PLEASE NOTE: All applicants will receive an email by 5pm (est) on Friday, February 3rd, either confirming receipt of application materials or alerting the applicant of missing items. Due to the volume of materials received we can not answer individual requests for information until after February 3rd.

The Application Period for 2012-2013 is Now Closed.

To apply for a fellowship for the period 2012-2013, please perform the following steps:

• Complete and submit our online application:

APPLICATION FOR DU BOIS FELLOWSHIP 2012-2013

• Once you've completed the online application, please send an email to du_bois@fas.harvard.edu with your curriculum vitae, 3-4 page project description, and a writing sample.  If you are applying for the teaching option, please also email a proposed syllabus.

• Have 3 recommendations sent to either du_bois@fas.harvard.edu or through postal mail to:

All applications must be received by January 31, 2012.

An appointment as a Resident Fellow of the Du Bois Institute includes the following privileges:

• An office at the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research with 24 hour access, 7 days a week

• A Harvard University ID card, which provides access to all University libraries and other University facilities and W. E. B. Du Bois Institute business cards

• A telephone with voicemail

• A Harvard University email account and access to a computer for word processing, access to the Internet, and the Harvard On-Line Library Information System

• A Research Assistant for 5 hours per week, or 65 hours per term

• $175 allotment per term for office supplies, local travel, and other approved research expenses.

• Use of photocopier and fax machine

• In rare cases the Du Bois Institute is able to offer stipends of a maximum of $25,000. We highly encourage you to seek funding from additional sources.

We ask that Fellows reside in the Boston area during the term of their appointment, participate fully in the opening orientation week events and in the weekly colloquia series, at which each Fellow is expected to present a research paper. We are a vibrant intellectual community, rich in programming and opportunities to network within a unique community of scholars engaged in African and African American research. We ask that you make a frequent appearance at our major programming – and at our specially designed Fellowship Programming – workshops, panel discussions, dinners, and social functions – where you will interact with other fellows, faculty, and scholars at Harvard University. You may expect about 6 Major Du Bois Institute Events and 5 Special Fellows Programs each term, in addition to our opening orientation week, our weekly colloquia, and our occasional “sherry or tea” social hour.

The Fellows Program, the oldest of the Institute’s activities, invites up to twenty scholars to be in residence each year, reflecting the interdisciplinary breadth of African and African American Studies. The Institute has appointed Fellows since its founding in 1975 and supports research at both the predoctoral and postdoctoral levels.

Du Bois Fellows are truly international, including scholars from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America.

The fellowship program has supported more than 300 alumni, many of whom are now major figures in the field, and include Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham (Harvard University), Brent Edwards (Columbia University), Gloria Wade Gayles (Spelman College), David W. Blight (Yale University), Nell Irvin Painter (Princeton University), Arnold Rampersad (Stanford University), Claude Steele (Stanford University), Cornel West (Princeton University), and Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka.

In addition to the weekly colloquium series in which fellows present their work in progress to a public audience, fellows have the opportunity to present their work in fellows-only workshops. In this setting, fellows discuss their own precirculated papers, articles on a single topic, or a combination of the two: workshops are designed to foster deep scholarly exchange across the vast terrain of African and African American studies.

Our fellows also enjoy the company of other fellows and scholars from the Harvard community, including the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism. Many of our fellows build strong bonds with faculty and graduate students in the Department of African and African American Studies. The aim of the fellowship program is to provide a vibrant environment in which to write, study, collaborate, and thrive.

Questions? Please email du_bois@fas.harvard.edu