ACLS WORKSHOP ANNOUNCEMENT

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)
in cooperation with
The University of Ibadan

is pleased to announce a

Workshop on

PREPARING APPLICATIONS FOR THE AFRICAN HUMANITIES FELLOWSHIPS

Tuesday June 22, 2010

Fellowship competitions With financial support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, ACLS conducts annual competitions for support of scholars in the humanities. Grants will be made by an independent, international peer-review committee on the basis of proposals for work leading to the completion of a Ph.D dissertation or substantial progress on an early-career postdoctoral research project. Grants are intended to release fellows from teaching and other duties so that they can devote full-time to research and writing during the one-year fellowship period. There are approximately 40 fellowships awarded each year in all five countries ( Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda) combined.

CALL FOR DRAFT APPLICATION ESSAYS
Priority for admission to the application-preparation workshop will be given to those who submit a draft application essay in advance of the workshop.

To be eligible to apply for an AHP fellowship, you must be
-- in your final year of writing the dissertation (i.e. with at least one chapter written
Or
-- within five years of having received your Ph.D. degree.

Interested Participants should register for the workshop by SMS to 02-874-1045 or email to oip@mail.ui.edu.ng. Draft Essays should also be sent by e-mail or dropped at the Office of International Programmes, Advancement Center Complex, University of Ibadan. Proposal Deadline: June 15, 2010
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Here are the instructions for the two-page draft application essay to be submitted in advance of the Ibadan workshop. [Note: the workshop is a learning exercise, not a formal part of the application process.]

Application essay [Two page maximum: single spaced, 11 pt. type]
1. Main Thesis: State the main thesis and the argument or problematic guiding the proposed research and writing.
2. Body: Explain the research problem in more detail. What is already known about the problem and what more needs to be known? Justify the research focus and approach.
3. Literature and sources: Locate the proposed topic in the context of existing literature and identify potential new sources. What will be the criteria for determining which sources are relevant? How will the project extend, modify, or challenge existing scholarship?
4. Methods: Describe in detail the methods to be used. How will they be deployed to address the main thesis or argument of the project?
5. Significance: Discuss the importance of the proposed work to central issues in the discipline, to the African humanities, and to humanities scholarship in general.
6. Workplan: The concluding section of the essay should specify a plan of work with a timeline for the research and/or writing during the fellowship period. How much has the applicant already accomplished on the project and how much remains to be done? What steps are anticipated during the fellowship period? What is the expected result?
Full instructions for applying for an AHP fellowship may be viewed at http://www.acls.org/programs/ahp