Training for Research on Postcolonialism and Creolization

NEW FUNDING OPPORTUNITY: TRAINING FOR RESEARCH ON POSTCOLONIALISM AND CREOLIZATION

The Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship (DPDF) Program of the Social Science Research Council, in conjunction with the University of Warwick, is pleased to announce the following research and training opportunity for early to mid-stage doctoral students within the U.S. and United Kingdom:


Postcolonial Identities and Decolonial Struggles: Creolization and Colored Cosmopolitanism

DPDF Student Fellowship Competition 2013


This workshop addresses the production of contestatory cultures from the age of enslavement and colonization to that of decolonization. It is concerned with the continuing resonance across social, cultural and political fields of the emancipatory struggles of those times. We will focus, in particular, on the historical and contemporary dimensions of creolization and colored cosmopolitanism. Creolization refers to the mutually constituting processes of identity construction, such as cultural syncretism, hybridity, or mestisaje that oppressed peoples create in their struggles against injustice, most usually in contexts of colonialism, settlement, and enslavement. It is a frame through which researchers can recognize these difficult histories, not to diminish the inhumane conditions of the time, but rather to acknowledge the creative capacity of human endeavour to cope with and overcome such conditions. The idea of ‘colored cosmopolitanism’ is one such product that points to movements of socio-cultural engagement and solidarity across racial and national lines

Selected fellows will work with faculty research directors Professor Gurminder Bhambra (Sociology, University of Warwick) and Professor Nico Slate (History, Carnegie Mellon University) to enhance their dissertation research plans within the context of this multidisciplinary research field.

The Spring Workshop will be held May 28-June 2, 2013 in Coventry, England on the campus of the University of Warwick and the Fall Workshop will be held September 18-22, 2013 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

APPLY BY JANUARY 31, 2013 5PM ET.


Fellows attend workshops in the spring and fall of the fellowship cycle, which provide a framework for pre-dissertation research and guide dissertation research plans. In the summer months between workshops, DPDF fellows carry out exploratory field research on their topics to evaluate issues of feasibility and methods of investigation. The DPDF program covers necessary costs for workshop participation and up to $5,000 for summer research.

ELIGIBILITY

The “Postcolonial Identities and Decolonial Struggles” research field is open to second and third year doctoral students in all disciplines of the humanities and social sciences who are enrolled full time in PhD programs at accredited universities in the United States, as well as 1st year doctoral students based at universities within the United Kingdom.

PROGRAM CONTACTS

For further information regarding the program and how to apply, please visit our website at www.ssrc.org/programs/dpdf/
Program staff are available at dpdf@ssrc.org to answer additional questions.