible and affectively accessible? What matrices of power make some queer figures more visible than others? What new forms of scholarship and activism emerge as people, images, ideas, and capital move in rapid, uneven, and complex ways across national borders? How might practices of kinships, however tense or contingent, happen? How does, or should, the transnational turn shape our pedagogies and curricula? And how do we connect and collaborate as scholars and activists across the globe? These are messy knowledges, nuanced knowledges, framed by the local and the global in complicated and often surprising ways.
We are interested in a truly global conversation, and encourage submissions about and from all over the world. We hope too to produce some form of publication out of the conference.
Possible topics:
Representing the complexities of everyday queer lives
Working with queer archives and memory
Analyzing gay imperialism
Designing pedagogies and curricula
Sustaining scholarly relationships across borders
Engaging with queer suffering and activism across borders
Studying legal and political responses to queer suffering
Queer media and literature
Exploring queer disasporas and homonationalisms
Writing queer histories
Analyzing queer labor and immigration
Responding to the challenges of translation and access
We invite scholars and activists to submit paper proposals (no more than 500 words) or complete panels (of no more than three papers) that address questions like these from various perspectives. English is the primary language of the conference, and we will accept submissions in Spanish and French. Please submit paper proposals or panel proposals electronically, http://www.transnationalizinglgbt.com/index.php/madrid-conference/papers.
Please feel free to contact Margaret Himley (mrhimley@syr.edu) or Andrew London (anlondon@maxwell.syr.edu), co-directors of the LGBT Studies Program and Minor at Syracuse University, for more information or with thoughts or questions about this conference/workshop.

American Studies Symposium, "Interrogating Silence(s): A Critical Examination of Memories, Voices, and Identities in American Studies"

The American Studies Program at Purdue University announces its 36th annual Symposium to be held April 14-15th, 2011. This event is organized by graduate students in the interdisciplinary program of American Studies and focuses on the presentation of graduate student research. The keynote speakers for this symposium will be Dr. David Roediger (Department of History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), and Dr. Joanna Brooks (Department of English, San Diego State University). Proposal deadline: December 20, 2010.

American Studies Symposium, "Interrogating Silence(s): A Critical Examination of Memories, Voices, and Identities in American Studies"
The American Studies Program at Purdue University announces its 36th annual Symposium to be held April 14-15th, 2011. This event is organized by graduate students in the interdisciplinary program of American Studies and focuses on the presentation of graduate student research. The keynote speakers for this symposium will be Dr. David Roediger (Department of History, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), and Dr. Joanna Brooks (Department of English, San Diego State University). In acknowledging the importance of interdisciplinary studies, the Symposium Committee invites papers from students of all disciplines to engage with this year's theme. The symposium also welcomes public scholarship (and/or exhibits) which seeks to interrogate silences of various social groups.
Through the theme "Interrogating Silence(s): A Critical Examination of Memories, Voices, and Identities in American Studies," this year's symposium seeks to explore the ways structures of power either foster or suppress group's and individual's expression and voice. Some groups and individuals have been prevented from speaking. Some lack the means to voice their identities and struggle with memories of a traumatic past. Some have been repeatedly trying to give voice to their experience, but others simply would not listen. Yet some other groups have chosen to opt out and remain silent. We would like to dig into all these issues and ask: What does the American experience look like when all voices are present?
Possible proposal topics from interdisciplinary perspectives include, but not limited to:
• Othered Social Groups
• Whiteness Studies
• Inclusion vs. Exclusion
• Various Cultures or Communities (e.g. academic, institutional, etc.)
• Cultural Amnesia
• National and Global Citizenship
• Transnational Perspectives and Gaps
• Media and Class Representations of Silencing
• Gender and Sexuality
• Community Initiatives
• Online/Virtual Identities
• Silence of the Landscape and in the Built Environment
• Material Culture as a Representation of Voices and Silences
The Symposium Committee invites all those interested to submit proposals no longer than one page in length for panels, individual papers, workshops, exhibits, and performances no later than December 20th, 2010. Please also submit a biography of no more than 250 words, a current CV with contact information, especially your email address, and a list of any audio and/or visual equipment necessary for presentation. Submissions may be made electronically to amstsymposium@purdue.edu

Research Fellowships in Humanities, UT-Austin

The Ransom Center, at UT - Austin, is currently accepting applications for the 2011-2012 Research Fellowships in the Humanities, to support projects that require substantial on-site use of its collections. The fellowships range from one to three months, with stipends of $3,000 per month. Also available are $1,200 to $1,700 travel stipends and dissertation fellowships with a $1,500 stipend. The deadline is February 1, 2011.

Research Fellowships in Humanities, UT-Austin
The Ransom Center is currently accepting applications for the 2011-2012
Research Fellowships in the Humanities. (See information below.) Please note
that applications must be received by Tuesday, February 1, 2011 in order to
be considered for the 2011-2012 academic year.
The Harry Ransom Center, an internationally renowned humanities research
library and museum at The University of Texas at Austin, annually awards
over 50 fellowships to support research projects that require substantial
on-site use of its collections. The fellowships support research in all
areas of the humanities, including literature, photography, film, art, the
performing arts, music, and cultural history.
The fellowships range from one to three months, with stipends of $3,000 per
month. Also available are $1,200 to $1,700 travel stipends and dissertation
fellowships with a $1,500 stipend. Complete applications for the 2011-2012
Research Fellowships in the Humanities must be received by February 1, 2011.
More information about the fellowships and the Ransom Center¬πs collections
is available online at http://budurl.com/mjwy . Please contact Bridget Gayle at brigayle@mail.utexas.edu with any questions or concerns.