Subject: ANNOUNCE: Rockefeller Humanities Fellowship: Ecological Conversations Date: Wed, 18 Nov 1998 08:25:24 -0800 From: Suzanne Clark <[log in to unmask]> Ecological Conversations: Gender, Science and the Sacred A Rockefeller Foundation Humanities Fellowship Program Center for the Study of Women in Society University of Oregon The Program Ecological wisdom is cultivating a new ethos, a new covenant, a new spirit of place. More than three decades after Rachel Carson first raised a passionate voice of conscience in protest against the pollution and degradation of nature, the gendered dimensions of the global environmental predicament are increasingly visible. Key elements of Western science and environmental management have been challenged by postcolonial, feminist, antiracist, and indigenous peoples' struggles. These movements have generated investigations of the religious and cultural meaning systems and the socioeconomic underpinnings of Western colonization and desacralization of the natural world. The global nexus of these movements has opened up fundamental philosophical, evolutionary, political, and spiritual questions. Ecological Conversations: Gender, Science and the Sacred proposes to engage the creativity generated by the convergence of women's and ecological movements around the globe. The program will create a forum for critical reflection and scholarly interchange where the assumptions about knowledge and the world that shape these movements can be complicated and contested. Our goal is a series of dynamic conversations where scholars, writers, scientists, theologians and grass-roots activists from different cultural and national contexts can move beyond environmental crisis rhetoric and explore conceptual and ethical vocabularies that meet the challenges of a new millennium. Each year's theme will balance questions of theory and practice. Fellowships will be provided in the 1999-2000 academic year to scholars, writers and activists whose work centers on issues of gender and ecology, environmental justice, or ecofeminism. We welcome proposals that deal with basic epistemological, theological, philosophy of science, and cultural questions, as well as those focusing on specific problems such as environmental illness, fertility, sexuality, or geographical displacement. The theme for 2000-2001 is the cultural analysis of scientific concepts, practices and policies. We will consider how scientific concepts and findings are translated into public environmental discourse, and the role of the emerging ecofeminist vision of science and technology in this discourse. During 2001-2002, we will focus on the ways in which scientific and sacred epistemologies are being integrated and how this integration (or lack thereof) influences our sense of place. The program is committed to an international dialogue. Ideally, half of the fellows will be from outside the U.S. and Europe. In addition to pursuing their own research project, fellows will participate in a biweekly seminar and an annual CSWS-sponsored conference on the theme of the Rockefeller program for that year. Appointment duration may range from three to nine months. A monthly stipend, medical coverage and travel expenses will be provided. Awards may not be used for the completion of graduate degrees, advanced training, curriculum development, or for writing poetry or fiction. The Center for the Study of Women in Society Founded as a multidisciplinary research center in 1983, The Center for the Study of Women in Society (CSWS) generates, supports, and disseminates research on gender and on all aspects of women's lives. The center has a large cadre of active faculty affiliates representing disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, most of the natural and physical sciences and all of the professional schools. CSWS is a member of the National Council for Research on Women. Resources at the University of Oregon Nurtured by the region's long history of independent and original thinkers in ecological theory and practice, the University of Oregon has become an international locus of environmental scholarship and activism. The Environmental Studies Program is unique among US campuses due to it's strong humanities component, and is one of two in the country that offers a Ph.D. level program in literature and the environment. Also unique, are the resources of the Institute for a Sustainable Environment, which fosters research addressing the long-term sustainability of the earth's major environmental systems and encourages cross-disciplinary environmental research, education and public service. The University's School of Law hosts the premier annual gathering for environmentalists worldwide. Now in its 18th year, the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference unites attorneys, students, activists, scientists and concerned citizens. Students at the School of Architecture and Allied Arts founded the multidisciplinary HOPES (Holistic Options for Planet Earth Sustainability), which sponsors an annual ECO-Design arts conference focused on an ecologically sustainable approach to human living systems. Fellows will also have the opportunity to draw on the resources of the ongoing scholarship of the Oregon Center for the Humanities, the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies, the International Studies Program, the Religious Studies Program, and the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies. Furnished office space will be provided, along with a telephone, computer, network access, full privileges to university libraries, access to on-site copy and fax machines, and some secretarial support. Application Procedure Please include the following items in your application (We request that materials be written in English): ˇ Letter of Intent (1- 2 pages) Describe how your work addresses the program's concerns and how participation in the program will enhance your research/leadership. ˇ Proposal (3 - 5 pages) Describe the project you will pursue as a fellow, including your timeline. ˇ Curriculum vita or Résumé ˇ Letters of Reference (2) ˇ Publication / Writing sample (1) Application Deadline (for first year fellows): February 1, 1999 Please send applications via the postal service within the US. International applicants may consider delivery by electronic mail or facsimile. Address all inquiries and application materials to: Rockefeller Fellowship Program Center for the Study of Women in Society 1201 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403-1201 Telephone (541) 346-5015 Facsimile (541) 346-5096 E-mail: [log in to unmask] For more information, contact the CSWS web site: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~csws/ ___________________________________________________ Lynne Fessenden, Program Manager Rockefeller Humanities Fellowship Program "Ecological Conversations: Gender, Science and the Sacred" Center for the Study of Women in Society 1201 University of Oregon Eugene, OR 97403-1201 phone:(541)346-5399 fax:(541)346-5096 e-mail:[log in to unmask] CSWS Website: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~csws/ --