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[Commlist] Predoctoral Fellowship at Hobart and William Smith
Sun Mar 20 23:23:59 GMT 2022
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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