Are you looking for a challenging position in a dynamic setting?
The Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA) currently has a vacant PhD position as part of the Trans-Sexualities project led by principal investigators Marija Cetinic and Diego Semerene. ASCA is one of the five Research Schools within the
Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR).
The Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis invites applications for a fully-funded 4-year PhD position in (Trans-)Sexualities and Psychoanalysis. The position is funded by a starting grant from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the Netherlands led by Dr Marija Cetinic and Dr Diego Semerene, of which the PhD position is a part.
The PhD fellow will be part of ASCA, one of the five Research Schools within the
Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR), the Literary and Cultural Analysis program and the Media Studies department. ASCA is a research community devoted to the comparative and interdisciplinary study of culture (in all its forms and expressions) from a broad humanities perspective. ASCA is home to more than 120 scholars and 160 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.
Candidates can work on a project of their own choosing within the scope of (Trans-)Sexualities and Psychoanalysis, and are encouraged to think creatively in terms of research design. We invite interested candidates to prepare short proposals (details below) that could, for instance, examine:
- trans-ness/cis-ness in relationship to technology
- moral panics and trans-ness, or questions around trans children
- trans literature, poetry, cinema
- trans desire, or desire for trans subjects/objects/bodies
- philosophical notions of transformation, plasticity, negativity
- the antisocial turn in queer theory
- intersections between queer theory, trans theory, and psychoanalysis
- queer / trans theory and desire
- psychoanalysis and questions of racialization and (post-)coloniality
The PhD fellow will also be a part of the Sex Negativity and Queer Analysis research groups, which bring together researchers to work on interdisciplinary questions concerned with gender, sexuality and intimacy through psychoanalysis, critical theory, philosophy, and poetry.
What are you going to do? You will be working on a research project which explores questions around gender and sexuality that center around trans-ness within a psychoanalytic framework. You are expected to either have some literacy in psychoanalytic theory (of whatever tradition/school) or a strong interest in developing psychoanalytic skills in order to think gender and sexuality alongside queer theory and trans theory. Candidates without prior experience in psychoanalytic theory should demonstrate a keenness to acquire these skills.
During the PhD research you will conduct extensive research on theories and histories of (trans-)sexualities, theories of (trans-)desire, and psychoanalysis. This will involve critical reviews and analysis of critical theories on (trans-)sexualities and psychoanalysis.
We are open to candidates with experience in a range of theories of gender and sexuality but are particularly interested in those who have some literacy in trans studies and/or psychoanalysis.
Tasks and responsibilities - submission of a PhD thesis on (trans-)sexualities and psychoanalysis within a 4-year period;
- participating in meetings in the Sex Negativity and Queer Analysis research;
- publication of single-authored and co-authored outputs derived from your doctoral research, including peer-reviewed academic articles;
- presenting intermediate research results at workshops and conferences, including at least one international conference outside of the Netherlands;
- organising knowledge dissemination activities, including in collaboration with the Sex Negativity and Queer Analysis research groups;
- participating in the Research School and Faculty of Humanities PhD training programmes.
- co-teaching courses at the BA level in the second and third year of the appointment (max. 0,2 fte per year).