Call for Applications:
Scholarships for MPhil in Violent Histories and Repair
Deadline: Friday, 22 November 2024
The Centre for the Study of the Afterlife of Violence and the Reparative Quest (AVReQ), Stellenbosch University, invites applications for scholarships to pursue full-time study in a structured interdisciplinary MPhil programme on Violent Histories & Repair. These scholarships are for students who intend to enroll for a MPhil degree at AVReQ in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University. The scholarships are aimed at supporting students in their completion of the two-year programme.
The MPhil (Violent Histories and Repair) is an interdisciplinary programme that seeks to engage critical decolonial approaches to studying the legacies of violent histories. It takes an intersectional approach to examine the structural aspects of systemic violence, including its racial and gendered dimensions, as well as the more insidious and symbolic forms of its expression embedded in institutional cultures and practices. The programme focuses on violent histories, intergenerational trauma, and repair within three compulsory theoretical modules: Afterlife of Violent Histories; Contextual Perspectives on Trauma Testimonies; and Historical Trauma and Redress. The theoretical focus will be supplemented with a module on Research Methodology and Ethics for Violent Histories to strengthen research capacity for the research thesis.
Applicants with research interests in intergenerational trauma related to race and gender will be considered. The thematic research areas include:
- Critical approaches to studying violent histories and their transgenerational afterlife, including institutional culture/s, race/racialization, and community sites.
- Explorations of processes of “repair” and rupturing the transmission of racial and gendered intergenerational trauma, including the role of the arts (visual arts, literature, film, performance) in processes of repair and “healing” historical trauma.
- Mothering, gender-based violence, intergenerational trauma, and the links to early childhood development.
- How do experiences of GBV affect forms of parenting in the context of people and communities that face systemic inequality?
- Research that gleans insights into ways to disrupt such transmission of trauma. Practical and methodological strategies for disrupting patriarchy, including community support for mothers who are abused.
The following are the eligibility criteria for shortlisting candidates:
- Master’s applicants must have an Honours degree in Humanities/Social Sciences with a minimum aggregate mark of at least 65%;
- Demonstrable knowledge of qualitative research methods will be ascribed high importance.
- A key criterion for the selection of students will be fit between their interests and abilities and the thematic focus of the MPhil programme as outlined above.
Application Procedure:
Submit your application via email to Westley Ceasar [ceasar@sun.ac.za] with the following information:
- A cover letter explaining why you are interested in the scholarship.
- A draft research proposal of no longer than 8 pages, 1.5-spaced, including a reference list of no more than a page long.
- A copy of your Honours thesis.
- Your CV, indicating your date of birth, the year you completed your Honours degree, and the names of two contactable academic referees.
- Copies of all official academic records (certified copies).
- Certified copy of Identity document.
- Use the following Subject line in your email when you submit your application: MASTER’S SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION 2025
Email inquiries for more information about the scholarships may be sent to Mr Westley Ceasar at ceasar@sun.ac.za with the following subject title: MASTER’S SCHOLARSHIP ENQUIRY 2025.