Postdoc Researcher: Art and Liberation Movements during 20th Century Decolonization

The Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis currently has a vacant Postdoc researcher position as part of the European Research Council Consolidator Grant project Entangled Freedoms: Decolonial Modernisms as Transnational Relations of Resistance, 1940s-1980s, led by the Principal Investigator, Dr. Sanjukta Sunderason. ASCA is one of the five Research Schools within the Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR). The Postdoc project will be part of the department of Arts and Culture (KG, Capacity Group Art History).

Join a research team on Art and Liberation during 20th-Century Afro-Asian Decolonization!
As a postdoctoral researcher in Entangled Freedoms, you will be joining the growing Project Team that currently has 2 PhD researchers (working on artistic/cultural archives of Pakistan and East Pakistan/Bangladesh between 1940s-1980s) and 2 Postdoctoral scholars (working on infrastructures of transnational solidarities and Arab aesthetics/poetics).

You will be expected to work on intellectual histories of (visual) art and Afro-Asian liberation movements, and contribute to the project’s core question: How did artists and cultural thinkers from the decolonizing worlds of 20th-century Asia, Africa, and the Middle East imagine and intervene in plural, contesting ideas of “freedom”?

You may work with a range of visual forms - spanning the plastic arts, documentary practices including photography, cinema as well as illustrated periodicals, graphic/print cultures, and exhibition cultures.

Regional scopes of the position are open to contexts of decolonization movements in Asia (for instance, Indonesia, Vietnam, among others) and Africa (for instance, Angola, Mozambique, South Africa, among others) or transnational exhibition sites that were foundational to decolonial liberation movements.

We are stressing, in particular, expertise in vernacular/regional languages (this will depend of course on the specific region you are specializing in) and experience in studying liberation cultures of 20th century decolonization via grassroot, vernacular histories as well as their transnational scales.

We require the following profile from this postdoctoral position:

• Specialization in art history or literary/cultural history from 20th-century decolonizing and post/colonial worlds in Asia/Africa;
• Experience in working in intellectual histories using visual art/periodical press/graphic arts/cultural discourse as archives;
• Track record in working with vernacular/regional languages tied to their specific field/geography of expertise (see description of position for details).

This is what you will be doing
We expect you to design and conduct research under the guidance of the project leader, resulting in at least four peer-reviewed academic publications, including the project’s own edited volume.

You will also be participating in meetings and proceedings of the Project Team; and organizing (or co-organize) expert meetings and a symposium, with collaborative support where needed from the team members.

We welcome a project team member who brings experience and curiosity to a growing project team and shared research interests and project goals. You should be open to group work, and be ready to lead particular themes within the project’s wider scope.

This is what we ask of you
Candidates need to have the following qualifications:

• a PhD in Art/History, Literary and Cultural Studies, Postcolonial Studies;
• excellent research skills demonstrated by a track record of publishing in high-ranking journals and/or with leading presses or a demonstrable capacity to develop such a record;
• a strong cooperative attitude and willingness to engage in collaborative research.

This is what else we offer you
The Postdoc researcher will be appointed at the Department of Arts and Culture of the Faculty of Humanities and will conduct the research in ASCA. The employment will be for 1 year. Contingent on a positive performance evaluation the contract will be extended by another year. The postdoc position is a 2 year position. The employment contract is for 38 hours a week. The preferred starting date is 01 February 2027. (earliest 1 September 2026)

Your salary, depending on relevant experience on commencement of the employment contract, ranges between € 4,412 (scale 10 step 5) to € 5,538 (scale 10 step 12) gross per month on the basis of a full working week of 38 hours. This sum does not include the 8% holiday allowance and the 8,3% year-end allowance. Favourable tax agreements may apply to applicants moving from abroad. The Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities is applicable.

The University of Amsterdam offers excellent inter-disciplinary research environment in the heart of Amsterdam and scopes of professional development.

The Project Team of Entangled Freedoms benefits from the exciting and rich research culture of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, which is renowned for its cutting-edge inter-disciplinary research. You will also be joining the growing forum on Decolonial Futures that the university has been building up.

This is where you'll be working
The Faculty of Humanities provides education and conducts research with a strong international profile in a large number of disciplines in de field of language and culture. Located in the heart of Amsterdam, the faculty maintains close ties with many cultural institutes in the capital city. Research and teaching staff focus on interdisciplinary collaboration and are active in several teaching programmes.

If you recognize yourself in the profile and are interested in the position, we look forward to receiving your application. Please send your cover letter and CV as a single PDF file.

The vacancy closes on 20-4-2026. The first round of interviews will take place on first week of June.

For questions about the position or department, you can contact us during office hours at:

• Sanjukta Sunderason, Associate Professor, Department of Arts and Culture
• telephone: +31616959144