Applications are invited for Honours, Masters and PhD scholarships and one postdoctoral fellowship in the research programme ‘Local Histories and Present Realities’. The programme is funded through the NRF South African Research Chairs Initiative, awarded to Professor Noor Nieftagodien in 2012. The time horizon of the programme is mainly the 20th century to the present. Its geographical focus is the area encompassed by the North West, Limpopo, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Free State Provinces. A core aim of the programme is to relate local pasts to local presents in small or intermediate towns and their rural hinterlands in the area specified.

The project is interdisciplinary and welcomes applications from students with distinguished academic records in the fields of History, Political Studies, Sociology, Social Anthropology and relevant adjacent subjects. Our students have researched a wide range of exciting topics, including the local and provincial state; the former bantustans; processes of class formation; mining; traditional leadership; the politics of space; youth politics and identities; women’s histories; migration and local trading; coloured identities; resistance politics; masculinity and the environment.

We are an active and supportive community of researchers regularly hosting a weekly seminar series, reading groups, book launches, workshops and conferences. Students will receive training in oral history and archival research methodology and close supervision to develop innovative research proposals, conduct research, produce quality dissertations and write academic papers and journal articles.

To apply please submit the following:
• A detailed application letter explaining your proposed area of research and how it fits into this research programme.
• A CV showing your postgraduate degrees and course components.
• An academic transcript.
• An example of any recent written/published work (third year essay for Honours applications).
• Two academic letters of reference.
• Certified copies of degrees.

The yearly value of the scholarships, which can be taken up from January 2020, are:
Honours R40 000; Masters R70 000; PhD R100 000 plus a separate research allowance
Postdoctoral fellowship: R200 000 plus a research allowance and medical aid cover
Students must be registered at Wits and MUST apply separately to the academic department that they wish to study in.
 

Closing date: 30 September 2019

Applications can be sent by email to: antonette.gouws@wits.ac.za