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 Children's Media and Diversity project led by principal investigators Dr. Balazs Boross and Dr. Rik Spanjers. ASCA is one of the five Research Schools within the Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR).
The PhD fellow will be part of ASCA, one of the five Research Schools within the Amsterdam Institute for Humanities Research (AIHR) 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.
What are you going to do?
Children's media have long been treated with suspicion: educators, politicians, parents, and scholars want to know what children are learning, from whom, and in what contexts. As such, aesthetic, narrative, technological, and discursive shifts in and around children's content provide a productive lens for exploring how culture – at different times and at different places – defines what is normal and how attempts to challenge the status quo are imagined, represented, and articulated in social practice.
This PhD project takes the notion of diversity as its center of inquiry and examines how emergent understandings of diversity are mobilized, contested, and shared across the contemporary landscape of children's media. How is diversity discursively produced and translated for and by children? What are the implicit and explicit rationales to celebrate or question diversity? What kinds of stories of diversity are being told and in what forms, how are they received, and what kinds of practices surround them? What does the child implicated in these stories look like? Which aspects of diversity are considered normal, and which are problematized? How do the stories and images of children’s content connect to or provoke broader social debates? How do representations of diversity and the diversity of practices speak to, speak about, and relate to the politicization of children's media and childhood from a cross-cultural, socio-historical perspective?
Candidates can work on a project of their own choosing within the general theme of children's media and diversity, and are encouraged to think creatively in terms of research design. We invite interested candidates to prepare short proposals (details below) that might explore, for example:
Tasks and responsibilities:
What do you have to offer?
We are looking for intellectually curious, original, and versatile candidates who have experience or proven interest in working across genres, media and disciplinary boundaries.
Your experience and profile
Candidates need to have the following qualifications:
Please note that if you already hold a doctorate/PhD or are working towards obtaining a similar degree elsewhere, you will not be admitted to a doctoral programme at the UvA.
What can we offer you?
We offer a temporary employment contract for the period of 48 months. The first contract will be for 16 months, with an extension for the following 32 months, contingent on a positive performance evaluation within the first 12 months. The employment contract is for 38 hours a week. The preferred starting date is 01 February 2025.
Your salary is in the first year of the employment contract € 2,872 and in the last year a maximum of € 3,670 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.
What else do we offer?
About us
The University of Amsterdam is the largest university in the Netherlands, with the broadest spectrum of degree programmes. It is an intellectual hub with 42,000 students, 6,000 employees and 3,000 doctoral students who are all committed to a culture of inquiring minds.
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.
Want to know more about our organisation? Read more about working at the University of Amsterdam.
Questions?
If you have any questions about the position or the department, please contact during office hours:
Dr. Balazs Boross: b.boross@uva.nl
Assistant professor in Media Studies
Dr. Rik Spanjers: r.spanjers@uva.nl
Assistant professor in Media Studies
Job application
If you feel the profile fits you, and you are interested in the job, we look forward to receiving your application. You can apply online via the link below. We will accept applications until 05 November 2024, 23:59 CET.
Your application should include the following information:
Please submit the required information in 1 pdf by uploading in the required field ‘CV’.
The first round of interviews will be held in the course of end November.
The UvA is an equal-opportunity employer. We prioritise diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for everyone. We value a spirit of enquiry and perseverance, provide the space to keep asking questions, and promote a culture of curiosity and creativity.
No agencies please.