Assistant Professor of Anthropology

The Bates College Department of Anthropology invites applications for a tenure-track position in Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) at the rank of Assistant Professor beginning in August 2024; we are open to considering applications from candidates who are pre-tenure or recently tenured. The candidate will be part of a collaborative re-organization and rebuilding of a three-person department after a series of retirements, where the focus will be on interdisciplinary sociocultural anthropology. We welcome applications from all qualified applicants, but are especially interested in candidates who work in the Native Northeast and who have an established and robust research program working with Indigenous communities. We are looking for a dynamic scholar-teacher whose program of research centers decolonial, antiracist, feminist, and queer approaches to anthropology and ethnographic research. Fields of specialization are open and might include environmental justice, climate justice, food sovereignty, reproductive justice, medical anthropology, linguistic anthropology, anthropology of science and technology, and feminist anthropology.

The successful candidate will design and teach core courses including introduction to sociocultural anthropology and ethnographic research methods as well as develop courses in their field(s) of specialization. PhD in anthropology or related field (with an active ethnographic research program) must be in hand before beginning the job in August 2024.

Candidates with a demonstrated commitment to inclusive pedagogy and the success of historically underrepresented, marginalized and first-generation students are encouraged to apply. Full teaching responsibility at Bates is 5 courses per year, across two semesters and a 4-week short term in May. Faculty serve as academic advisors to students as well as supervise  senior theses.

We invite applicants to submit a cover letter, a CV, a research and teaching statement (3 pages max), and the names and email addresses of three references willing to write letters of recommendation. In their research and teaching  statement, candidates should describe their current and future research program(s), their teaching philosophy and experience, and their skills and experience supporting a diverse student body and contributing to campus efforts in equity and inclusion. Please address the following questions: 1) What has prepared you to teach “Introduction to Cultural Anthropology” and “Ethnographic Research Methods” at Bates?; 2) What two courses in your specialty would you propose?; 3) How does your research contribute to the field(s) of interdisciplinary sociocultural anthropology and to Native American Indigenous Studies?;  4) How does your research inform your teaching, and how might you include students in your research program?

After an initial review of applications, shortlisted candidates will be asked to submit three letters of recommendation, relevant syllabi, and a writing sample. Review of applications will begin on Dec 13, 2023 and continue until the position is filled.

The college’s mission statement celebrates “the transformative power of our differences.” Accordingly, we believe that campus diversity can contribute to student learning, and we embrace the college’s aim to extend access to a Bates education to an ever-wider range of students. We strongly encourage applications from individuals in underrepresented groups, individuals who have followed non-traditional pathways to higher education due to societal, economic, or academic disadvantages, and individuals with a demonstrated capacity to advance the college’s continuing commitments to equity and inclusion.

About Bates:

Bates College is a residential liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine—a diverse and growing community roughly 45 minutes from the state’s largest city, 2 ½ hours north of Boston, and 4 ½ hours south of Montreal.  Community-engaged learning and study abroad are both broadly encouraged and supported; pedagogical development and innovation is further buttressed by a new Center of Inclusive Teaching and Learning.

Bates supports new faculty with a course reduction in the first year of teaching, formal mentoring, and new-faculty development programming. Bates provides tenure-track faculty with a paid pre-tenure leave and support for post-tenure sabbaticals. Faculty scholarship and creative work at Bates are robustly supported by start-up packages, internal grants, and a well-staff external grants office.

Education access and racial justice are central to Bates’ history and mission.  That work is supported in a variety of ways, including a Schuler Education Foundation Grant to support financial aid for Pell-eligible students, low-income, and undocumented students, and a Mellon Foundation Curricular Transformation Grant.  More about our faculty’s commitment to equity and inclusion may be found here.

Employment is contingent upon successful completion of a background check.