The Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University seeks applications for a College Fellow in Indigenous Religions. The appointment is expected to begin on July 1, 2023. The College Fellow will have teaching responsibilities, with 25 percent of the appointment reserved for the Fellow’s own research. Teaching duties will include the development and teaching of three courses of the Fellow’s choice in Indigenous religions and spiritualities, and in the category of Indigeneity.  The courses should be designed primarily for undergraduates, in consultation with the Committee on the Study of Religion’s Director of Undergraduate Studies.  The Fellow may also advise and evaluate undergraduate senior theses. 

 

The appointment is for one year, with the possibility of renewal for a second year, contingent on performance, position availability, curricular need, and divisional dean authorization.

 

The proposed course topics at Harvard should include themes of importance to the scholar’s own research and experience, as well as more general questions relevant to the field of Indigenous religions—and especially to undergraduate interests. 

 

The range of possibilities could include, for example, but not be limited to, any of the following: Indigenous religious orientations and identities; definitions of “religion” and its applicability in Native contexts; Indigenous epistemologies, theologies, ethics, and cosmologies; histories and ethnographies; ceremonial practices, material spiritualities, and urban spiritualities; animals, “animism,” and other-than-human worlds; sacred histories, structures, and landscapes; spirit religions; environmental issues, climate change; oratures, literatures, and language preservation; the arts, including the visual arts, performance art, music, dance, photography, theater, film, television, social media, and music; gender and sexuality in Native spiritualities; concepts, constructions, practices, and politics of Indigeneity; spiritual traditionalism, assimilation, innovation, appropriation, contestation, and resistance; cultural representation and cultural ownership; colonialism and sovereignty; the intersection of Native religious traditions and non-Native law enforcement and legal systems; Indigenous health care and approaches to healing and mental health; the role of museums, archaeology, and the repatriation of human remains and other sacred subjects; and the role of missionary religions in past and ongoing sites of physical and cultural genocide, femicide, ecological destruction, economic inequality, forced and coerced relocation, political exclusion, and systemic racism.

 

Harvard University is located on the traditional territory and ancestral homeland of the Massachusett and Wampanoag, the original inhabitants of what is now Cambridge and Boston.

 

Doctorate or terminal degree in Indigenous studies or Native American studies, with a research focus in religious traditions, histories, or practices.  The degree may be granted from a department of religion, anthropology, sociology, history, art history, political science, environmental study, or any other related discipline.  The doctorate is required by July 1, 2023, and must have been received no earlier than 2019.

 

Demonstrated strong commitment to teaching and advising at the undergraduate level is desirable.

 

 

Please apply through the ARIeS portal (https://academicpositions.harvard.edu). Detailed requirements, position information, and a link to the online application are available at https://facultyresources.fas.harvard.edu/college-fellows-program.  Review of applications will begin May 1, 2023, and continue until the position is filled.  Leading candidates will be asked to submit at least three letters of recommendation, and to participate in an online interview with members of the Search Committee.

 

Search Committee, College Fellow in Indigenous Studies,

Committee on the Study of Religion, Harvard University

Chair: Professor Kimberley C. Patton

 

Office for Faculty Affairs, facaff@fas.harvard.edu

 

Harvard University is an equal opportunity employer, and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, age, protected veteran status, disability, genetic information, military service, pregnancy, and pregnancy-related conditions, or other protected status.