The Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA), one of the six research schools of the Faculty of Humanities, currently has a vacant postdoctoral position as part of the ERC Consolidator project Imagining the Rural in a Globalizing World/RURALIMAGINATIONS, led by prof. Esther Peeren.  

With globalization primarily considered an urban phenomenon, its impact on rural areas tends to be neglected. Tackling this blind spot is urgent as rural-urban divides persist and rural communities, notably in the 2016 Brexit vote and US election, claim their concerns about globalization’s effects are being ignored. RURALIMAGINATIONS focuses on the crucial role played by cultural imaginations in determining what aspects of contemporary rural life do and do not become visible nationally and globally, which, in turn, affects how the rural can be mobilized politically. Using a distinctive humanities approach, it examines prominent cultural imaginations of the rural in film, television and literature in the UK, US, Netherlands, China and South Africa, asking: 1) to what extent do these imaginations render globalization’s effects on the rural (in)visible? 2) what role do traditional rural genres and the feelings or desires they attach to the rural play in this making (in)visible? 3) how can new aesthetic repertoires highlighting the rural as a site of globalization and addressing rural-urban divides and inequalities be developed? The five subprojects conduct, in their national contexts, a narrative, visual and discursive analysis of post-2000 rural imaginations, guided by an innovative theoretical framework combining three concepts: the chronotope reveals what the imagined rural time-space renders visible and how it relates to urban and global time-space; spectrality gives access to what rural imaginations render invisible and to their haunting by traditional genres; and affect exposes how these imaginations attach feelings and desires to the rural, impacting its evaluation and political mobilization. The project synthesis compares the five contexts and examines how rural imaginations interact globally. Expert workshops in the national contexts forge collaborations between humanities scholars, social scientists and cultural producers to develop new rural imaginations.

The postdoctoral researcher will co-supervise at least one of the project’s PhD candidates with the project leader and will actively assist the project leader in the running of the project (organizing team meetings and project events, preparing publications, compiling progress reports) for the duration of the position.

• A PhD degree in the humanities or social sciences focused on contemporary South African culture;
• excellent written and spoken English;
• ability to read and speak Afrikaans;
• outstanding research qualities manifested in a high-quality PhD dissertation and international peer-reviewed publications;
• at least two years’ post-PhD research experience;
• demonstrable experience with the narrative, visual and discursive analysis of film, television and/or literature;
• demonstrable experience working with theoretical frameworks and keen interest in the three concepts (chronotope, spectrality, affect) central to the project; 
• demonstrable experience in MA and/or PhD (co-)supervision;
• administrative experience within the university;  
• keen interest in interdisciplinary research methods and approaches;
• ability and willingness to work in a team;
• willingness to travel abroad for research stays, conferences and project expert workshops;
• roven organisational, administrative and leadership skills.

The selected Postdoc will be appointed full-time (38 hours per week) for a period of 3 years at the Department of Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities. The intended starting date is 1 January 2019. The appointment is initially for a period of one year; contingent on satisfactory performance (completion of an academic journal article) it will be extended by a maximum of 2 years, leading to the completion of 4 international peer-reviewed journal articles and a contribution to an edited volume over the course of the entire Postdoc. The gross monthly salary (on a full-time basis) will range from €3,954 during the first year to €4,453 during the third year, in accordance with The Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities.

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 for Cultural Analysis

The Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis is home to more than 110 scholars and 120 PhD candidates, and is a world-leading international research school in Cultural Analysis. ASCA members share a commitment to working in an interdisciplinary framework and to maintaining a close connection with contemporary cultural and political debates.

http://asca.uva.nl/