Associate Professor: African Literature - School of Literature, Language and Media at University of the Witwatersrand

Brief Description        

The Department of African Literature seeks to make an appointment at the rank of Associate Professor. The department offers an undergraduate major in the literatures of Africa and the Black diaspora, as well as Honours, MA and PhD degrees. Founded in 1983, the department marked its 40th anniversary this year, while retaining the distinction of being the only full-scale department of African Literature on the African continent, and possibly in the world. Over these four decades, the Department of African Literature has established an international profile as one of the leading centres of African literary and cultural studies. We envisage that the successful candidate will play a central role in growing and sustaining this profile.

Requirements: 

• Candidates must hold a PhD in literary studies with strong focus on early 20th century African print cultures and/or early 20th century black intellectual traditions. 
• Strong expertise in foundational African/Afrodiasporic literatures is crucial to this role. 
• They must have experience in teaching the subject at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, as well as supervising postgraduate research in the field.  
• It is critical that candidates demonstrate an ability to teach two or more African regional literatures. 
• They should be keen researchers with an established publication record and a public profile commensurate with the rank of Associate Professor. 
• Extensive experience in academic management and course coordination is essential.