The Department of Sociology of the  Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FMG) invites applications for a two-year Postdoctoral researcher position to work on the NWO (Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research) Vici project (2018-2023) EnGendering Europe’s Muslim Question, lead by principal investigator Dr Sarah Bracke.

EnGendering Europe’s Muslim Question is a 5 year research project, funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, which has the following objectives. First, to further explore and conceptualize debates on Islam in Europe in terms of 'Europe’s Muslim Question', which implies a shift of analytical and methodological focus from ‘the other’ (Islam and Muslims) to the ‘European self’. Second, to ground this exploration in the ana'ytical and empirical terrains of gender and sexuality, which implies further unpacking of how gender and sexuality function as privileged terrains upon which the problematization of Islam and Muslims in Europe occur, as well as exploring the effects of the Muslim Question upon existing regimes of gender and sexuality.

While the project at large includes a critical empirical dimension, you will mostly do conceptual work. This conceptual dimension of the project encompasses three lines of inquiry, upon which gender and sexuality as analytical categories will be brought to bear, namely

1. how to conceptualize the problematization of Islam and Muslims in Europe;
2. how to understand the resonances and differences between this problematization and Europe’s Jewish Question; and
3. how to further think and account for the entanglement of race and religion in Europe.

You will contribute significantly to at least one and possibly two of these lines of inquiry, as well as to the research project at large.

We expect you to:

• do conceptual work that engages with, and covers (a substantial) part of, the lines of inquiry mentioned above;
• engage gender and sexuality as categories of analysis;
• cooperate closely with the PI and contribute to the project management;
• present work to an (inter)national audience of academics;
• participate in conferences, workshops, seminars, and other scholarly activities;
• write three or four articles to be published in international peer-reviewed journals.

We are looking for a highly motivated candidate with a PhD in a relevant discipline (or interdisciplinary field) within the Social Sciences or Humanities (such as Sociology, Anthropology, Philosophy, Gender Studies, Religious Studies, History, Critical Theory, etc.), who has a demonstrable interest in the topic of the project. You should be able to do conceptual work (notably on the conceptual entanglement of race and religion within a European context, as well as the role of gender and sexuality within that entanglement), and will do so in close collaboration with the PI. We also expect you to be involved in the management of the project and to work together with other researchers on the project (and within the international networks the projects participates to). We expect you to possess strong research and writing skills and an excellent command of English, as well as good working knowledge of at least one other language that will be used in the empirical part of the project (Dutch, German or French).

The starting date will be between 1 November 2018 and 1 January 2019. The appointment will be full-time (38 hours per week) for a period of two years. Based on a full-time position, the gross monthly salary will range between €3,545 and €4,852 (scale 11), depending on qualifications and experience. The salary is supplemented with a holiday allowance of 8% and an end-of-year allowance of 8.3%, in conformity 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

Department of Sociology

The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FMG) is the largest social-science educational and research institution in the Netherlands. Our Faculty serves around 7,500 students in numerous Bachelor's and Master's programmes in Political Science, Sociology, Anthropology, Communication Science, Psychology, Social Geography, International Development Studies and Educational Sciences. Our academic staff is employed in education as well as research. We have over 1,100 employees at the Faculty, located in a number of buildings in the centre of Amsterdam.

Research and education are carried out by special institutes. The College of Social Sciences (CSS) and the Graduate School for the Social Sciences (GSSS) are responsible for the undergraduate and graduate teaching programmes in the social sciences. Research takes place under the aegis of the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR), a multidisciplinary research institute, the biggest one of its kind in the Netherlands and possibly in Europe. The broad scope and pluralism of our education and research programmes are inspired by and reflect a strong degree of internationalisation.

http://www.uva.nl/en/disciplines/sociology