Job Description

Title of Position

Senior Lecturer

Post Number

8022071

Faculty/Department

University of the Western Cape -> Arts and Humanities -> Centre for Humanities Research

Type of Position

Permanent - Full Time

Length of Contract Period

Location

Main Campus - Bellville, WC ZA (Primary)

Closing Date

22/10/2023

Role Clarification & Key Performance Areas

SENIOR RESEARCHER/RESEARCHER

CENTRE OF HUMANITIES RESEARCH (CHR)

FACULTY OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES

The University of the Western Cape (UWC) is a vibrant, diverse and dynamic university, rooted in the African continent with an increasing global reach. UWC actively responds in critical and creative ways to the development needs of the country, within an ever-changing and challenging global context. The Centre for Humanities Research (CHR) is located within the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at UWC, and works across Faculties at UWC. The faculty is well known nationally and internationally, with a substantial research profile and offers high quality education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in a variety of fields. Graduates are equipped with the skills of critical thinking, effective communication, and social responsiveness, and they have the ability to interact well in contexts of social diversity.

The Centre for Humanities Research (CHR) at UWC has established itself as a leading national and international research centre. Since its inception in 2006, the CHR has played a leading role in recharging humanistic inquiry informing theoretical approaches to, and national and international debates on the postapartheid condition. The Centre is home to a postgraduate fellowship programme, an artists in residence programme and a vibrant network of international partnerships. Hosting the only NRF-DSI Flagship Programme in the Humanities in South Africa, the CHR has research platforms on aesthetics and politics, the sensory order and becoming technical of the human. Together these have produced leading postgraduate research, advanced scholarship and artistic expression in kinetic objects, documentary film and, more recently, studies on sound. The Centre is also home to two research chairs: The SARChI Chair in Visual History and Theory and the Charlotte Maxeke-Mary Robinson Reciprocal Research Chair. Through the CHR's new Humanities Hub in Woodstock, Cape Town, the Centre is reshaping the spatial distribution of the Humanities in the city across urban, peri-urban and rural divides.

The Senior Researcher/Researcher will be a scholar who demonstrates national recognition for their research and emerging international recognition. The candidate should demonstrate capacity for intellectual collaboration across the full range of the CHR's intellectual inquiries and academic programmes. We specifically seek candidates who have a disciplinary or cross-disciplinary training in one or more of the following areas: Cultural Studies, Queer Theory, Literary Studies (with an emphasis on comparative literature), Political theory, Critical Theory, Aesthetic Theory, Postcolonial Theory and Studies.

Duties of the Senior Researcher/Researcher:

• To conduct cutting edge research in relevant areas of the CHR's intellectual inquiries as well as in the candidate's area of academic specialisation
• At least 3-5 years' tertiary teaching experience at UG and PG level
• Experience in curriculum development and innovation
• To do postgraduate supervision and to teach their research in relevant departments in the faculty
• Convene the digital and public communications platforms of the CHR, and a familiarity with social media to situate the Centre's research in the public domain
• To convene and organise conferences, workshops and seminars across the CHR's research platforms
• Academic Administration & Institutional Leadership - Academic duties at a research centre level e.g. module/course co-ordination (when necessary)
• Participation in research centre/departmental and faculty committees (when necessary)
• To work with CHR academics and artists in residence in support of the CHR's community partnerships

Minimum Requirements

Minimum Requirements (Qualification and Experience)

• A PhD in the Humanities or interpretative Social Sciences with one or more specialisations in the following areas: Cultural Studies, Queer Theory, Literary Studies (with an emphasis on comparative literature), Political theory, Critical Theory, Aesthetic Theory, Postcolonial Theory and Studies
• A track record of research and publications, including in international journals, demonstrating capacity for intellectual versatility as well as recognition in the candidate's areas of research specialisation with at least 4-5 publications in accredited journals or equivalent recognised outputs, OR an average of 1 article/unit or equivalent recognised output per year for the previous 5 years.
• Evidence of successful Master's supervision (at least 2 successfully completed)
• Conference papers delivered

Added Advantage/Recommendation:

• To assist with financial management of research grants
• Community engagement in a related field would be a recommendation
• At least 3-5 years' tertiary teaching experience at UG and PG level
• Experience in curriculum development and innovation

In your application, you are encouraged to highlight your strengths and also include anything else that you feel may be pertinent to the selection panel. Please attach your covering letter, a detailed curriculum vitae and highest qualification to your online profile. To be considered for this vacancy, you must click on the Apply for this Job link below or apply directly via UWC Careers at https://uwc.hua.hrsmart.com/hr/ats/JobSearch/viewAll. For any queries, please contact the Human Resources Department at +27 21 959 4063/9763/9708/3551/3756 or email: e-recruitment@uwc.ac.za

EQUITY DISCLAIMER: In line with the University's commitment to diversifying its workforce, preference will be given to suitably qualified applicants in line with Employment Targets of the University. The University reserves the right to not make an appointment, make an appointment at a different level, seek additional candidates and may conduct competency assessments.

University of the Western Cape