The Amsterdam School of Historical Studies (ASH), one of six research schools in the Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research at the University of Amsterdam, currently has a vacant postdoctoral position as part of the European Commission Horizon 2020 project European Colonial Heritage Modalities in Entangled Cities (ECHOES). The overall project’s Principal Investigator is Professor John Oldfield (University of Hull, UK). Professor Elizabeth Buettner at the University of Amsterdam (ASH) is co-leader of two component subprojects, one of which is ‘City Museums and Multiple Colonial Pasts’.  Methodology and Heritage planned in Warsaw in mid-September 2018.

Your particular focus will be on the Amsterdam Museum. You will work within a team of researchers, examining the evolution of contemporary city museums in a postcolonial context. Your  obligations will include:

• involvement with the development of an analytical framework for a comparative museum analysis;
• exploring how Amsterdam’s postcolonial past is reflected in the city’s heritage landscape. You will closely collaborate with the Amsterdam Museum and will do research on its history, priorities, practices, and narratives;
• doing a combination of archive work, interviews, and ethnographic fieldwork;
• writing reports and academic articles;
• travelling to and presenting papers at conferences abroad (inside and ideally also outside Europe);
• building and maintaining excellent relations among researchers and museum practitioners involved in the project. This includes making occasional trips to Warsaw, where a number of the project’s researchers will be based, as well as participating in Skype conversations liaising with other international researchers every two weeks;
• co-organizing workshops, conferences, and other events, and taking responsibility for some project administrative work. You are expected to participate in an International Workshop on Methodology and Heritage planned in Warsaw in mid-September 2018.

We expect you to:

• have a PhD (already examined) in History, Anthropology, Sociology, or related discipline with a focus on urban studies, (post)colonial studies, or migration studies;
• (have a maximum of 4 years of experience post PhD);
• have a demonstrable interest in heritage studies and/or work experience as a museum practitioner;
• have a research and publication record commensurate with their career stage;
• be fluent in English and excellent in Dutch;
• have good analytical and communication skills;
• have strong organizational skills;
• have a cooperative, collegial attitude and willingness to work as part of a collaborative international team.

You will be appointed for 38 hours per week (1.0 FTE ) for a maximum period of two years at the Department of History, European Studies & Religious Studies of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Amsterdam. The research will be carried out under the aegis of ASH. The appointment is initially for a period of 12 months; contingent on satisfactory performance it will be extended by a maximum of 12 months. The intended starting date of the contract is 1 September 2018. The gross monthly salary (on a full-time basis) will range from €3,238 to €3,722 depending on your experience and qualifications.The Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities is applicable.

University of Amsterdam

With over 5,000 employees, 30,000 students and a budget of more than 600 million euros, the University of Amsterdam (UvA) is an intellectual hub within the Netherlands. Teaching and research at the UvA are conducted within seven faculties: Humanities, Social and Behavioural Sciences, Economics and Business, Law, Science, Medicine and Dentistry. Housed on four city campuses in or near the heart of Amsterdam, where disciplines come together and interact, the faculties have close links with thousands of researchers and hundreds of institutions at home and abroad.  

The UvA’s students and employees are independent thinkers, competent rebels who dare to question dogmas and aren’t satisfied with easy answers and standard solutions. To work at the UvA is to work in an independent, creative, innovative and international climate characterised by an open atmosphere and a genuine engagement with the city of Amsterdam and society.

http://www.uva.nl/en/home

Amsterdam School of Historical Studies

The Amsterdam School of Historical Studies (ASH), one of six research schools in the Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research at the University of Amsterdam, currently has a vacant postdoctoral position as part of the European Commission Horizon 2020 project European Colonial Heritage Modalities in Entangled Cities (ECHOES). The overall project’s Principal Investigator is Professor John Oldfield (University of Hull, UK). Professor Elizabeth Buettner at the University of Amsterdam (ASH) is co-leader of two component subprojects, one of which is ‘City Museums and Multiple Colonial Pasts’. 

ECHOES is supported by the European Commission’s H2020-SC6-ENG-GLOBALLY-2016-2017: Engaging Together Globally scheme. Running for three years starting in February 2018, it will be carried out by researchers based at the Universities of Hull, Aarhus, Amsterdam, Rennes II, Warsaw, and the Center for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra. For more information,  click here.

This University of Amsterdam postdoctoral position falls within the work package devoted to ‘City Museums and Multiple Colonial Pasts’ that is overseen by Dr. Joanna Wawrzyniak of the University of Warsaw. The international research team will examine how the Amsterdam Museum, the Museum of Warsaw, and the Shanghai History Museum take up the challenge of presenting and interrogating European colonial heritage, situated as they are at the crossroads of national, urban, and international historical narratives.

About the Amsterdam Museum:

The Amsterdam Museum tells the story of the city of Amsterdam; about its past, present and the future. The museum considers it its social mission to make the story of Amsterdam accessible and to present it to as broad an audience as possible. We develop exhibitions, events, publications and other public products, in our museums as well as online. Innovation, hospitality, diversity, (international) cooperation and knowledge exchange are some of our most important values. The museum receives more than 500.000 visitors each year on its four permanent locations in the heart of the historic city.

http://ash.uva.nl/