Society Fellowships

Society Fellowships 2026-27

The Society for the Humanities at Cornell University seeks fellows for year-long residential fellowships who are conducting interdisciplinary research projects exploring the literary, historical, ethical, and political registers of survival. 

We invite humanistic engagement on what it means to live in moments that are marked by precarity, fragility, and catastrophe. What might it mean to flourish in a world on the brink of extinction or exhaustion? Survival can be individual or collective, shaped by cultural imperatives, ideological commitments, or existential negotiations in the face of political, economic, environmental, social, and technological upheavals. Under these conditions, survival is more than living: survival can be a form of living on, a form of sustenance. We ask: what practices and imaginaries survive as individuals, movements, or species confront erasure? How does sudden or slow violence produce ways of surviving? Is refusal, dissent, resilience, or renewal sufficient to counter destructive forces?

We draw inspiration from ideas about “survivance,” and ask what it means to endure and transform amid the catastrophes (past and present) that challenge our existence. As Audre Lorde asks, what does it mean to craft a good life in a world structured so that some were never meant to survive? Have our visions of the good life become sources of cruel optimism, to follow Lauren Berlant?

In posing these questions, we invite humanistic research that engages or critiques the idea of survival. From environmental challenges (hurricanes, floods, droughts, wildfires, famine, and rising sea levels) to political landscapes (wars, military action, regime change), we invite research that considers survival through questions of poetics, aesthetics, ethics, history, or biopolitics. Could we rethink the literary, material, psychic, and symbolic survival of the past? Is one avenue for survival to embrace the fugitive possibilities of living on amongst the ruins?  We welcome projects that collectively press us to confront the survival of care, creativity, freedom, prosperity, and knowledge. 

The Society for the Humanities welcomes applications from scholars and artists who are interested in participating in a productive, critical dialogue concerning the theme of Survival from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.

Image: Coral Confection, Lauren Kussro, www.laurenkussro.com.

Qualifications

Fellows should be working on topics related to the 2026-27 theme of Survival. Their approach to the humanities should be broad enough to appeal to students and scholars in several humanistic disciplines. Applicants must have received the Ph.D. degree before January 1, 2025. The Society for the Humanities will not consider applications from scholars who received the Ph.D. after this date. Applicants must also have one or more years of teaching experience, which may include teaching as a graduate student. International scholars are welcome to apply, contingent upon visa eligibility.

Application Procedures

The following application materials must be submitted via AJO #30172 on or before September 22, 2025. Any other method of applying will not be accepted.

1. A curriculum vitae
2. A one-page abstract describing the research project the applicant would like to pursue during the term of the fellowship (up to 300 words)
3. A detailed statement of the research project (1,000 – 2,000 words). Applicants may also include a one-page bibliography of the most essential materials to the project.
4. A course proposal for a seminar related to the applicant’s research. Seminars meet two hours per week for one semester and enrollment is limited to fifteen advanced undergraduates and graduate students. The course proposal should consist of:
   1. A brief course description suitable for the University course catalog (50-125 words)
   2. A detailed course proposal (up to 300 words)
   3. A list of the essential texts for the course
5. One scholarly paper (no more than 35 pages in length)
6. Two letters of recommendation from senior colleagues in your field (from any institution) to whom candidates should send their research proposal and teaching proposal. Letters of recommendation should include an evaluation of the candidate’s proposed research and teaching statements. Please ask referees to submit their letters directly through the application link. Letters must be submitted on or before September 22, 2025.

The deadline to apply is September 22, 2025. Awards will be announced by the end of December 2025.

Cornell is an equal opportunity employer. For more information, visit hr.cornell.edu/eeo.

 If you need accommodations in order to complete the application, please contact Society staff at humctr@cornell.edu.

Have questions? Please review our FAQs here: https://societyhumanities.as.cornell.edu/fellowship-application-faq

Note: Extensions for applications will not be granted. The Society will consider only fully completed applications. It is the responsibility of each applicant to ensure that ALL documentation is complete and that referees submit their letters of recommendation to the Society before the closing date.