You will work as part of a team on the NWO-funded VICI project ‘Redefining the Region: The Transnational Dimensions of Local Colour’. This project aims to examine the unexplored transnational dimensions of local colour by studying media representations of regions and local colour fiction from the long 19th century in European and transatlantic frameworks. These materials provide unique case studies for transnational approaches: images and texts about European regions reached transnational audiences through emerging periodical cultures, dissemination of local colour fiction across Europe, and transcultural networks with North American diasporic communities.

The project’s objectives are:
1. examining portrayals of regional-transnational dynamics (foreigners, emigrants) in illustrated periodicals and local colour fiction;
2. researching the transnational circulation and reception of European local colour imagery, reports, fiction;
3. exploring the reconstruction of European regions by the media and local colour writers across the Atlantic.

Subproject 1: The Transnational Dimensions of the Region in European Illustrated Periodicals, 1842-1900.

Your PhD research, which is to result in a dissertation, concerns the transnational dimensions of the region in European illustrated periodicals (e.g. Illustrated London News, Le Monde Illustré, Illustrirte Zeitung), over the period 1842-1900. While these illustrated periodicals have traditionally been identified with nation building, they had a transnational scope in terms of subject matter, and they borrowed heavily from periodicals elsewhere: it was common that illustrations and texts (in translation) ‘travelled’ from one national context to another, being reprinted in periodicals elsewhere in Europe (Martin 2006:12).

Your subproject investigates:
1. in what ways regions ‘at home’ and elsewhere in Europe featured in these periodicals;
2. additionally, how visual and textual materials on the region circulated (in reprint) in various European contexts and readerships through this new mass medium.

Furthermore, you will contribute research results to the project’s database. You are also expected to participate as a speaker in the project’s programme of meetings (e.g. expert meetings, conferences).

• A completed research MA or equivalent in literary studies, cultural history or cultural studies.
• Demonstrable expertise about Europe in the long nineteenth century; preferably with knowledge about periodical cultures and/or regionalism.
• Excellent command of spoken and written English; good reading knowledge of at least two other European languages (preferably including either German or French).
• Demonstrable strong affinity with scientific research.
• The ability to work collaboratively in an international research team, as proven by previous team work.
• The demonstrable capacity to work with deadlines.
• Experience with working in a Digital Humanities environment and DH literacy will be considered a plus.

Fixed-term contract: You will be appointed for an initial period of 18 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2.5 years.

• Employment: 40 hours per week.
• The gross starting salary amounts to €2,325 per month, and will increase to €2,972 in the fourth year (P scale).
• In addition to the salary: an 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus.
• Duration of the contract: you will be appointed for an initial period of 18 months, after which your performance will be evaluated. If the evaluation is positive, the contract will be extended by 2.5 years.
• The intended start date is 1 February 2020.
• You will be able to make use of our Dual Career Service: our Dual Career Officer will assist with family-related support, such as child care, and help your partner prepare for the local labour market and with finding an occupation.
• Are you interested in our excellent employment conditions?

Aan de Radboud Universiteit werken docenten en onderzoekers uit meer dan 50 landen op 7 faculteiten, in alle wetenschapsdisciplines. Dit doen we op een groene, moderne campus met state-of-the-art voorzieningen. De Radboud Universiteit kent een open en persoonlijke sfeer. Dit stimuleert kennisdeling tussen collega's, voorbij de grenzen van vakgebieden en onderzoeksinstituten. We geloven dat een brede blik leidt tot nieuwe inzichten en oplossingen, in de wetenschap én de samenleving.

Faculteit der Letteren

The Faculty of Arts employs over 500 academic and support staff in the fields of history and art, languages and cultures, linguistics and information, and communications technology (ICT). Research is embedded in one of the two faculty research institutes: the Centre for Language Studies (CLS) or the Institute for Historical, Literary and Cultural Studies (HLCS). The faculty currently enrols some 2,400 students in three departments: the department of History, Art History and Classics, the department of Modern Languages and Cultures, and the department of Language and Communication.