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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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