Smith College Department of Anthropology

For the general education of Smith undergraduates, the Department's offerings promote awareness and understanding of human variation on a global scale, as well as in reference to the ethnic and cultural diversity of the United States. We aim to challenge students' taken-for-granted assumptions about their cultures by introducing them to societies and social groups whose "principles and prejudices" (Bowen, Return to Laughter) are different from their own. We expect that a greater sensitivity to the cultural dimension of human experience will be carried into students' work in their chosen majors.

For those students who choose either to major or minor in anthropology, the Department provides a balanced view of the range of intellectual concerns and research priorities which mark the subdisciplines of cultural anthropology. We emphasize anthropology's commitment to the value of the ethnographic method as the prerequisite to a comparative analysis of human cultures. We are committed to the signature method of anthropology, the direct observation of ongoing social systems and their cultural frameworks. Our students gain an appreciation for the importance of anthropological methods and ethnographic texts to other academic disciplines, and in relationship to many contemporary issues.

Members of the Department are acutely sensitive to the privilege and responsibility of the ethnographer, that is, to the ethical dimensions of fieldwork. We promote a self-critical anthropology, one which asks hard questions about the researcher's personal motives and reciprocal obligations to those he/she studies. We believe that our students gain perspective on anthropology by exploring the complex political and historical circumstances which attend local level research.

Smith College, Amherst College and Mount Holyoke College seek an Archaeologist specialized in Pre Columbian Latin America for an entry-level, tenure-track appointment as Assistant Professor, to begin 2009-10. Competitive candidates will have extensive experience in contemporary methods of excavation and / or survey, with an in-depth knowledge of at least one archaeological culture or culture area in Latin America. All applicants should have teaching experience and be prepared to teach general courses in archaeological theory and methods as well as in their respective geographical area of expertise. Among the topics and areas of expertise of interest to the search committee are: museum studies and the public impacts of archaeology, social archaeology, landscape archaeology and GIS applications, and critical approaches to material culture. Only candidates with recent doctorates will be considered. This position is based in the Smith College Anthropology Department where two courses a year will be taught. Two additional courses will be shared, annually, by nearby Amherst and Mount Holyoke Colleges. Submit a letter of application, curriculum vita with the names of three referees, and one course syllabus to: Chair of the Search Committee, Anthropology Department, Wright Hall, Smith College, Northampton, MA 01063. Reading of applications will commence on October 15, 2008 and no additional applications will be accepted after December 1. Applicants who submit materials before November 1 will be considered for preliminary interviews at the American Anthropological Association Annual Meetings in San Francisco. Smith, Amherst and Mount Holyoke colleges are members of the Five College Consortium, which also includes Hampshire College and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, each located within 12 miles of the others. The member institutions are equal opportunity employers encouraging excellence through diversity.