[Commlist] interdisciplinary post-doctoral position

2025-26 Post-doctoral fellowship
Fisher Center for the Study of Gender & Justice, Hobart & William Smith 
Colleges
Geneva, NY

(apply by May 1, 2025)

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 for the Study of Gender and 
Justice at Hobart and William Smith Colleges invites applications for 
our 2025-26 Postdoctoral Fellowship position beginning August 1, 2025. 
This is a full-time, one-year position with a teaching load of four 
courses per year. The fellow will teach one course per semester related 
to their research and the Fisher Center’s annual theme. The successful 
candidate will offer the other two courses in one or more of the 
following areas: Africana Studies, Asian Studies, Judaic Studies, Public 
Health, or Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectional Justice. The 
postdoctoral fellow actively participates in the Fisher Center lectures 
and meetings, makes a public presentation, and assists the Director with 
administration of Fisher Center programming. The fellow also 
participates in the biweekly Faculty Fellows Seminar related to the 
year’s theme. The fellow takes part in the work of the Fisher Center 
Steering Committee that meets approximately once a month.
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. Proposals can be broad or specific, disciplinary or 
interdisciplinary.
The salary for this position is $45,000.
*Theme*
The theme “Backlash, (Im)mobility, Reaction” captures the world in flux, 
the world overcome by turbulence, with opposite forces clashing, 
breaking, turning over. The Fisher Center for the Study of Gender and 
Justice invites applicants to address the following question: what does 
it mean to think, to write, to act, and to create art in such a world? 
Do we succumb to the forces of the moment (such as reactionary forces)? 
Do we react to them, mutiny, redirect, and fight back? How do 
scientists, artists, thinkers, and activists survive backlash—perhaps 
even turning this dynamic against itself? What makes people move and 
react, during reactionary times that hinder people’s mobility?
For more details on the 2025-26 theme, please see description below.
Qualifications
A doctoral degree and teaching experience are required. Degree 
requirements should be completed before August 1, 2025. Candidates 
should have received their doctoral degree within the last five years.
Application Instructions
Applicants must submit a cover letter, a brief research statement, a CV, 
two course syllabi related to the theme, and three confidential letters 
of recommendation via Interfolio by May 1, 2025. The cover letter should 
describe how the proposed courses and the research project the fellow 
wants to accomplish are related to the theme. The research statement 
should describe broader research accomplishments and goals (e.g. the 
dissertation or a book project).
Questions regarding Interfolio or visa status should be directed to 
Human Resources ((hr /at/ hws.edu)).
The Colleges are an equal employment opportunity employer and 
prohibit discrimination and harassment in their programs and activities 
against employees or applicants based on race (including traits 
historically associated with race, such as hair texture and protective 
hairstyles), color, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, sex 
(including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), 
gender, gender identity or expression, age, sexual orientation, physical 
or mental disability, citizenship, genetic information or predisposing 
genetic characteristics, marital status, familial status, domestic 
violence victim status, caregiver status, military status, including 
past, current, or prospective service in the uniformed services, social 
class, or any other category or characteristic protected by applicable law.

*About HWS*
A liberal arts and sciences institution, Hobart and William Smith is 
known for consistent success in preparing students for meaningful lives 
and fulfilling careers through an outcomes-based focus on their futures. 
Our nationally ranked faculty are accessible teachers and scholars known 
for the impact of their research and distinguished by the depth of their 
mentorship. World challenges are studied in the classroom where critical 
thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills are honed. In the 
field, knowledge turns into discovery. In office hours, plans are 
carefully crafted to tie interests and talents to an academic path that 
motivates beyond graduation.
Our location in the heart of the Finger Lakes allows faculty, staff and 
students to live and work collaboratively on the banks of a 
resource-rich lake. Student-athletes play for 30 varsity teams boasting 
24 national titles, including the 2023 and 2024 NCAA DIII Men’s Ice 
Hockey Championships. With three graduate programs, students can build 
on their undergraduate degree with a Master of Arts in Higher Education 
Leadership, Master of Arts in Teaching, or a Master of Science in 
Management. Together, the experiences and mentorship at HWS prepare 
students to lead lives of consequence.


*2025-2026 Theme: “Backlash, (Im)mobility, Reaction”*
The theme “*Backlash, (Im)mobility, Reaction” *captures the world in 
flux, the world overcome by turbulence, with opposite forces clashing, 
breaking, turning over. The Fisher Center for the Study of Gender and 
Justice invites applicants to address the following question: what does 
it mean to think, to write, to act, and to create art in such a world? 
Do we succumb to the forces of the moment (such as reactionary forces) 
that inhibit movement? Do we react to them, mutiny, redirect, and fight 
back? How do scientists, artists, thinkers, and activists survive 
backlash—perhaps even turning the forces of backlash against themselves? 
What makes people move and react, during reactionary times that hinder 
people’s mobility?
Is backlash always reactionary? Backlash is a response to a 
breakthrough, feminist writer Susan Faludi asserts in her 1991 book 
/Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women./ The “wrath” of a 
backlash, she argues, is marked by its brutality. It is a preemptive 
strike against real gains and, as such, is reactive. Backlash often 
disguises itself as “pity,” “worry,” “concern,” or cynicism. “The 
backlash is not a conspiracy… For the most part, its workings are 
encoded and internalized, diffuse and chameleonic,” she writes. While in 
the 1980s, demographers, sociologists, economists, and legal scholars 
rallied to claim feminism was the culprit behind the “infertility 
crisis,” “female burnout,” and the erosion of the American family, in 
our time, politicians—finding ample support in incel, trad-wife, and 
far-right communities—similarly hold feminism and other progressive 
movements responsible for various social ills. Backlash is episodic: it 
manifests as moments of resurgence, as flare-ups or outbreaks. Here, we 
ask: is backlash the right term to understand our cultural and political 
moment? How does one survive or fight back amid a backlash?
The term “reaction” is twofold: in reacting, one can respond well or 
defensively. One can overreact or fail to react at all. In our world, 
the term “reaction” often evokes nuclear reactions or corrosive chemical 
agents. Reactive agents have a high tendency to interact and cause 
damage. Reactionary movements try to stop the tide of change. Reactivity 
is often built into architecture (e.g., automated doors) and technical 
systems such as AI. We are also interested in visceral or bodily 
reactions (e.g., how one’s body reacts upon hearing the news). Reaction 
can trigger forms of anticipatory obedience (e.g., the scrubbing of DEI 
policies and statements by institutions and companies).
Immobility names a paralysis—an inability to respond or react. By 
contrast, mobilization seeks to enable collective and large-scale 
responses. Tariff and border wars signal the end of a certain type of 
mobility that once defined the era of globalization. The current crisis 
is one of both immobility and mass displacement. How do we make both 
phenomena visible? Activist Harsha Walia asserts that the so-called 
migrant crisis is “a misnomer, and what we are faced with is a crisis of 
immobility, where millions of displaced people are prevented from moving 
to safety and held in cordoned-off zones of containment.” How do we 
theorize mobility and immobility in an era of mass displacement and 
rapid, unpredictable change?
Endowed to further the study of gender and justice in the liberal arts, 
the Fisher Center welcomes applications from researchers in the 
humanities, sciences, social sciences, languages, and performing arts 
that demonstrate commitment to interdisciplinary discussion and 
collective inquiry. We are interested in proposals that explore how 
reaction, im(mobility), and/or backlash figure in scholarly, artistic, 
and scientific pursuits. Proposals can be broad or specific, 
disciplinary or interdisciplinary. They can examine specific 
configurations or address broader questions.


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