CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
Fellowship Program for Historical Dialogue and Accountability
Fall 2013
Columbia University
Columbia University is pleased to welcome applications for the 2013 Fellowship for
Historical Dialogue and Accountability. We encourage interested parties from around the
world and from a wide range of professional sectors—including, but not limited to, human
rights practitioners, journalists, academics, educators, filmmakers, artists—to apply.
Applications are being accepted for the 2013 Fellowship for Historical Dialogue and Accountability at
Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR). In the fall semester of 2013
(August 28, 2013 – December 14, 2013) practitioners and students of historical dialogue will have the
opportunity to engage in training, networking, project work, and academic study at Columbia University
in New York City. During the Fellowship participants will also design a project that addresses a long
standing sectarian conflict, history of repression or past gross human rights violations in their society,
country or region.
The program is part of the Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability (AHDA). AHDA offers fully
funded fellowships which will cover travel, visa, and accommodation costs as well as a modest stipend
to cover day to day living expenses during the program. In exceptional cases, self-funded candidates will
be considered. Special funding is available for fellow(s) who address religious conflict.
Historical dialogue and Accountability is a growing field of advocacy and scholarship that encompasses
the efforts of conflict, post-conflict, and post-dictatorial societies to come to terms with their pasts.
While historical dialogue is a wide-ranging and interdisciplinary field, it places special emphasis on
reaching new generations and considering how the meaning of the past changes with the passage of
time; it seeks to give individuals the tools to deconstruct historical narratives for themselves, to
challenge past myths, and to consider the evolution of specific narratives about the past and how they
continue to influence political, social and cultural structures. In so doing, historical dialogue does not
necessarily seek consensus as a goal, but rather an understanding and empathy between stakeholders
of multiple and/or conflicting narratives. In other words, it seeks to make visible the causes and
consequences of disputed histories; to acknowledge victims; and to involve experts from a wide-range
of areas, from academics to officials, from activists to victims and affected communities in an effort to
achieve new avenues for moving a society away from conflict.
The comprehensive program provides fellows with the opportunity to hone practical skills in fundraising,
advocacy and leadership; to develop a deeper understanding of and engagement with the past; and to
foster mutually beneficial relationships with their peers and with international and non-profit
organizations in New York.
For fellowship guidelines and application form, please go to www.hrcolumbia.org/ahda/fellowship.
Deadline: March 1, 2013