Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Call for Applications: PhD Studentship in Comparative Literature (2/28/2013)



A PhD position in Comparative Literature is available at Ghent University, Belgium. Since the project has a Victorian component, it may be of interest to you or someone you know.

PhD Studentship in Comparative Literature:
Painting Themselves: A Transnational Approach to National Self-Portraiture
Ghent University -Faculty of Arts and Philosophy

Applications are invited for a fully funded PhD fellowship in the Department of Literary Studies at Ghent University, tenable for a period of up to four years. The successful candidate will participate in the project “Painting Themselves: A Transnational Approach to National Self-Portraiture”, which is sponsored by a grant from the Special Research Fund (BOF) of Ghent University and which will be directed by Prof. dr. Elizabeth Amann and Dr. Marianne Van Remoortel. This project proposes a transnational approach to the national self-portraits published in the 1840s in Europe. National self-portraits were collaborative essay anthologies that attempted to capture the essence of a nation through the representation of its constitutive types or scenes.

Examples of the genre include:
Heads of the People, Les français peints par eux-mêmes, Les belges peints par eux-mêmes, Nederlanders door Nederlanders geschetst, Los españoles pintados por sí mismos.

This project will examine how the intertextualities and international dialogue among these collections helped to shape the definition of national identities in the years leading up to the Revolutions of 1848.

Candidates should have:
  • a Master’s degree or equivalent qualification in a relevant discipline, such as English, Dutch, French, German, Spanish, Comparative Literature or History (candidates near to completion may also submit applications, indicating the expected date of the degree)
  • an outstanding academic record
  • aptitude for original, independent, and creative work
  • excellent writing and speaking skills in English
  • reading knowledge of French
  • reading knowledge of either Spanish or Dutch would be considered a plus.
Conditions of employment:

Offered by the Doctoral School of Arts, Humanities and Law (http://www.ugent.be/doctoralschools/en/ahl/).
The fellow will be given a personal computer and office space and will be guided by a committee of experts in the field.

The Department of Literary Studies at UGent (http://tinyurl.com/d4c34nb) is a vibrant community of 168 people (including some 50 fully funded PhD-students and 20 postdocs) specialising in nine languages as well as General and Comparative Literature. Ghent is an attractive medieval town, with a strong economic base and lively cultural scene. Just 30 minutes by train from Brussels, two hours from Paris and Amsterdam and two and a half hours from London, it is moreover ideally situated at the heart of European intellectual life. Ghent University is committed to
internationalization and welcomes applications from foreign students. Knowledge of Dutch is not necessary to apply.

Applications should include:
  • a cover letter, in which you specify why you are interested in the project and why you consider yourself a suitable candidate
  • a current CV
  • transcripts of your qualifications to date (degrees and grade lists)
  • a writing sample (excerpt from your Master’s thesis, article, etc.)
  • names and full contact details of two referees
The application deadline is February 28, 2013 or until a suitable candidate is found.

Further information about the project and/or position can be obtained from prof. dr. Elizabeth Amann (elizabeth.amann@ugent.be) or Dr. Marianne Van Remoortel
(marianne.vanremoortel@ugent.be).

Applications should be submitted as PDF files via email to: elizabeth.amann@ugent.be.

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