Swarthmore College

The Aydelotte Foundation invites applications from Swarthmore faculty for participation in a year-long interdisciplinary seminar exploring approaches to art and/as social practice that center Black, Indigenous, people of color, queer & trans, and other marginalized voices. Participants in Just Art will engage anti-racist feminist theories, methods, and histories that respond creatively to challenges to urgent challenges to gender and racial justice. Just Art will be convened by Aydelotte Director Patricia White with postdoctoral fellow in Gender and Sexuality Studies Dahlia Li. Early career, visiting, and non-tenure track faculty and staff are encouraged to apply.

The seminar will include six participants meeting six times each semester, following a co-created syllabus in the fall and sharing works-in-progress in the spring, complemented by public programming featuring guest scholars and artists throughout the year. We welcome ongoing or new projects pursuing 1) creative collaboration with artists and community groups; 2) working with archives and collections; and/or 3) exploring public scholarship, programming and curation. Topics of such projects might include abolition, climate, disability, migration and diaspora, reproductive and transgender rights. Participants will be expected to share their research on the Aydelotte website or other public forum, plan an event in 2025-26, incorporate seminar materials in their teaching, or other appropriate outcome.

Aydelotte faculty seminars are designed to foster interdisciplinary scholarship and intellectual community, especially among junior scholars pursuing emergent fields or collaborative or multimodal research. The success of the seminar depends on the commitment of all participants through the year. In recognition of this commitment, each Fellow will receive a $5000 stipend and be eligible for funds for collaboration with community partners, as well as programming and/or curriculum development around their work for 2025-26. The 2025-26 topic will be Just Tech: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Data and Democracy. 

Applicants should submit a letter of interest (500-750 words) and CV by May 3, 2024. 

Please combine the letter and resume into a single PDF and name it LastName_FirstName_JustArt

To Apply go to bit.ly/just-art

Questions? Inquiries about the faculty seminar series may be directed to aydelotte@swarthmore.edu

Close