Josh Wood from Boston University writes:
I'm an American doctoral student in philosophy currently teaching in Malawi, Africa. I teach epistemology to third-year undergraduates at the country's flagship university, Chancellor College. 22 students attend the class and a good majority of them are as bright and engaged with the material as, I imagine, any instructor could wish for. For those who are wondering, I find myself here because my wife was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to pursue doctoral research in Malawi. I am here to support her work, get some teaching experience at the neighboring university, and help care for our (flourishing) toddler.
I am writing because I am helping the philosophy department here draft a job announcement. This job announcement is intended specifically for graduate students or post-docs (from either the US or UK) who are looking for teaching experience, not to mention a little adventure.
More broadly, this job announcement is intended for anyone qualified to teach philosophy to undergraduates (2 courses per semester with a slight chance of 3), guiding senior thesis research, shouldering a light administrative load, and speaking English fluently. So I think candidates outside the US and UK still stand a chance.
The department is willing to hire qualified candidates (up to two) for two years with the option to renew their contracts. (The department is not interested in offering contracts for less than two years.) There is salary involved as well as benefits. I don't yet have hard numbers, but let me assure you that it will be very little by western standards. The university is located in the most beautiful city in the country: Zomba.
But I'll leave all talk of beautiful landscapes, wildlife, low cost of living, temperate climate, and vibrant markets (etc) aside. Perhaps I should just mention that this country, though it is among the most impoverished in the world, is quite livable.
On behalf of potential candidates I have advised the head of the department to be as honest and explicit as possible about the working and living conditions here. But between the two of us I am in the best position to explain what these are. (For example, the university's library is not a research library by any standard and should not be counted on as a resource for one's own work. And living in a country such as this can be very trying for visitors who are not vigilant, creative, and highly resourceful and all of these on a regular basis.) But I cannot detail everything. As for living conditions, I would imagine that a suitable candidate will be someone who takes it upon themselves to figure out what they can ahead of time and who is capable of dealing with the challenges of living here when they present themselves.
I'd like to ask visitors of this blog for help in piquing interest in this opportunity. My question is this: what information should be included in this job announcement--considering that interested candidates will most likely find themselves unable to visit the country, the city, or the department before accepting the job? (That is, unless someone is willing to pay upwards of $1700 to fly to Malawi to inspect matters beforehand.)
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