MITACs Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Canadian Queer Audiovisual Collections
Professor Janine Marchessault, Project Director of Archive/Counter-Archive and The ArQuives, are pleased to announce a competition for a 1-year MITACs Accelerate Post-Doctoral Fellowship position hosted by York University and The ArQuives.
Archive/Counter-Archive: Activating Canada’s Moving Images Heritage is a six-year SSHRC Partnership Grant dedicated to researching and remediating audiovisual archives created by women, Indigenous Peoples, the LGBTQ2+ community and immigrant communities. Political, resistant, and community-based, counter-archives disrupt conventional narratives and enrich our histories. The project’s research is committed to finding solutions for safekeeping Canada's audiovisual heritage. We seek to research and remediate audiovisual heritage that is most vulnerable to disappearance and inaccessibility, fostering a community and network dedicated to creating best practices and cultural policies.
The ArQuives: Canada's LGBTQ2+ Archives accquire and maintain collections related to LGBTQ2+ life in Canada, including books, archival papers, artifacts, audiovisual works, photographs and art. Founded in 1973, The ArQuives have grown to become one of the largest LGBTQ2+ archive in the world. The ArQuives aspires to be a significant resource and catalyst for those who strive for a future world where lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans people are accepted, valued, and celebrated.
MITACs is a national, not-for-profit organization that builds partnerships between academia and industry. MITACs Post-Doctorial Fellowships bring academic expertise into a partner organization, working on a specific project related to your area of research. The successful candidate will be required to submit a MITACs proposal to be expedited through the approval process with the support of the host institutions.
Candidates are expected to engage in visual research for The ArQuives’ collaboration and participation with Parade, an NFB documentary about LGBTQ2+ movements in Canada. Entering its early development, Parade is a legacy NFB documentary that takes a powerful, emotional and visual journey through the rise of Canada’s LGBTQ2+ movement. Working with collections, both institutional and private, Parade, with the support of The ArQuives, and Archive/Counter-Archive, aims to bring until-now hidden caches of imagery to light, revealing for new generations the struggles, personal and collective, that came before them.
We invite applications from, in particular, interdisciplinary scholars who have earned a doctorate in media studies, public history, or archival and information studies and have expertise in such fields as, Canadian LGBTQ2+ histories, Canadian documentary film history, or queer community archives/collections.
The position requires that the candidate has strong skills and experience in visual archival research practices, oral history/interview experience, knowledge of various audiovisual formats and a general understanding of copyright clearance. Required soft skills include good communication skills, a collaborative working style, good time management and adaptability.
This Post-Doc position will include opportunities to produce publications, participate in conference presentations and directly contribute to the production of Parade as a visual researcher. It is expected that the candidate will divide their time between York University, The ArQuives, and other memory institutions as the research dictates.
Funding
The MITACs Post-Doc will receive an annual salary of $45,000.00 (benefits inclusive), office space at both York University and The ArQuives, use of a computer and full access to York University Libraries. They will be supervised by Professor Janine Marchessault in the Department of Cinema and Media Arts and will work closely with The ArQuives staff spearheaded by Executive Director Raegan Swanson, in addition to the NFB Ontario Studio. There is a possible six-month extension to this post-doc position, funding/production schedules pending.
Please note that the MITACs Post-Doc is contingent on the selected candidate writing a successful proposal and clearing York University Research Ethics prior to the position start date.
Applications are due Tuesday June 30th 2020 at 5:00PM EST.
The position will start date will be negotiated, but is expected to begin Fall 2020.
How to apply
Applicants should forward a cover letter, a brief research statement (maximum 1 page), curriculum vitae, as well as the names of three academic references in one PDF document to Dr. Aimée Mitchell, Archive/Counter- Archive Project Manager at aimee19@yorku.ca
All correspondence should be addressed to:
Professor Janine Marchessault
c/o Dr. Aimée Mitchell, Project Manager SSHRC Partnership Grant, Archive/Counter-Archive
YORK UNIVERSITY | 2001F Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Building 4700 Keele Street · Toronto ON · Canada · M3J 1P3
York University welcomes applications from all qualified individuals, including individuals within the University's employment equity categories of women, persons with disabilities, members of visible minorities and aboriginal persons, individuals of diverse gender and sexual orientation and all groups protected by the Human Rights Code. York University is committed to employment equity and diversity, and a positive and supportive environment.