THE AMERICAN COUNCIL OF LEARNED SOCIETIES (ACLS)
in cooperation with
THE UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN
is pleased to announce an
African Humanities Fellowship Launch Meeting
and
Application Consultation Workshop
27th - 28th June, 2012
FELLOWSHIP COMPETITIONS With financial support from Carnegie Corporation of New York, ACLS conducts annual
competitions for support of scholars in Humanities. Grants will be made by an independent, international, peerreview committee on the basis of proposals for work leading to the completion of a PhD dissertation or substantial
progress on an early-career postdoctoral research project. Grants are intended to release Fellows from teaching and
other duties so that they can devote full-time to research and writing during the one-year fellowship period. There are
approximately 40 fellowships awarded each year in all five countries (Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda)
combined.
CALL FOR DRAFT APPLICATION ESSAYS
Priority for admission to the application preparation workshop will be given to those who submit a draft
application essay in advance of the workshop
To be eligible to apply for an AHP fellowship, you must be:
** In your final year of writing the dissertation (i.e. with at least one chapter written)
OR
**Within five years of having received your PhD degree
Interested participants should register for the workshop and send their Draft Application Essays or Proposals via email
to oip@mail.ui.edu.ng latest by Monday, 18th June, 2012. For participants outside Ibadan: The first set of applications
received will be considered for travel reimbursement.
Here are the instructions for the two-page draft application essay to be submitted in advance of the Ibadan workshop.
[Note: the workshop is a learning exercise and NOT a formal part of the application process.]
Application essay [maximum of two pages; single-line-spaced, 11pt type]
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Main Thesis: State the main thesis and the argument or problematic guiding the proposed research and writing
Body: Explain the research problem in more detail. What is already known about the problem and what more needs to be known? Justify
the research focus approach.
Literature and sources: Locate the proposed topic in the context of existing literature and identify potential new sources. What will be
the criteria for determining which sources are relevant? How will the project extend, modify, or challenge existing scholarship?
Methods: Describe in detail the methods to be used. How will they be deployed to address the main thesis or argument of the project?
Significance: Discuss the importance of the proposed work to central issues in the discipline, to the African Humanities, and to humanities
scholarship in general.
Work plan: The concluding section of the essay should specify a plan of work with a timeline for the research and/or writing during the
fellowship period. How much has the applicant already accomplished on the project and how much remains to be done? What steps are
anticipated during fellowship period? What is the expected result?
Full instructions for applying for an AHP fellowship may be viewed at
http:/www.acls.org/programs/ahp