Assistant Professor in Indigenous Studies

Department of Spanish & Portuguese | Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies

New York University Arts & Science

The Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS) at New York University invite applications for an assistant professor tenure-track position in Indigenous Studies, with a focus on Latin American and/or Caribbean pueblos originarios/povos originários. This search is part of a cluster hire in Native American and Indigenous Studies coordinated with the Departments of Cinema Studies, Performance Studies, English, History, Social and Cultural Analysis and the Gallatin School of Individualized Study. More information about this cluster, and NYU's broader Faculty Cluster Hiring Initiative, can be found here. The successful candidate will be jointly appointed in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese (75%) and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (25%) and will advise and teach in the undergraduate, Master’s and Ph.D. programs offered by both units, including teaching undergraduate and graduate courses conducted in English, Spanish, and/or Portuguese.

The committee will consider applicants working in any period or area of inquiry within this field, including but not limited to Meso-American, Andean, and Amazonian Indigenous formations. We are interested in scholarship  engaging with any genre of cultural, artistic, and linguistic practices of the region’s pueblos originarios/povos originários including but not limited to ones in conversation with: gender/sexuality; struggles for land and ancestral rights; sovereignty, autonomy and survivance including plurinational constitutionalism and Indigenous legal scholarship; politics, education and alternative epistemologies and ontologies; food sovereignty; modes of companionship with the Earth and with other coexistents as well as practices of resistance against extractivism, de-Indigenization and ethnocide. Comparative work in a global frame, scholarship engaging Indigeneity as a political/historical formation, intersections between Blackness and Indigeneity, or theoretical approaches to Indigeneity are also welcome. Proficiency in one or several Indigenous languages, as well as work on questions of language rights and multilingualism is highly encouraged.

The Department of Spanish & Portuguese is composed of a diverse group of scholars working together to create a rigorous and inclusive environment for research and teaching. Faculty work across literature, history, philosophy, law, art history and cinema, and around a range of key themes including translation, migration, bodily and spatial performances, and the cultures of sound. CLACS promotes interdisciplinary research and public knowledge of Latin America and the Caribbean through MA degree programs, language training, outreach programs, and scholarship on race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and social justice.  Founders of the city-wide Indigenous and Diasporic Language Consortium, CLACS offers training in Quechua and Haitian Kreyòl and sponsors a range of outreach activities with Kreyòl-, Quechua-, and Kichwa-speaking communities in New York. We encourage applicants to imagine how they might fit into—and expand—the intellectual profile of our community.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to collaborate with many units and projects adjacent to the Department and the Center, including NYU’s Global Site at Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Study-Abroad program in Recife, Brazil, as well as the Center for the Study of Africa and the African Diaspora, the Hemispheric Institute, NYU KJCC - a center dedicated to Spain and the Spanish speaking world, the Critical Racial and Anti-Colonial Study Co-Lab, the Latinx Project, and the Center for the Humanities.

Applications from scholars who are members of Indigenous language communities as well as of populations historically underrepresented in the academy are especially encouraged. Candidates who are in the process of completing their PhDs may apply provided their degree is completed prior to the start date for the position. Review of application materials will begin October 20, 2023, and the search will remain open until the position is filled. The appointment will begin on September 1, 2024, pending administrative and budgetary approval.

Application materials: Cover Letter, CV, 1-page Teaching Statement, 1-page Diversity and Inclusion Statement (additional information can be found here: https://as.nyu.edu/departments/facultydiversity/recruitment/diversity-statements.html), Writing Sample (book chapter or published article preferred), and names and contact information for 3 References. Applicants should submit their materials through Interfolio: https://apply.interfolio.com/132382 

Please contact the Chair of the search committee, Jens Andermann, at [email protected] with any queries about this position.

In compliance with NYC’s Pay Transparency Act, the annual base salary range for this position is $85,000 - 135,000. New York University considers factors such as (but not limited to) the scope and responsibilities of the position, the candidate’s work experience, education/training, key skills, internal peer equity, as well as market and organizational considerations when extending an offer.

Arts & Science at NYU is at the heart of a leading research university that spans the globe. We seek scholars of the highest caliber, who embody the diversity of the United States as well as the global society in which we live. We strongly encourage applications from women, racial and ethnic minorities, and other individuals who are under-represented in the profession, across color, creed, race, ethnic and national origin, physical ability, gender and sexual identity, or any other legally protected basis. NYU affirms the value of differing perspectives on the world as we strive to build the strongest possible university with the widest reach. To learn more about the Arts & Science commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion please visit https://as.nyu.edu/departments/facultydiversity.html