NYU Berlin
An affiliate of New York University
Part-Time Lectureships – Sociology and Politics
NYU Berlin is seeking part time lecturers to teach undergraduate
courses in Sociology and Politics, commencing in the Spring term,
February 2012.
New York University in Berlin was founded in 2006 and provides students
from the US and other countries with the opportunity to spend a summer,
semester or even academic year studying in the German capital while earning
credits towards their U.S. degree program. The program is designed for
students in the social sciences, arts, humanities and mathematics who want
to earn credit in their major—including sociology, history, politics, art,
European studies, environmental studies, and mathematics — while having a
transformative experience abroad. Content courses are taught in English.
Seminars and lectures take place in the academic center located within the
complex of the KulturBrauerei. The program size is 85 students per semester.
NYU Berlin has created a study abroad program of exceptional quality for its
students, and is therefore looking for academic staff with an excellent record
in teaching and research. Candidates should have a PhD in a relevant
discipline with a record in research and teaching in sociology or politics.
Excellent English language skills and a minimum teaching experience of three
years at college/university level are required. Preference will be given to
candidates who have studied in the US and/or have international teaching
experience. Lecture courses meet for 2.5 hours per week for 15 weeks. We
are looking for faculty who are interested in teaching one or more of the
courses described below.
Terms and conditions will be discussed with the successful applicant.
Applicants should be EU nationals or currently hold a German work permit at
the time of application. Applications, in the form of a C.V. and a statement
addressing the candidate’s teaching and research interests, should be send
as soon as possible and in any event not later than 28 November, 2011 by
email to Dr. Gabriella Etmektsoglou (ge377@nyu.edu). Further information
can be obtained informally by calling Dr. Gabriella Etmektsoglou at +49 (0) 30
290291 006. For more information about our program, please visit our website
at: http://www.nyu.edu/global/global-academic-centers1/berlin.html.
Description of the Courses
Sociological Theory
This course examines the nature of sociological theory and the value of and
problems in theorizing. It provides a detailed analysis of the writings of major
social theorists since the 19th century in both Europe and America:
Tocqueville, Marx, Durkheim, Weber, Simmel, Freud, Mead, Parsons, Merton,
Goffman, Habermas, Giddens, Alexander, and Bourdieu.
Political Theory
This course is an introduction to the history of political theory, covering many
of the great texts of the Western tradition. These texts raise important
questions about the nature of individual rights, the roots of government
authority, the circumstances of legitimate revolution, the justification of
religious tolerance, and the meaning of political ideals such as liberty,
equality, and justice.
Despite the age of some of the texts covered in the
class, the purpose of the course is not exclusively historical. Instead, part of
the reason that these texts are widely seen as classics is because they
continue to shape, inform, and challenge the analysis of current political
phenomena. It is through the categories created and clarified by these
thinkers that we conceptualize, understand, and assess our political lives.
Marx, Nietzsche, Freud
This course introduces students to the work of Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud,
three German-language authors who in different and decisive ways provided
radically new understandings of economics, philosophy, and the psyche.
Writing from the mid-19th century through the 1930s, the three thinkers placed
their indelible stamps on reformulating modern notions of the state, the
subject, knowledge, and the mind. The purpose of this course is to provide a
comprehensive engagement with the writings of Marx, Nietzsche and Freud
by bringing them into dialogue with each other. That is, rather than reading
the three authors chronologically, the course is organized around six topoi –
interpretation, history, subjectivity, politics, religion, and art – in which a
paradigmatic text from each author is read. The seminar underscores their
prevailing actuality and thereby strives to delineate the origin of much modern
thinking.