The University of Massachusetts Amherst seeks to hire a scholar in the Department of Anthropology at the assistant professor level starting Fall 2011, with a specialization in the social life of discourse and language. PhD required at the time of appointment.

The Department is building on our teaching, research, and service concentration on the causes and manifestations of inequality and the promotion of social justice in the Americas. This position is part of a group of hires in these areas across the subdisciplines of anthropology.

The successful candidate will have a vision and strong record of research and teaching in issues of discourse, power, and inequality, with a specific area concentration that enhances our department’s strength in the Americas, with a preferred focus on Latin American, Caribbean, or Latino studies.

The Department has a strong preference for research that addresses the racialized politics of language: racism, colonialism, creolization; language shift, linguistic profiling, language and media, and language reclamation; the role of language and discourse in the constitution of race, gender, and sexuality; institutional(ized) discourses of education and socialization; and bi- or multilingual communities.

The department seeks candidates who:

• will strengthen our curriculum in research methodologies, data collection, and analysis, and have expertise in digital technologies for working with discourse data.
• demonstrate a willingness to serve linguistic communities through their research.
• are integrated into the racialized communities they study, as a means to build on the strong community outreach initiative of the department.
• value and encourage research and teaching across the subdisciplines of anthropology.
• will strengthen our cooperation with interdepartmental programs with these same foci.

The department is committed to developing a more diverse faculty, student body and curriculum.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst is the flagship campus of the 5-campus publicly funded UMass system. It is located in the Connecticut River Valley, 90 miles west of Boston and 180 miles northeast of New York City. UMass Amherst hosts nearly 19,000 undergraduate students and 5,600 graduate students, and nearly 900 tenure system faculty. The Department of Anthropology has 21 faculty, 175 majors in the BA program and 82 graduate students working on MA and/or PhD programs.

UMass Amherst anthropology faculty work closely with their counterparts in the area private colleges (Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, and Smith) in curricular planning. The faculty is unionized, and the University of Massachusetts offers an excellent benefits package. UMass Amherst prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The University of Massachusetts is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer.  Women and members of minority groups are encouraged to apply.

We are accepting applications online at: https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo. Please include a letter describing interests and qualifications, a CV, and list of 3 referees to: Alternatively, paper submissions should be sent to Tracy Tudryn, Dean’s Assistant, Dean’s Office, 230 Draper Hall, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003. Application screening commences on September 30, 2010, and continues until the position is filled.