Call for positions: The South African Research Chair in Social Change

 

The chair is funded by the Depart­ment of Science and Tech­no­logy and admi­nis­te­red by the Nati­o­nal Rese­arch Fund (NRF). The chair holder is Prof. Peter Alexan­der. Dr. Marce­lle Dawson has been secon­ded to the chair as a senior rese­ar­cher and most of the above posi­ti­ons are linked to her propo­sed NRF Thut­huka project. Further support for these posi­ti­ons is provi­ded by the Univer­sity of Johan­nes­burg (UJ) and by the univer­sity’s Faculty of Huma­ni­ties. Bursa­ries are linked to students who are regis­te­red on a UJ programme. Docto­ral and masters students must be super­vi­sed or co-super­vi­sed by either Dr. Dawson or Prof. Alexan­der, but the chair is inter­dis­ci­pli­nary and can assist with loca­ting addi­ti­o­nal super­vi­sion. Fellows and bursars will be based at the UJ Rese­arch Village, where they will join a vibrant team of about 20 staff and students enga­ged in cutting-edge projects on social change.

The work of the chair focu­ses mainly on social change from below, speci­fi­cally on the follo­wing projects:

1) The social move­ments-social change nexus. This project is led by Dr Dawson. It is a colla­bo­ra­tive and compa­ra­tive project that analy­ses social move­ment outco­mes in South Africa and Brazil. It consi­ders the nature, scale and sustai­na­bi­lity of social change as well as the condi­ti­ons under which move­ment-indu­ced social change occurs. On one hand this study aims to challenge northern theo­re­ti­cal para­digms which have domi­na­ted the study of social move­ments and, on the other, it seeks to contri­bute to the growing body of compa­ra­tive rese­arch between coun­tries that comprise the BRICSA group. In other words, the objec­ti­ves are both theo­re­ti­cal and metho­do­lo­gi­cal. Although not a requi­re­ment for the bursa­ries and fellows­hips, the ability to read and speak Portu­guese is an added advan­tage.

2) South Afri­ca’s rebe­llion of the poor. This is Prof. Alexan­der’s prin­ci­pal project at present and builds on arti­cles he has writ­ten on the subject. He is espe­ci­ally inter­es­ted in deve­lo­ping case-study rese­arch linked to speci­fic commu­ni­ties. These would be parti­cu­larly suita­ble for masters’ students.

3) Stri­king workers. Measu­red in days lost per capita, over the past decade South Africa has expe­ri­en­ced the highest level of strike action in the world. The project builds on Prof. Alexan­der’s long stan­ding inter­est in compa­ra­tive labour history, though his primary inter­est here is in contem­po­rary unrest.

4) Redu­cing inequa­lity: popu­lar pres­sure and state inter­ven­tion. This is a new project that inves­ti­ga­tes initi­a­ti­ves deve­lo­ped by the South Afri­can govern­ment over the past deca­des (e.g. Commu­nity Work Programme). It is linked to an inter­na­ti­o­nal colla­bo­ra­tion that inclu­des colle­a­gues from the UK, China, India and Brazil.

Exce­llent students wishing to work in the broad domain of social change will also be consi­de­red (see web site for projects currently under­way). Howe­ver, Dr. Dawson and Prof. Alexan­der would like to bring grea­ter focus to their rese­arch super­vi­sion. Compa­ra­tive rese­arch is encou­ra­ged but this should have a South Afri­can compo­nent.

1) Post-docto­ral fellows­hips are open to candi­da­tes of any nati­o­na­lity.

2) Non-South Afri­cans can be consi­de­red for docto­ral and masters bursa­ries, but the NRF limits avai­la­bi­lity.

3). Honours bursa­ries are only avai­la­ble to black South Afri­can students.

In addi­tion to the follo­wing sums, students may also receive bursa­ries awar­ded by the univer­sity and by the faculty.

1) PDFs. R200,000 p.a. for two years (inclu­des NRF fellows­hip plus 'top-up’ from other sour­ces).

2) Docto­ral bursa­ries. R80,000 p.a. for three years.

3) Masters bursa­ries, R50,000 p.a for two years.

4) Honours bursa­ries. R25,000 p.a. for one year.

 

For further infor­ma­tion email mdaw­sonuj [ punto ] ac [ punto ] za (mdaw­son[at]uj[dot]ac[dot]za) or pale­xan­deruj [ punto ] ac [ punto ] za (pale­xan­der[at]uj[dot]ac[dot]za).

 

All appli­cants should submit a CV, trans­cript, names and contact details of three acade­mic refe­rees, and a cove­ring letter indi­ca­ting which of the rese­arch project/s you are inter­es­ted in. In addi­tion, candi­da­tes for PDFs and docto­ral bursa­ries should submit a sample of acade­mic writing. Appli­ca­ti­ons should be sent to llan­denuj [ punto ] ac [ punto ] za by 28 Octo­ber 2011.