PhD Position (full-time, 4 years) on Aesthetic Transformations in Decolonial Media Practices at Erasmus School of Philosophy

Application deadline: February 8 2024, 23h55 CET

The Aesthetic Transformations project:
Decolonization has become an almost omnipresent chiffre in contemporary art discourses and increasingly across the humanities. On the one hand the “decolonial turn” in the arts and humanities signals a reference to these situated struggles against colonial violence. On the other hand, its adaptation expresses the importance to critically revisit acclaimed practices and sets of knowledge considering their (often implicit) colonial heritage.

While the focus of either approach foregrounds the epistemic violence and need for critical revision, they rarely address the potential for challenging aesthetic conventions and understandings as part of decolonizing practices. Put differently, to decolonize means not only to change ways of thinking and doing but also to transform ways of sensing and feeling, leading towards a decolonial aesthesis.

A shift in the philosophical vocabulary of aesthetics and the effects of aesthetic practices related to decolonial processes define the main interest of this PhD-project. Accordingly, the use and role of media and their impact on aesthetic experience play a central part in these processes. In different struggles for decolonization the role of digital platform media exceeds their communicational and organizational powers, pertaining to new aesthetic approaches that critically challenge Western conventions of sensing and sense-making.

The envisioned PhD project will engage with media aesthetic practices in relation to processes of decolonization. It should focus on concrete and situated contexts, ideally in resonance with perspectives from the Global South, and contribute to a critical reworking of Western aesthetic categories and concepts. Translocal perspectives and critical reflections of the European context of the position’s research environment can be an integral aspect of the project.

The PhD-position is located within the Erasmus School of Philosophy (ESPhil) and part of the Human Conditions Research Group. It will also be associated with the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague. The PhD candidate will be jointly supervised by Dr. Christoph Brunner (ESPhil), Dr. Sjoerd van Tuinen (ESPhil), and Prof. Dr. Rosalba Icaza Garza (ISS).

Job description
The candidate's primary responsibility will be to conduct research and write a PhD thesis. The candidate should also contribute to development of the field of decolonial perspectives on the philosophy of media and technology in other ways, such as by giving scholarly presentations and co-organizing reading groups and workshops. Furthermore, the PhD candidate will become part of a large and diverse community of PhD candidates, and is expected to contribute as a junior lecturer to the Erasmus School of Philosophy’s (ESPhil) educational programme.

We are looking for a motivated PhD candidate with the following background and skills:

• Completed MA in philosophy or equivalent (i.e., BA in philosophy and MA in Media Studies, Cultural Studies, Gender or Queer Studies, STS, Anthropology), with an interest in continental philosophy, aesthetic philosophy, philosophy of media and technology, feminist philosophies, technofeminism, post-colonial theory, and digital cultures. A keen interest in the relation between media and processes of decolonization and decolonial research methodologies are an advantage. Further the position requires:
• Excellent speaking and writing skills in English,
• Ideally, language skills concerning the region of interest in the Global South,
• Conceptual capacity, presenting, planning, and organizing and monitoring (VSNU competencies for PhDs)
• An interest to work in teams, build local and international networks, and co-organize research workshops and public events.

The position preferably starts on March 1st, 2024, but the very latest on May 1st, 2024 and lasts for a maximum of four years. The appointment concerns a temporary PhD position for four years. This position comes with good employment conditions, compliant with the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities (CAO NU). The position begins with a temporary employment contract for 18 months in which the candidate’s suitability is evaluated. If the candidate is suitable, then an additional contract of 30 months follows, leading to a total appointment of 4 years.

We offer you an internationally oriented and varied job in an enthusiastic team, with excellent working conditions in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU).

This position is for 0.8 fte - 1 fte FTE. The salary ranges from a minimum of € 2.770 to a maximum of € 3.539 gross per month Scale PhD on a fulltime basis (38 hours), in accordance with the CAO-NU. The contract is entered into for the duration of (contractduur).

Everything else we offer you, you can find below!

• Everything you need for a good work-life balance: the option to work from home in consultation with your manager, 41 days of paid leave with a 40 hour contract, 8% holiday pay and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus, and a significant discount on a subscription for our on-campus sports centre!
• Sustainable, inclusive and diverse work environment with an open culture, where you can be yourself and we pay attention to each other and to the world around us. Make the most of our bicycle budget, or join networks such as Young@EUR, FAME or QuEUR.
• Time and space for your development in the broadest sense: development days and a personal career budget, foreign exchange opportunities with most costs paid by EUR, and free access to our university library.
• Good pension with ABP that EUR contributes 2/3rds towards, discounts on various collective insurances with Zilveren Kruis Achmea, Loyalis, and Allianz, and compensation for travel, working from home and home internet use.
• Are you currently combining your job with parenthood, or do you want to do so in the future? EUR offers partially paid parental leave and fully paid additional birth leave for partners, and our campus features a daycare.
• Moving to the Netherlands for your job with EUR? Then you may be eligible for the 30%-ruling if you meet the requirements of the Belastingdienst (Dutch tax agency), and with our Dual Career Programme we will also help your partner find the right job for them.

Erasmus University Rotterdam

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) is an internationally oriented university with a strong social orientation in its education and research, as expressed in our mission ‘Creating positive societal impact’. EUR is home to 3.700 academics and professionals and almost 33.000 students from more than 140 countries. Everything we do, we do under the credo The Erasmian Way – Making Minds Matter. We’re global citizens, connecting, entrepreneurial, open-minded, and socially involved. These Erasmian Values function as our internal compass and create EUR’s distinctive and recognizable profile. From these values, with a broad perspective and with an eye for diversity, different backgrounds and opinions, our employees work closely together to solve societal challenges from the dynamic and cosmopolitan city of Rotterdam. Thanks to the high quality and positive societal impact of our research and education, EUR can compete with the top European universities. www.eur.nl.

Erasmus School of Philosophy (ESPhil)
Erasmus School of Philosophy is a leading research and teaching institution of Erasmus University Rotterdam. The faculty is one of the two independent faculties of philosophy in the Netherlands. ESPhil has a broad international orientation, with many international students (total number of students is currently about 800), PhDs (about 15), and staff members (about 30), and has excellent connections with universities abroad.

The International Institute of Social Studies (ISS)
The International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) is a leading academic center for international development studies. While based in The Hague, the ISS is part of Erasmus University Rotterdam. ISS is a post-graduate institute of policy-oriented critical social science and development-oriented research. The Institute brings together a highly diverse international community of scholars and students from both the global South and the global North, on average originating from over 50 different countries.