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Faculty for Language, Literary and Cultural Studies at the University of Regensburg

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Description

With more than 20,000 students, the University of Regensburg is an innovative and interdisciplinary campus university with diverse and highly renowned research activities and a broad and attractive range of courses for young people from home and abroad. The research group „Light On! Queer Literatures and Cultures under Socialism” is funded by the Volkswagen Foundation within the framework of the Freigeist Program at the U of Regensburg since October 2022. The goal of the group is to uncover yet unknown queer literary histories and poetics in under socialism. Projects already running focus on queer literatures in Soviet Russia, South Caucasus, Central Asia, and the GDR. 

The research group invites applications for a position of Postdoc on LGBTQ+ Literatures under Socialism (Focus: Poland or Ukraine).

The position is full time (40,1 weekly working hours), with the contract of employment limited to 3 years (§ 2 Abs. 1 WissZeitVG) and dedicated to an individual research project. The position can be taken as part-time employment. It is remunerated according to TVL E-13 scale.

Your tasks:

This position is research-focused, with participation in other project tasks, such as organizations of conferences, team meetings, etc. We invite proposals on a wide range of topics with the focus on queer literatures in Poland or Ukraine under socialism, including, but not limited to:

• lesbian, gay, trans, bi- and queer literatures
• LGBTQ+ literary cultures: literary readings, literary journals, apartment theaters, etc.
• unknown poetics and narratives of queerness in prose, drama, and/or poetry
• censorship of LGBTQ+ literary subjectivities
• transnational networks of LGBTQ+ literatures from Poland or Ukraine: circulations of texts, queer samizdat and tamizdat
• queer literature and the Solidarity movement

Our requirements:

• the position is open to applicants with a doctoral degree in Literary Studies, Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies, Slavic Studies, History, Gender Studies, andother relevant disciplines in the Humanities
• the doctoral degree should be awarded before the position begins and not earlier than in 2019 (maternity/paternity leave can be taken into account)
• University degree (Master degree, Diploma, or comparable degrees)
• moving to Germany is obligatory for this position

What we offer:

• an opportunity for an excellent researcher at the start of their academic career to design an independent research project on LGBTQ+ literary cultures under socialism in Poland or Ukraine and carry it out within an international team of outstanding researchers
• additional research funding for conference travel and fieldwork
• shared office space, access to library collections, and other infrastructural resources
• possibility to gain teaching experience, including training in teaching in higher education
• robust networks of doctoral and postdoctoral researchers in the Slavic Humanities and Area Studies at the U of Regensburg, connected through multiple interdisciplinary centers and graduate schools

The University of Regensburg is committed to increasing the quota of female employees and therefore particularly welcomes applications from qualified persons identifying as women. The University also engages in creating conditions for family-work balance (see information in German: https://www.uni-regensburg.de/universitaet/personalentwicklung/familien-service). If qualifications of applicants are comparable, applicants with disabilities will be employed over other candidates. If you have a disability, please indicate it in your application. We cannot cover any costs that you may incur in relation to interviews. Interviews with shortlisted candidates will be held via Zoom. For any questions regarding the application process or the position, please contact Tatiana Klepikova (tatiana.klepikova@ur.de).

How to apply:

Submit the following documents as one PDF file by the deadline of January 12, 2024, to Tatiana Klepikova (tatiana.klepikova@ur.de). All application files should be either in English or German:

• Academic CV, including, among others, information about your language skills: depending on the focus country, applicants should have a robust knowledge of either Polish or Ukrainian and be able to communicate in one of the working languages of the research group (English or German)
• Cover letter & research proposal (as one document, up to 3 pages altogether)
• Your cover letter, expanding into a research proposal, should cover the following questions:

1. Where do you see an unexplored niche in studies of queer literatures in socialist Poland or Ukraine, and how would your doctoral/postdoctoral project fill it? Think here that the focus of the research group is to go beyond the names and practices that have already been explored – our goal is to open up completely new, previously untouched spaces of knowledge about LGBTQ+ literary histories in socialist Poland or Ukraine.
2. What is your previous expertise in Polish or Ukrainian Literary/Cultural Studies and/or Gender Studies? How will it support your work on the research topic you want to pursue?
3. Why would you like to carry out your doctoral/postdoctoral research work within the Freigeist research group “Light On! Queer Literatures and Cultures under Socialism”?

• one letter of recommendation should be emailed directly by the recommending person to Tatiana Klepikova (tatiana.klepikova@ur.de) from their institutional e-mail address by the application deadline of January 12, 2024.