Associate Curator

Description:

The Assistant or Associate Curator of Pacific or East Asian Anthropology will conduct research in Pacific or East Asian Anthropology and curate the associated Anthropology Collections, including participating in decisions regarding accessions, loans, collections care and use, inquiries, and approval of research and destructive analysis requests. The position has an anticipated start date of January 1, 2025. Applicants should have a record of collections and field-based research programs in the Pacific or East Asia that is implemented in collaboration with descendant communities. They should also display a strong commitment to shared governance and co-curation. In addition, the curator will provide intellectual leadership to a curatorial team that engages the communities of Pacific or East Asian nations abroad and in Chicago through joint stewardship of the Field Museum's collections.

This position will be a joint position with the Department of Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. A Ph.D. in Anthropology or a relevant discipline must be held by the start of employment. Review of applications will begin in mid-September 2024.

This position has a probationary period of 3 + 3 years; after successful promotion to the Associate level it is renewable every 7 years, according to the Field Museum’s Policy Statement on the Curatorial Ranks.

The successful candidate will be expected to maintain an externally-funded field research program; contribute to building, maintaining, and using the Pacific or East Asian collections; and participate in Museum exhibitions, public outreach and education, and other programmatic and public learning initiatives. We seek an individual with strong research and communication skills as well as ties to Indigenous communities. All of these will enable the successful candidate to care for and interpret an ethnographic and archaeological collection of Indigenous cultural material from the Pacific or East Asia, incorporating Indigenous viewpoints through collaborative research, collections care, curation of exhibits, and contributions to programming (e.g., lectures, workshops, conferences). The curator will furthermore help promote access to collections, particularly by Indigenous communities, and develop the current institutional goals of ethical stewardship. This includes building and maintaining relationships, fostering collaborative dialogue, and promoting diverse perspectives within Museum spaces.

The Field Museum strives to create a working environment that is free of sexual, racial, and ethnic discrimination, and that promotes human dignity among all staff. As such, it is the policy of the Field Museum to hire without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability, or veteran status. If you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran, you may request a reasonable accommodation. The Field Museum strives to ensure that our career website is accessible to all, including individuals with disabilities. Email us at accessibility@fieldmuseum.org if you are unable or limited in your ability to use or access our online application as a result of your disability.

Applications must include the following:

• A Curriculum Vitae

• A statement of research interests and career objectives

• A statement about the applicant's commitment and contributions to promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion

• Copies of up to 4 relevant publications.

Please send queries about this position to anthrosearch@fieldmuseum.org. The curator reports to the Head of Anthropological Research of the Negaunee Integrative Research Center.

Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in Anthropology or a related field
• Minimum 3 years of field and research experience
• Thorough understanding of best practices in anthropological research and museum curation
• Experience and potential to run large research programs with external funding
• Experience producing scientific publications and potential for research publication
• Knowledge of care and promotion of anthropological collections
• Experience in higher and/or public education
• Ability to lead efforts to engage communities in the stewardship of Museum collections
• Demonstrated potential for service and administration