Deadline: May 1, 2019
The African Critical Inquiry Programme is pleased to announce the 2019 Ivan Karp Doctoral Research Awards to support African doctoral students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences who are enrolled at South African universities and conducting dissertation research on relevant topics.
The African Critical Inquiry Programme (ACIP) seeks to advance inquiry and debate about the roles and practice of public culture, public cultural institutions, and public scholarship in shaping identities and society in Africa.
The ACIP is committed to collaboration between scholars and the makers of culture/history, and to fostering inquiry into the politics of knowledge production, the relationships between the colonial/apartheid and the postcolonial/postapartheid, and the importance of critical pluralism as against nationalist discourse. ACIP is a partnership between the Centre for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape and the Laney Graduate School of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia (USA).
Award
- Grant amounts vary depending on research plans, with a maximum award of ZAR 40,000.
Eligibility
- Open to African postgraduate students (regardless of citizenship) in the humanities and humanistic social sciences;
- Applicants must be currently registered in a Ph.D. program in a South African university and be working on topics related to ACIP’s focus;
- Awards will support doctoral research projects focused on topics such as institutions of public culture, particular aspects of museums and exhibitions, forms and practices of public scholarship, culture and communication, and the theories, histories, and systems of thought that shape and illuminate public culture and public scholarship;
- Applicants must submit a dissertation proposal that has been approved by their institution to confirm the award; this must be completed before they begin ACIP- supported on-site research or by December 2019, whichever comes first.
Selection Process
Applications will be reviewed by the ACIP Selection Committee, an interdisciplinary group of scholars and practitioners drawn from a range of universities and cultural institutions. Selection will be based on the merit and strength of the application. Awards will be made only if applications of high quality are received. Notification of awards will be made by late July.
Successful applicants will be required to attend the African Critical Inquiry Workshop in the following year and will have opportunities to consult with scholars associated with the Workshop. They will be expected to attend subsequent ACIP Workshops while completing their dissertations, if possible. After completing their research, applicants must submit a final research report and a financial report.
Students who receive an Ivan Karp Doctoral Research Award from the African Critical Inquiry Programme must acknowledge the support in any publications resulting from the research and in their dissertation. When the dissertation is completed, they must deposit a copy with the African Critical Inquiry Programme at the Center for Humanities Research.
Application
To apply, applicants should submit the following as a single file attachment with documents in the order listed:
- Completed cover sheet
- Abstract of the proposed research project (250 words maximum)
- Research proposal outlining the project’s goals, central questions, significance, and relevance for ACIP’s central concerns. Proposals should include a clearly formulated, realistic research design and plan of work responsive to the project’s theoretical and methodological concerns. Applicants should provide evidence of appropriate training to undertake the proposed research, including the language fluency necessary for the project. Proposals should be no longer than 5 pages; they should be double-spaced, with one-inch margins and a font no smaller than 11 points. Applications that do not follow this format will not be considered.
- Bibliography of up to two additional pages
- Project budget listing and justifying project expenses to be supported by the award
- Your curriculum vitae
- Current transcript
- Two referee letters; one of these must be from your supervisor.
Please submit materials as a single file attachment with documents in the order listed above. Applications should be sent by email with the heading “ACIP 2019 Research Award Application” to [email protected].
For more information, visit Ivan Karp Doctoral Research Awards.
