The Department of Transnational Asian Studies at Rice University in Houston Texas invites applications for an open rank, tenured/tenure-track scholar of South Asia. Applications are welcome from a variety of disciplines and areas of specialization that include South Asian Studies, Asian American Studies, Religion and Philosophy, Art History, Environmental Studies, Race and Caste Studies, Diaspora Studies and Gender and Sexuality. Applicants with strongly cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary background are particularly welcome to apply.
The Department of Transnational Asian Studies is housed in the School of the Humanities and employs cross-disciplinary scholarship in the humanities and social sciences. Our department is unique in its focus on transnational, transhistorical, and global movements of peoples, ideas, practices, and cultures of Asia, including that of the diaspora. Rather than viewing Asia as a collection of bordered nation-states, we re-imagine it as a series of regional and global transformations, influences, migrations, trade, and political formations. The Department of Transnational Asian Studies works in close collaboration with the Chao Center for Asian Studies, which functions as a research hub for Asian Studies-affiliated Rice faculty, students, and post-doctoral fellows.
Successful applicants must have a demonstrated track record of and commitment to effective and inclusive teaching. The appointment begins on July 1, 2025. Applicants must have Ph.D. in hand before the start of the appointment in a discipline of the Humanities or related interdisciplinary field. Applicants are expected to have proficiency in one or more South Asian language. Rice University and the Department of Transnational Asian Studies seek candidates who are committed to the highest standards of scholarship and professional activities and to the development of a campus that supports equality and diversity. In addition to maintaining an active research agenda, the successful candidate will teach four courses (2/2) in a normal academic year. Applicants must be committed to superior undergraduate teaching but opportunities for advising and teaching Ph.D. students in other humanities disciplines exist.
Please submit your application by October 31, 2024. Application materials must include a letter of application, CV, teaching statement, diversity statement, and two writing samples of approximately twenty pages each. Applicants at the rank of assistant professor should include three letters of recommendation. For senior applicants, at the rank of associate or full, we will request letters of recommendation from a subset at a later stage. Finalists will also be asked for teaching evaluations (if available).
Rice University is a private, comprehensive research university located in the heart of Houston?s dynamic museum district and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. The fourth largest and most diverse city in the United States, Houston provides an opportunity for scholars to collaborate with area universities, museums, the Texas Medical Center, and civic organizations, and to engage with the broader metropolitan community. Rice University offers undergraduate and graduate degrees across eight schools and has a student body of 4,800 undergraduates and a nearly equal number of graduate students. Its hallmarks include a very high level of research activity and intellectual innovation and a commitment to diversity at all levels. The department has close working relationships with other departments in the School of Humanities and is also involved in a range of interdisciplinary centers, such as the Center for Environmental Studies, Medical Humanities Research Institute, and the Center for the Study of Women, Gender & Sexuality. General information about the Department of Transnational Asian Studies can be found at https://asianstudies.rice.edu.
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