Past Research Opportunities in the Humanities

Editing German Anthologies  Professor working on two anthologies simultaneously.  One is an interdisciplinary volume of sixteen essays on perceptions of and responses to loss in early modern Germany.  Professor will need help with the works cited for all of the articles, with the index, and with proofreading.  The second project is a volume on nineteenth-century German book history that includes eleven essays. Needs help with editing, proof reading and the organization of the entire volume (table of contents, illustrations).

French Political History RA needs to read French newspapers of 1890-1914 for a research project on the Protestant minority in France.  RA will read Protestant newspapers looking for stories combining religion and politics, especially on the subject of the separation of church and state.  Requires good skills in French, some familiarity with and interest in French history, and eyes which can tolerate microfilm readers.

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam RA needed to assist in further development of course materials for Soul,Self, Person in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: A Comparative Examination.  Work includes both bibliographical work and extensive reading on a dozen great thinkers including Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Terullian, Augustine,Saadia Gao, Ghazali, Avicenna, Maimonides and Aquinas.  2-6 hours for at least 14 weeks, including a weekly meeting.  Required skills: ability to summarize both ancient and modern texts about the human soul; preferably substantial background in the humanities; curiosity.

British Literary Societies RA needed for research on cultural practices and influence of British literary societies from their inception in the last decades of the Victorian period to the present. Perhaps the most familiar are the Jane Austen and Bronte Societies, but there are currently over a hundred such societies registered with the Alliance of British Literary Societies, an umbrella organization established in 1973 to pool resources, share information, and provide logistical assistance to new societies. My objectives is to examine the impact these highly influential organizations of “enthusiasts” have had and continue to have on literary production, distribution, reception and evaluation and to explore the myriad ways in which British reading communities have experienced literature over time.

An assistant would help me read through the full run of the journals of these societies, noting organizational changes, the changing subject matter of submitted papers, and composition of governing councils. I would also ask for some bibliographical assistance, searching for information on societies in the popular press and British media, and looking through the publications of selected societies. I also have hours of taped interviews that I will need some help transcribing.

Six hours a week—hours which would be entirely flexible in terms of the student’s own schedule and work pressures. There are any number of ways in which the work he or she does for me could lead to an independent study about reading practices in the 19th and 20th century, the larger topic of clubs and societies in Great Britain, or a more targeted study of the reception of a particular author.

The student would need to be a quick reader, able to grasp the intent of the project and translate that into an apprehension of what material would be of most interest to me. Some knowledge of British fiction of the 19th century would be nice but not required.

Upward Mobility in Europe 18th &19th C. Research Assistant needed for project investigating narratives of upward mobility in late eighteenth- and nineteenth century Europe, especially Germany and England. Tasks to include bibliographic work as well as some summary and analysis of primary and secondary texts. Possibly some work assisting in preparation of materials for graduate seminar. Reading knowledge of German helpful but not required.

Visual Culture
Humanities professor requires assistance in preparing materials for a course on visual culture to explore the long history of vision and visual representation from antiquity to the present. Duties will include: bibliographical research using online databases, bibliographies and catalogues, retrieval of articles in electronic format, ordering materials through Mobius and inter-library loan, compiling lists of desired materials not in Wash U’s library, and internet searches for images and texts. Student will be asked to read and summarize several of the readings. The position will entail some clerical duties, such as photocopying of articles, compiling a bibliography, and scanning images. 4-6 hours per week for duration of the semester, including regular meetings.

20th Century African American History
Interview project (4-8 hours/week) The project will involve migrating Eyes on the Prize II interview transcripts from old diskettes, re-formatting and editing the transcripts, and writing a background summary for our website. The project will likely require listening to original audio tapes and transcribing missing elements.

Film and Media Archive, West Campus Library Learn and apply basic technologies and standards and software related to digital library development, especially XML and applications such as TEI; edit XML documents in oXygen or other XML editors. Research assistant will work with A/V equipment to transcribe interviews recorded in multiple formats for the Eyes on the Prize documentary series into TEI XML.

Representations of Laughter Assistance needed for a project onrepresentations of laughter in literature and visual culture. The research addresses concerns about the physiognomic reading of the laughing face and its translation into social and moral codes. Duties will include collecting and organizing research materials, ordering materials through the inter-library loan, reading primary material, and some photocopying. (5 hours per week).

Influence of Classical Poetry on 20th Century Poetry
Assistance is required in the preparation of a spring semester 2008 IPH course on the reception of Virgil in twentieth century poetry and prose. Familiarity with the text of the Aeneid is required. Duties will include: bibliographical research using online databases and catalogues, retrieval of articles in electronic format, and collaboration on audiovisual presentations using PowerPoint, including Internet searches for images and text. The position will also entail some clerical duties, such as photocopying and scanning of articles for ERES. 6-8 hours employment per week, including weekly meetings. Salary to be determined commensurate with experience.

Colonial Latin American Studies Assistance is needed in the editing of a volume on new trends in colonial Latin American studies. The manuscript is in the last stages of preparation for publication and help is required in copy-editing and fact-checking. Volume is written in Spanish so good language skills are a must. The assistant will also be asked to work on a one-day symposium on religious transformations in colonial Latin and North America to be held at Washington University in October. Duties will include publicity, organization, and preparation of materials. Hours: 3-5 per week plus weekly meeting.

