U.S. Intellectual History Blog

Fellowship Announcement: Harvard’s Charles Warren Center

Harvard University’s Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History invites applications for its 2011-12 fellowship and workshop on “The Politics of Knowledge in Universities and the State.”

We aim to convene a multidisciplinary group of intellectual and cultural historians, historians of higher education and the natural and human sciences, sociologists of knowledge, scholars from science and technology studies, students of American political development and political theory, and others in relevant fields. The workshop will explore the intersection of knowledge production with political thought and practice, focusing on key institutional sites in higher education and government. How has the authority, and possibly the content, of knowledge been shaped by political contexts? How have intellectuals engaged with the state and what have been the consequences for policy and knowledge production? How have university and state politics intersected? Are “knowledge” and “politics” distinct, or are interpretive frameworks such as “construction,” “co-production,” or “power/knowledge” more appropriate? Participants will have the opportunity to think systematically about the situated nature of their own work. Comparative and transnational proposals that depart from North American developments are welcomed.

Fellows will participate in a seminar led by Andrew Jewett (History) and Julie Reuben (Education).

Applicants may not be degree candidates and should have a Ph.D. or equivalent. Fellows have library privileges and receive a private office which they must use for at least the nine-month academic year. Stipends are individually determined according to fellow needs and Center resources. The Center encourages applications, otherwise consistent with the Workshop theme, relating to the nation’s life during and as a consequence of wars, and from qualified applicants who can contribute, through their research and service, to the diversity and excellence of the Harvard community.

Application (at warrencenter.fas.harvard.edu) due January 15, 2011; decisions in early March.