Call for Applications: Humanities EXPLORE Undergraduate Research Fellowship with Thiago Mota, 2024-2025
Research Assistant: Mapping the offering of courses in African History through the UC system: what is Africa's place in History curricula? (History)
We encourage work-study and non-work-study students to apply. This role is only open to undergraduate students with a declared or proposed Humanities major or minor and requires work authorization.
Application Deadline: Thursday, November 21, 2024
The Humanities Division and The Humanities Institute are excited to announce an experiential learning opportunity for undergraduates at UC Santa Cruz to work with History Professor Thiago Mota.
The Humanities Experiential Learning Opportunities in Research (EXPLORE) Program connects Humanities majors and minors to faculty-led research projects in the division. EXPLORE Fellows are mentored by faculty members to develop skills and knowledge to help them make an impactful intellectual or creative contribution to their field. Students gain practical experience and professional training that builds on their studies in the Humanities. At the same time, faculty benefit from students’ assistance and academic expertise.
Applicants must have a declared or proposed major or minor in the Humanities Division at the time of their application to be eligible. Please see the Humanities Division majors and minors list to check your eligibility before applying.
About The Project
This research aims to look into all History Departments in the University of California system to understand how the official discourse about equity and diversity meets with course offerings in African History. Thus, its goal is to answer the question: what is Africa's place in History curricula throughout the UC system? Getting an answer, the next step will be to explain it. From a preliminary view of UC History Departments' websites, it seems that the level of commitment with African Studies varies over campi. Through an investigation that looks into online available data, such as course offerings and course descriptions, area studies, and concentration of professors in different world areas, our study will make a x-ray of African History throughout the University of California in order to produce new data to support departments discussions about the opening of new fields of investigation, ways to expand graduate programs, and statistics about overassessed and underassessed areas in their curricula, comparatively. Hence, our study will offer an original contribution to the UC system by digging data able to support the implementation of equity and diversity politics within History Departments, aiming to get a better balance among different world areas approached through their curriculum.
Position Description:
RESPONSIBILITIES AND EXPECTATIONS
Students will be offered two kinds of opportunities: 1- learning activities about the birth of African Studies in the UC academy, its reasons, commitments, achievements, and transformations over time; 2- research-engaged activities, such as elaborating a research project, defining a subject to be investigated, delimiting a theme, collecting data, producing historical analysis, communicating their results in academic events and publications. To fulfill these activities, the job duties will include:
- Bibliographical readings about the formation of African Studies in the US: 20%
- Meetings to discuss readings and to provide feedback on assigned tasks: 10%
- Data collection through UC History Departments' websites about African related course offerings in the last 10 years: 30%
- Data analysis through tables, charts and textual description: 20%
- Preparation of scientific communication for academic events and/or publications: 20%
All these activities will be conducted under guidance and supervised directly by the project coordinator in biweekly meetings.
Required Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities
- You are a declared or proposed major or minor in a department in the Humanities Division and are in good academic standing. If your major or minor is proposed, you can declare by the end of the academic year in June. [strict eligibility requirement]
- Eligible majors: Applied Linguistics and Multilingualism, Classical Studies, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Feminist Studies, History, Jewish Studies, Language Studies, Linguistics, Literature, Philosophy, Spanish Studies
- Eligible minors: Black Studies, Classical Studies, East Asian Studies, History of Consciousness, History, Italian Studies, Jewish Studies, Language Studies, Linguistics, Literature, Middle Eastern and North African Studies, Philosophy, Spanish Studies
- You have work authorization. [required]
- You have taken a course on African studies and have some knowledge about African history.
- Proactivity, commitment, punctuality
- Disposition to work collaboratively
Preferred Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities
- Having participated in other research projects
Position Term: Winter 2025 - Spring 2025
Hours: 15/week
Compensation: $20/hour
# Positions Available: 3
Mentorship: You will work closely with and report to History Professor Thiago Mota. They will delegate tasks and review your work, provide coaching, and help you understand what professional research is like. You will meet to check in biweekly.
Apply By Submitting
- Your updated resume
- A short cover letter (no more than one page) answering these questions: Why are you interested in this position? How does your academic expertise and skillset prepare you for this role? What are you hoping to gain from this opportunity?
REVIEW these resume and cover letter resources to ensure you are a strong candidate! For application help, see Humanities Career Engagement.
- Address your cover letter to Thiago Mota
Once the application window closes, there will be an interview process with top candidates. This job is expected to start in January 2025.
Please contact the EXPLORE Program coordinator, Kylie Rachwalski, at hum-experiential-learning@ucsc.edu with any questions.
The Mellon Foundation, The Helen and Will Webster Foundation, The Humanities Institute, and the UCSC Humanities Division generously support the Humanities EXPLORE Program.
