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Associate or Full Professors in the Social Sciences Studying Racism and Inequality

Brown University
Providence, United Statesfull_timeVerifiedPosted 18 May 2025

About the role

Description

Intellectual and political interest in the persistence and eradication of racism and other forms of systemic inequality mark our contemporary moment. In the United States, the high-profile killings of African-Americans by police, the expansion of the American carceral state, the persistence of systemic inequalities (political, social, racial, economic, related to gender and sexual identity, etc.), the rise of the Movement for Black Lives, and the disparate impact of the Covid-19 pandemic have all refocused attention on the intersections of race, systemic inequality, and anti-racist mobilization. In keeping with Brown University’s commitment to dismantling racism on campus and beyond, we seek to hire outstanding senior scholars working on various aspects of racism and systemic inequality from the vantage point of the Social Sciences (broadly understood).

Building on the success of Brown’s ongoing initiatives to diversify its faculty, student body, and curriculum, we seek to hire a group of senior scholars who can further enhance the work already being done on campus in areas such as: the quantitative study of systemic inequality, as well as historically informed, qualitative, interdisciplinary, and mixed methods scholarship, in specific social domains (such as education, health, voting and political behavior, immigration, mass incarceration, etc.); theorization of racism and its persistence and impact, historical racial formations; scholarship on anti-racist resistance and movement-building and transnational and inter-group solidarities, etc. The search is open with regard to geographic region, though a strong preference is for scholarship in areas where racism, racial hierarchy, and racial inequality are centrally organizing logics.  

This is an open-field search. We seek to recruit a dynamic configuration of faculty members with complementary scholarly interests that will further strengthen public-facing, interdisciplinary scholarship on racism and systemic inequalities at Brown. They will be appointed with tenure at the level of associate or full professor in one of the following departments: Africana Studies; American Studies; Anthropology Education; Economics; Cognitive, Linguistic & Psychological Sciences; History; Political Science; and Sociology.  

Scholars will join an exciting interdisciplinary community of scholars and researchers  of racism and systemic inequalities at Brown, supported by vibrant intellectual units such as the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice, and the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. At a moment of overlapping and ongoing crises, nationally and globally, the cluster hire in racism and systemic inequality in the social sciences will:

  • Expand Brown’s track record of supporting scholarship that is forward-thinking, cutting-edge, and that speaks to pressing contemporary issues
  • Facilitate greater opportunity for collaboration across social science departments, and with external partners locally, nationally, and globally
  • Enhance opportunities for engaged, activist scholarship whose work responds to pressing contemporary issues
  • Contribute to Brown’s efforts to diversify its faculty and curriculum in accordance with its commitment to diversity and inclusion at all levels. Those principles are outlined in its 2016 Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan, and the recently released Phase II Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan.

Qualifications

We are interested in nationally and internationally-recognized candidates with outstanding scholarly records and a vibrant and ongoing research agenda. Successful candidates will be committed to excellence in undergraduate and graduate teaching, and have a demonstrated investment in diversity and inclusion.

Application Instructions

Applicants should submit the following materials via Interfolio:

  • Letter of interest describing relevant research, teaching, and service/administrative experience 
  • Current curriculum vitae
  • Names of thre

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Company

Brown University

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