Join Our Team! The African Poetry Digital Portal is Hiring a Postdoctoral Research Associate

The African Poetry Digital Portal at Brown University is excited to invite applications for a two-year Postdoctoral Research Associate position in Digital Humanities.

The Postdoctoral Research Associate would work closely with the project team developing the African Poetry Digital Portal Project, led by Kwame Dawes, Professor of Literary Arts and Principal Investigator of the project, and Lorna Dawes, Exploration and Research Librarian and co-Principal Investigator on the project, as well as the staff at the Center for Digital Scholarship at Brown University. The project documents the work of African poets and provides equitable digital access to creative and intellectual artifacts, materials, and research on the subject of African Poetry that are housed in academic and cultural institutions in Africa and its diaspora in order to create accessible ways to engender an informed, culturally diverse, civically engaged, and responsible society. In addition, the Postdoctoral Research Associate teaches one digital humanities course each year in support of the Digital Humanities Doctoral Certificate program. 

This position fosters the academic careers of recent PhD recipients by providing space to pursue research while gaining mentored experience as scholars in African Digital Humanities.

The Postdoctoral Research Associate would contribute to the African Poetry Digital Portal Project by collaborating with the project team in a variety of areas. The Postdoctoral Research Associate will have the opportunity to apply their unique skills to the project, and work alongside specialists in a variety of areas of digital humanities, including managing key functions of the Project Portal. The Postdoctoral Research Associate will facilitate the process of submitting materials to the Portal, including reviewing submissions from institutions and organizations submitting materials to the Portal and making necessary corrections to crosswalk the data so that it consistently follows the Portal’s schema and vocabularies. The Postdoctoral Research Associate is charged with creating documentation and making the submission of materials transparent to contributors. The Postdoctoral Research Associate may also review the data already submitted to the project in past years to ensure consistency. The Center for Digital Scholarship staff will support the Postdoctoral Research Associate as needed, and there are funds to hire students to support the Postdoctoral Research Associate as well. 

The Postdoctoral Research Associate would be part of a stimulating scholarly environment in which they may pursue research, develop new interdisciplinary connections, and network with others. The Center for Digital Scholarship places a high priority on research excellence, high quality teaching, and a commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive academic community. The ideal candidate will have research relevant to the areas of African poetry, data curation, and African digital humanities. 

The Postdoctoral Research Associate reports to Kwame Dawes, Professor of Literary Arts and Principal Investigator of the project, with mentors Lorna Dawes, Interim Director of Center for Library Exploration and Research,  Linford Fisher, Associate Professor of History and Interim Faculty Director of the Center for Digital Scholarship, and Ashley Champagne, Director of the Center for Digital Scholarship. 

Position Description 

• 24-month, full time, in-residence. 
• Awarded for the two-year period, beginning January 15, 2027.  
• Competitive salary and eligible for standard employee benefits, including health insurance. 
• For this position, Brown offers only the J-1 visa classification to scholars who need immigration sponsorship in order to enter the U.S. and commence lawful employment under the terms of their appointment.

Key Responsibilities 

• Collaborate with the team to develop a suitable metadata collection process for African poetry and poetics, accommodating various languages and item formats.
• Create requirements and supporting documentation for the metadata sharing infrastructure. 
• Assist in data visualization and presentation techniques.
• Assist in creating digital content management systems and research platforms. 
• Serve as an expert in data curation for the growing field of African Digital Humanities. 
• Contribute to research excellence in the areas of African poetry, data curation, and African digital humanities. 
• Develop new interdisciplinary connections and network with scholars in the field. 
• Engage in collaborative projects within the Center for Digital Scholarship. 
• Teach one course a year  (two courses total) in support of the Digital Humanities Doctoral Certificate program.

Qualifications

Required Education and Experience 

• This position is for scholars who will have completed a PhD within the last three years of the position start date. ABD candidates are welcome to apply if they will have completed all degree requirements by the position start date.
• Research skills in African Poetry and Poetics, Postcolonial Poetry, and Literary Studies.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct independent research in the field of digital humanities. 
• Experience in working with metadata and data curation as the project will include developing metadata schemas and data curation. 
• Experience in collaborative research projects. 
• Strong communication skills for effective collaboration and networking. 
• Experience working with digital content management systems and research platforms. 
• Experience or interest in interdisciplinary research and fostering diverse academic communities. 

Preferred Experiences and Skills (any of the following are a plus, but not required)

• Knowledge of one or more African languages. 
• Experience with African Digital Humanities with a focus on African Literature.
• Experienced in digital humanities research, digital humanities tools, and the creation of metadata. 
• Experience with leading a research team and/or managing student workers. 
• Experience working with Omeka S.  
• Experience with or willingness to work with US and international collaborators, stakeholders, and community members, including students, librarians, university staff and faculty, publishers, authors, arts administrators, and other professionals.  
• Experience working with a team. 
• Teaching experience. 

Application Instructions

Please submit the following: Cover letter, CV, and a writing sample showcasing a digital humanities project and/or research. Candidates should address in their materials (cover letter) how they would contribute to the research and/or teaching missions of our diverse and inclusive university community.