Yale University seeks to appoint a Postdoctoral Associate in ancient and pre-modern cultures and civilizations. This is a two-year position beginning in the academic year 2020-2021 and attached to Archaia: the Yale Program for the Study of Ancient and Premodern Cultures and Societies. Now in its eighth year, Archaia is a collaborative forum that brings together scholars and graduate students working on early and pre-modern cultures and civilizations at Yale in the Humanities and Social Sciences in addition to the Divinity and Law Schools and various University collections and libraries including the Yale University Art Gallery, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the Peabody Museum of Natural History, and the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage. Participating departments and disciplines include Classics, East Asian Languages and Literatures, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, History, Religious Studies, Archaeology and Anthropology, History of Art, and the Divinity School. In addition to hosting conferences and colloquia, the year-long Workshop in Ancient Societies, and faculty-led study tours, Archaia offers a graduate qualification for students interested in research beyond departmental lines. Students have the opportunity to design a course of study individually tailored to their needs, and take a team-taught core seminar, the topic of which varies from year to year. 

The postdoctoral associate will be hired in conjunction with Archaia’s initiative to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the Dura-Europos excavations in 1922. As part of the initiative, “Dura Europos: intersections of art, culture and religion in the ancient world,” Archaia will devote its annual Ancient Societies Series in AY 2021-2022 to Dura-Europos, and organize an international conference in the Spring of 2022. Through a series of monthly talks by internal and external speakers and a team-taught graduate seminar, the Ancient Societies Workshop will showcase the latest research on Dura-Europos and mobilize resources to engage with the Yale University Art Gallery’s collection of artifacts and materials related to Dura-Europos.

The postdoctoral associate is expected to take an active role in Archaia programming while pursuing research in their own area of expertise. Additionally, the associate’s duties include: (1) in the first year of the appointment, teaching one graduate seminar in Roman art and archaeology in its broad ancient context with the approval of relevant department(s) or program(s); (2) in the second year of the appointment, co-teaching with a faculty member the Archaia core seminar on Dura-Europos and co-organizing the attendant Ancient Societies Workshop; and (3) directing a co-curricular project related to Dura-Europos such as an international conference or a digital humanities project. The postdoctoral associate will work under the supervision of the Archaia coordinators and will also be provided with at least one mentor from a field/department close to their area of training and expertise.

Qualifications

• A Ph.D. or equivalent terminal degree in one of the following fields: Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Classics, History, Religious Studies, Archaeology, Anthropology, History of Art.
• The intellectual training and trajectory of the postdoctoral associate must show a commitment to cross-disciplinary or cross-cultural research in more than one of the areas, languages, and/or disciplines represented by Archaia. Prior engagement with any aspect of the site of Dura-Europos is particularly desirable.
• The successful applicant will be able to demonstrate a desire and ability to build collaborative relationships across departments and collections.