Historical Injustice and Democracy Postdoctoral Research Associate
The Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice and the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs at Brown University invites applications for a two-year position (2021-2023) as the Historical Injustice and Democracy Postdoctoral Research Associate.
The making of the modern world was in part constituted by the historical injustices of colonialism and racial slavery. These injustices have played out in contemporary phenomena such as apartheid, displacement, discrimination, and other forms of domination in which substantial portions of the human population have been deprived of rights, economic opportunity, social mobility, or even their very lives. All these forms of historical and contemporary wrongs have generated a plethora of scholarship around different forms of justice: reparative, redistributive, transitional and, of course, reparations. However, how do forms of historical and contemporary injustices shape practices of democracy? Are forms of democracy adequate responses to historical and contemporary forms of injustice? This joint collaborative project between the Watson Institute of International and Public Affairs and the Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice seeks a two year post-doctoral fellow who will anchor the project. The candidate should be trained in any social science field and have an interest in questions of human rights as well as theories of democracy. The candidate should also be interested in the ways in which historical injustices have worked in different countries, and should have wide knowledge about the different practices which challenge historical and contemporary wrongs. The candidate would be required to teach one course per year, and should be ready to work in collaboration with the Watson and the CSSJ to create a public program around these issues.