The Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of assistant professor in the area of Social Theory and Digital Studies of Religion, beginning August 2024.
The area of specialization (historic period, region, or group studied) is open; however, the successful candidate must complement and enhance the current specialties of the Department by using social theory to understand religion as an element of culture. The specific research area is thus part of the scholar’s attempt to answer broader, cross-cultural questions related to identity, power, and discourse. This position will supplement and expand the Department’s existing B.A. and M.A. curriculum in digital humanities and digital studies of religion. This position will also be affiliated with the REL Digital Lab (RELdl), a collaborative space for the development of digital projects within the Department.
While a variety of digital specialties are potentially relevant, the Department is especially looking for a scholar with demonstrated expertise in digital humanities research methods (e.g., computational text analysis, data visualization, network analysis, GIS, etc.), digital public humanities (e.g., digital collections, digital curation, podcasting, etc.), or research methods for the study of religion in digital technology, media, and culture. Along with such digital expertise, the Department also seeks a scholar with an active research trajectory that will enhance the research portfolio of the RELdl.
The successful candidate will contribute to the department’s curriculum in digital studies of religion by teaching existing undergraduate and graduate courses and proposing new courses within their expertise that expand the digital methods, skills, approaches, and technologies taught in the Department. At times, the successful candidate may also teach courses ranging from introductory/lower- and upper-level B.A. courses to graduate seminars on a variety of analytic topics related to their historical and/or ethnographic area(s) of specialization. All faculty are also expected to supervise M.A. students in the Religion in Culture program when student interests intersect with faculty expertise.