Two PhD Positions
The NWO Project Critique of Religion and the Framing of Jews and Muslims in the Netherlands Today
Supervised by Prof. dr. Yolande Jansen (UvA and VU) and Prof. dr. Thijl Sunier (VU) in close cooperation with the Dutch Socrates Foundation
Applications are welcome until 25 September 2013.
Job interviews will take place early October.
Project Description
PhD-Project I: Working title: Islam and Judaism, Muslims and Jews in the contemporary Dutch 'Enlightenment,' in light of their genealogies in modern political philosophy.
This project traces the genealogy of the notions of Jews and Muslims, Islam and Judaism, in modern political thought, especially within the liberal and secular tradition of critique of religion. Secondly, it reads contemporary Dutch criticisms of religion by public intellectuals as context-specific articulations of these earlier traditions of modern political thought. This project will be conducted at the University of Amsterdam, within the research school ASCA.
PhD-project II: Working title: Critique of Jewish and Muslim religious practices in the Netherlands between 2004-2015: Exploring the grey zone between critique of religion and discrimination by means of a participatory approach.
This PhD project asks – within contemporary public debates about Islam, and ritual slaughter and circumcision in particular – if and how distinctions between religious critique and discrimination are being made by the participants themselves. How are contributors to these debates reflecting on the legitimacy of their own or their co-contributors’ standpoints, and can the project play a role in processes of learning from each other through debate? This project will be conducted at the VU University Amsterdam - research schools VISOR/ACCORD. See www.workingatvu.nl. (From 5 September)
For a PDF with a full description of the research-project and of both PhD-projects, see www.asca.uva.nl. In case you need further information, you can send an e-mail to Prof. dr. Yolande Jansen y.jansen@uva.nl
The tasks for both PhD’s include:
- Completion and defense of a PhD thesis within four years
- Regular presentation of intermediate research results at workshops and conferences, and two high quality journal articles to be co-authored with the other researchers of the group
- Participation in the training programs of the two respective research schools
Requirements
- A Master's degree (or equivalent) with excellent grades in a relevant field, such as philosophy, intellectual history, cultural analysis, religious studies or anthropology, and preferably a combination of those fields
- Good academic writing and presentation skills
- Good social and organizational skills
- Proficiency in English and Dutch and, preferably, in German and French as well. Working language will be English, but interviews, debates and readings will often be in Dutch. In case of excellent proven research qualities, we could discuss the possibility of acquiring Dutch language skills during the first year of project I. For project II, fluency in Dutch will be required from the start of the project.
Appointment
The starting date of the project is 1 December 2013. The gross monthly salary (on a full-time basis) for the positions will be € 2.083 during the first year (gross per month) and will reach € 2.664 during the fourth year, in accordance with the Collective Employment Agreement of the Dutch universities. (Please note the specificities of the appointments in the information provided at the UvA and VU vacancies websites, where you will also find the address for your application).
Job Application
Applications for the PhD positions should include:
- Letter of motivation, stating why you want to do this research (no more than two pages). In case you want to apply for both PhD-positions, please explain your motivation.
- CV
- List of grades obtained for your Bachelor's and Master's (or equivalent) degrees
- Names and contact details of two academic referees
- Brief writing sample (preferably no more than 10 pages, no more than 1 MB)