[Commlist] Predoctoral Fellowship at Hobart and William Smith

2022-2023 Fisher Center Predoctoral Fellowship, Hobart William Smith 
Colleges



Deadline

Apr 17, 2022 at 11:59 PM ET



Description

In keeping with the Fisher Center’s mission of supporting research and 
dialogue about gender and justice through curricular, programmatic, and 
scholarly projects, the Fisher Center Steering Committee announces a 
call for applications for our 2022-2023 Pre-doctoral Fellowship. We seek 
dissertation scholars and advanced candidates for the MFA whose work 
critically engages the terms of our research theme for the year, 
“Machine.” We are especially interested in candidates who would 
contribute to the diversity of the HWS campus.

Theme: Machine

The figure of the machine haunts the contemporary cultural and 
socio-political field. We are moving “toward a hybrid society of 
cohabiting humans and machines,” announce Marcello Pelillo and Teresa 
Scantamburio in their aptly titled Machines We Trust. Ethical machines, 
molecular machines, trading machines, killing machines, caring machines, 
sex machines—what do they all have in common? What separates them? For 
some, the machine is a figure of liberation and endless innovation. For 
others, the machine is a figure of enslavement and proletarianization: a 
deskilling of the human. Does the machine figure singularity or the matrix?

Machines have always been paradoxical. They probe the boundaries of 
living and non-living, individual and collective, consciousness and 
intelligence. Does machine simply name a technological object? Are 
machines always about automation? Will machines automate life, 
relationality, and death? Are there limits to automation?

Machines are biased, racist, cunning, and predatory. Can they change? 
While the machine provides ample opportunities for revolutionizing 
sexuality and gender, countless films and novels reinforce the imaginary 
of a male inventor and a female-gendered invention/machine. How do we 
move beyond that imaginary, especially given the reality of the 
male-dominated tech industry? Machines may afford us the possibility of 
bypassing centuries of human bias through moral AI programming. Can we 
turn machines into more ethical versions of ourselves?

The Fisher Center is excited to consider projects that interrogate 
machines in their many manifestations and as part of various political, 
artistic, philosophical, and scientific projects. Endowed to further the 
study of gender and justice in the liberal arts, the Fisher Center 
welcomes applications from researchers in the humanities, arts, 
sciences, social sciences, languages, and performing arts that 
demonstrate commitment to interdisciplinary discussion and collective 
inquiry.

We invite projects that interrogate the multiple meanings invested in 
the concept of the machine, explore its history, rhetorical power, or 
question the values underlying our fascination with it.

Proposals can be broad or specific, disciplinary or interdisciplinary. 
They can examine specific political configurations (e.g. feminist AI, 
algorithmic bias and data justice), or they can address broader 
questions, such as: What does it mean to automate care work? Projects 
may explore ecological machines, poetry machines, teaching machines, 
philosophical machines, the technological divine, AI and ethics, the 
future of automated warfare, human-machine interface, or the cybernetic 
imaginary. Projects may explore the machinic/robotic imaginaries. For 
instance, what does it mean to visualize//hear/touch the machine? What 
is its choreography? How do you convey machinic affect? Projects may 
interrogate the machine as an engine. What are (or how do you represent) 
insurgent machines? Reactionary machines?

Pre-doctoral Fellowship:

The Fisher Center Pre-doctoral Fellowship offers an opportunity to gain 
experience teaching in a small, private, residential college while 
completing thesis work. It carries a stipend of $35,000. Fellows teach 
one course per semester related to their research and the theme, attend 
Fisher Center lectures and meetings, make a public presentation, and 
assist with administration of Fisher Center programming. The 
pre-doctoral fellow participates in the Faculty Fellows Research Group. 
This group of interdisciplinary scholars meet twice a month to discuss 
their research as related to the year’s theme.


Qualifications

Pre-doctoral candidates nearing completion of the dissertation and MFA 
candidates who have completed their coursework and are beginning work on 
their thesis are encouraged to apply.


Application Instructions

The Fisher Center Steering Committee will evaluate applications with 
regard to the quality of the research proposal, the proposal’s 
likelihood of success, the relevance of the proposal to the theme, and 
the “fit” with other proposals. We will prioritize creating an 
interdisciplinary research group.  Applications for 2022-2023 are due by 
April 5th, Applications should be submitted via Interfolio: 
https://apply.interfolio.com/104366

If you have a question or need help on uploading your application 
materials, please contact Interfolio's support team at 
(help /at/ interfolio.com)<mailto:(help /at/ interfolio.com)> or call 1-877-997-8807 
between the hours of 9:00 a.m. through 6 p.m., EST, Monday through Friday.



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