Chinese Religion and Philosophy.   A faculty member in the Asian and Near Eastern Languages and Literatures Department is seeking assistance to support research for a book project on Confucian thought. Responsibilities may include bibliographic searches, locating materials in the East Asian and Olin library, and xeroxing. The work load should be about 4 hours a week for the semester and the position may be renewable. Knowledge of Chinese is helpful but not necessary.

Masculine Ideologies in Iberia: Research assistant needed for the beginning stages of an inter-disciplinary book project on the Jesuits and masculine ideologies in the early modern Iberian world. Reading knowledge of Spanish strongly preferred. Duties include compiling a bibliography (MLA style), searching databases (MLA, HAPI etc), locating and ordering materials, and some photocopying. Professor also needs help compiling a syllabus and materials for a seminar on early modern women. Duties here will include locating and photocopying materials, submitting materials for ERES, and locating and compiling artistic images. Weekly meetings required.

High Middle Ages: Assistance is needed for a project looking at the religious, cultural, and intellectual history of the high Middle Ages. This research involves issues of history and geography, family and ethnicity, the cult of saints and the meaning of Christendom, with a focus on northern Europe from the tenth through the twelfth centuries. Responsibilities may include checking notes and bibliography in a book manuscript, searching out books and articles at Olin Library and through Interlibrary Loan, occasional photocopying, genealogical investigation, and some basic research with primary and secondary sources. Medieval history is a discipline of minutia, so attention to detail is essential. A basic knowledge of Latin is required; some knowledge of French or German would be helpful. 3-4 hours per week (including weekly meetings) for a minimum of 12 weeks.

Boccaccio's Decameron Assistance needed for a book project on Boccaccio's Decameron. The research addresses problems of medieval and modern legal theory and the relationship between gender and law, as well as the place of Decameron in late medieval intellectual history. Responsibilities will include checking notes and bibliography and researching and obtaining articles from Olin Library. The assistant will also be asked to read some references and report on their relevance to the project. Reading knowledge of Italian and/or Latin will be helpful but not essential. 3-5 hours a week.

Influence of Classical Poetry on 20th Century Poetry Assistance is required in the preparation of a spring semester 2008 IPH course on the reception of Virgil in twentieth century poetry and prose. Familiarity with the text of the Aeneid is required. Duties will include: bibliographical research using online databases and catalogues, retrieval of articles in electronic format, and collaboration on audiovisual presentations using PowerPoint, including Internet searches for images and text. The position will also entail some clerical duties, such as photocopying and scanning of articles for ERES. 6-8 hours employment per week, including weekly meetings. Salary to be determined commensurate with experience.

English Renaissance Literature Students interested in the English Renaissance are invited to apply for RA-ships primarily associated with the Spenser Project, an edition of the collected works of Edmund Spenser including print and on-line components. (There will also be some similar work necessary for an edition of The Staple of News, a play by Ben Jonson.) Students should be oriented to detail, resourceful in the use of the library, committed to teamwork -- flexibility required! RA can expect to learn a great deal about the Renaissance and about early printing, as well as about the TEI implementation of XML.

German Literary Culture Professor of German seeking student editorial and research assistance on products including (1) a new German edition of the popular German writer Wilhelmine von Hillern's Arzt der Seele (1869), (2) a translation and scholarly edition of works by the foremost woman writer of the seventeenth-century German-speaking world, Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg's meditations (1672, 1678), (3) classroom dual-language editions of French and German texts for a FOCUS course on national monuments in Paris and Berlin. Applicants for this RA-ship should have some reading knowledge of German, should be detail-oriented, and willing to learn new skills. The assignments will depend in part on the aptitude the student shows for the various pieces of these projects, but might include proofreading, indexing, layout, researching and locating appropriate editions of works out of copyright, collection and preparation of images for presentation, research on present-day Berlin and Paris, research for notes on the cultural and literary context for Arzt der Seele. Students should be prepared to devote three to four hours a week over the course of the semester.

Political Science A faculty member in Political Science is looking for an undergraduate research assistant to help develop an ongoing project relating to seventeenth-century English republican political thought. Responsibilities may include collecting and organizing research materials, checking notes and bibliographies, digesting primary and secondary literature, and so forth. Close reading and attention to the details of subtle arguments is required. The work load would be about 4 hours per week (including weekly meetings), for 12 weeks.

Non-Western Feminism Assistance needed on a project investigating trends and spectatorship in eighteen-century France. The project encompasses opera, the Ossian craze, fairy tales, and the Gothic and addresses notions of Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment. Assistance also needed in preparing materials for an advanced literary seminar on philosophical fiction(s). Duties may include searching databases, bibliographies, or collected works, ordering materials through inter-library loan, putting materials on reserve compiling a bulk pack and/or a bibliography, photocopying, and reproducing images. Knowledge of French and the ability to use Microsoft Word, library databases, and inter-library loan are essential. Familiarity with Chicago style, EndNote software, and PowerPoint a plus. 3-5 hours a week (including weekly meetings) for a minimum of 12 weeks with the possibility of renewal.