SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

---

Fellowships announced at University of Washington:

The Faculty of Critical Asian Studies: Forum on Trauma, History, and “Asia”, in partnership with the Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington, U.S., invites applications to fill two fellowship positions for the 2003-04 academic year.

Deadline for application is December 10, 2002. Fellows will be in residence for one academic year. Each fellow will receive a stipend of approximately $37,500, an office equipped with computer and Internet access, secretarial support and supplies, and a small stipend to offset travel expenses. Additionally, each fellow will be compensated for teaching one quarter-long graduate seminar offered through the Simpson Center.

Background:

How can traumatic injustices of the 20th century across “Asia” and its diasporas be narrated? What happens to the arts and humanities when mass injustice is deeply felt but seemingly inexpressible? Should scholars in the United States join the urgent intellectual project of inter-Asian efforts to rethink “Asia” in relation to trauma and just histories?
Each year the Forum on Trauma, History, and “Asia” will host two intellectuals located in Asia broadly defined, whose projects engage these questions. Holding appointments as visiting scholars, the fellows will lead an investigation into the matter of how scholarship treats trauma, defined as unread or unspoken injustice.

Together with the Faculty of Critical Asian Studies, the scholars selected will experiment with analytic and scholarly language capable of turning injustice into legible history. Each year the Project will also sponsor an international workshop that examines how the objects of our study are being reconfigured in early 21st century economic and cultural transformation and what role the humanities ought to play in shaping our thinking about regional agendas and scholarly lexicons.

Practical information:

Applicants to the fellowship should send a five-page narrative proposal outlining a project that widens our understanding of the relation of trauma, history, and “Asia.” Also include two letters of recommendation, a current curriculum vitae and a brief description of the seminar that you propose to teach. Electronic applications are welcome. More information from Jenna Brostrom, Simpson Center for the Humanities, University of Washington.