Postdoc, Northampton

Postdoctoral Fellow & Project Coordinator in Digital Humanities

and Popular Political Education

Smith College, Northampton MA

Smith College seeks a two-year Postdoctoral Fellow and Project Coordinator in Digital Humanities and Popular Political Education to assist with design, development and management for the project Putting History in Domestic Workers’ Hands, a two-year collaboration between Smith College and the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA). The position is a full time appointment with full benefits, beginning July 1, 2018 and ending June 30, 2020 and includes an appointment in the Smith College Department of History and/or Latin American and Latina/o Studies for that period.

Putting History in Domestic Workers’ Hands will produce research on domestic worker history and create digitally-based products to support key elements of NDWA’s capacity-building initiatives. These initiatives include creating greater web presence for NDWA through web-based educational videos, facilitating access to and knowledge of domestic worker organizing history through a digital, interactive timeline, and developing a core political education curriculum that is digitally-distributable for curation and use on multiple scales—local, state, regional and national—to build the movement base and train NDWA staff, membership, supporters and the larger public in the history of domestic work and domestic worker organizing in and beyond the United States.

The Fellow will assist with research, content development and design for the core political education curriculum, provide expert assistance in popular education pedagogy, including advising on best practices for designing a multi-scalar, non-academic curriculum, and develop digital content management skills as applicable to the project’s goals, including content digitization, digital archiving, content maintenance and copyright clearance for digital materials. The Fellow will have the opportunity to work with Smith College faculty, staff, and undergraduate students, the NDWA Field Director, NDWA Field Coordinator, the NDWA Technology Development Manager, as well as other members of the project team.

Required skills/experience

●      Strong research skills.

●      Bilingual command of Spanish/English, with strong writing skills in each.

●      Ph.D. in a related discipline such as History, Women and Gender Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, American Studies, Latin American Studies, with specialization in transnational social movements, labor and/or women’s histories.

●      Experience with popular education methodologies and/or curriculum design.

●      Experience in digital content management, including digitization, archiving and/or maintenance of digital content.

Additional valuable skills/experience

●      Previous experience in project coordination.

●      Interest in or experience with grassroots organizing, movement building and campaign development with immigrants, workers, and/or women of color.

●      An understanding of the impacts of oppression and trauma on individuals and communities.

●      Demonstrated ability to translate complex ideas into formats that are accessible to multiple audiences, including people with limited literacy or formal education.

●      Experience in using social media and other digital platforms for public outreach.

●      Experience connecting academic and community-based institutions.

Roles and duties

●      The Fellow will act as Project Coordinator, with responsibilities for advising on popular education pedagogy, and assisting in the planning, design and development of multi-scalar, digital and multimedia popular education curriculum.

●      The Fellow will develop expertise in digital humanities, especially the curation, archiving, management, and dissemination of digital content.

●      Teach two courses per year relevant to the Fellow’s interests and expertise.

●      Participate in annual convenings of the project team: faculty from Smith College, NDWA partners, and members of the project’s Advisory Board.

●      Work collaboratively with the project team to assist in designing and implementing the History of Organizing training for NDWA in Summer 2020.

●      The Fellow will work under the supervision of the faculty co-directors, Jennifer Guglielmo, Associate Professor of History and Michelle Joffroy, Associate Professor of Spanish at Smith College.

●      The Fellow will consult as necessary with NDWA Field Director, Lisa Moore on the overall direction on the content, learning objectives, political orientation, methodology and flow of the curriculum and other materials to ensure their alignment and applicability for NDWA’s work.

●      The digital infrastructure of the project will be managed by the NDWA Technology Team

Salary and Benefits

●      Salary is $65,000 in year one; $66,950 in year two.

●      Smith College offers a robust benefits package that includes $3,000/year in research funds and participation in the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. This will enable the Fellow to build a professional network with other recent Ph.D. graduates who are developing this unique skill-set for innovative academic/non-profit partnerships, including gaining a broad understanding of the importance of data and information management to the emerging research environment.

Located in Northampton, MA, Smith College is the largest women's college in the country and is dedicated to excellence in teaching and research across the liberal arts. The Five College Consortium, comprised of Smith, Amherst, Mount Holyoke, and Hampshire Colleges and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, provides a rich intellectual and cultural life. Smith College is an EO/AA/Vet/Disability Employer. Women, underrepresented racial groups, veterans and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Review of applications will begin on April 16, 2018.

Submit application at http://apply.interfolio.com/49529 with a cover letter, curriculum vitae, writing sample, graduate school transcripts, three confidential letters of recommendation, and a personal statement that addresses your experiences with popular political education (see prompt in the Interfolio application).