OPPORTUNITY: Departmental Writing Fellow, Anthropology, University of the Witwatersrand

15 FEBRUARY 2021 to 15 FEBRUARY 2022

The Department of Anthropology is in search of a Departmental Writing Fellow for the said period and on a claims-based contract.

Tasks of the prospective candidate: The successful candidate will be required to

• facilitate about 12 writing workshops, each 4hrs in length, with the full cohort of Anthropology’s Honours and Master’s students. The purpose of these sessions is to enhance these students’ writing capacities during the course of their research;
• monitor these students’ progress, read and comment on their writing, write two reports on the process, and arrange a three-day symposium for staff and PhD students in the;
• integrate into and support the department’s growing practice of Writing Intensive Pedagogy as well as work with the Wits Writing Centre’s Writing Programme;
• use both online and in-person writing facilitation and teaching methods.

The writing workshops will:

• focus on and align with the Sebenza sessions organised by the department and with the various stages of writing during the research process: the proposal, literature review, methodology, writing the ethnographic chapters, writing the first draft of the research report, and revising this draft for final submission;
• and include, at each stage, intensive sessions on revision with particular attention to strengthening students’ written arguments, writing styles, and their conceptual and expressive clarity. Qualifications: Above average MA in hand / PhD in process or in hand, preferably in the discipline of Anthropology; experience in ethnographic writing; experience as a Writing Fellow or as a Writing Consultant. How to apply: Kindly submit to Molefi.Makola@wits.ac.za a single file containing all the following documents: a letter of motivation, detailed CV, a 5-page outline of a postgraduate writing programme with examples of writing exercises as an added appendix, the names and contact details of three referees, including their email addresses. Applications have been extended to 1 February 2021.

The university is committed to employment equity. Preference may be given to appointable applicants from the under-represented designated groups in terms of the relevant employment equity plans and policies of the university. Designated groups as defined in the amended Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998 means black people (generically defined), women and people with disabilities. The university retains the right not to make an appointment and to verify all information provided by candidates.