Postdoctoral position in History, with focus on North American or Nordic Indigenous history

Welcome to Linnaeus University! Here you'll meet 2 200 staff members and 40 000 students, all united in following the vision to set knowledge in motion for a sustainable societal development. With us, research and education are conducted with an eye towards the future. Our proximity to the business world, both locally and globally, gives us a wide reach and the ability to create change that makes an impact. All that's needed is a place where ideas have the space to meet and grow. That's what we've created – and you are invited.

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The Faculty of Arts and Humanities, one of Linnaeus University's five faculties, is a dynamic, flexible, and international knowledge environment with both scientific and artistic activities in a wide range of subjects. We build complete academic environments where the exchange between teaching, research, and collaboration creates a driving force for the quality at the university and in the surrounding society.

The subject of history is part of the Department of Cultural Sciences, which also includes the subjects of archaeology, library and information science, human and physical geography, cultural sociology, and the study of religion. Education in history is offered from undergraduate level to doctoral level, within programmes and as freestanding courses, at our campuses and through distance learning. The Department of Cultural Sciences is highly profiled in research and offers an active research environment.

Field of subject for the position: History
Placement: Växjö
Extent and time period: Full-time 2 years
Starting date: According to agreement, but no later than 1 September 2024.

Job description
The main tasks consist of externally funded research in the field of Indigenous history, with particular focus on how Indigenous peoples in North America and the Nordic countries have managed climate change and the loss of biodiversity. The postdoctoral fellow will join the research programme “Surviving the Unthinkable: Ecological Destruction and Indigenous Survivance in North America and the Nordic Countries, 1600–2022” (Funded by Formas 2023–2027). The programme aims to understand how Sami and North American Indigenous communities have survived when faced with the impact of colonial expansion on the environment, nature, and biodiversity. There is reason to emphasise both oppression and vulnerability in Indigenous experiences, but this programme seeks to focus on survival and, in many respects, remarkable recovery, suggesting active and creative actions for survivance. The postdoctoral fellow is expected to carry out a research project within one of the programme’s three main areas: border demarcations and migration, colonial education and traditional ecological knowledge, as well as art and culture in the narratives and visualisation of the relationship to the lands.

In the research programme SUN (Surviving the Unthinkable), the postdoctoral fellow will be part of an international and interdisciplinary group of researchers and artists from Finland, Norway, Sweden, and different parts of North America. The team collaborates on research as well as conference participation and holds regular project meetings, both physically and online.

The postdoctoral fellow will also be part of the research centre Concurrences: Linnaeus University Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies .

Teaching and supervision up to an extent of 20% of full-time may be part of the expected workload.

Qualifications requirements
Qualified for employment as a postdoctoral fellow is someone who has obtained a PhD in history or equivalent, or has a foreign qualification deemed equivalent to a PhD in a historical subject.

In accordance with the postdoctoral agreement, preference should primarily be given to those who have obtained their doctoral degree at the earliest three years before the application deadline for this position. The degree must be completed by the time of the employment decision at the latest.

Applicants must not previously have been employed as a postdoctoral fellow for more than one year in the same or a related subject area at Linnaeus University.

Applicants must have documented experience of research with a historical perspective on Indigenous peoples in North America or the Nordic countries.

Assessment criteria
Documented knowledge of an Indigenous language is meritorious.

The work is conducted in a research group, therefore, flexibility and the ability to cooperate are highly valued.

When the university appoints new teachers, the candidates should be selected who, through a qualitative overall assessment of competence and skill, are deemed to have the best prerequisites to carry out and further develop the tasks at hand and contribute to the successful development of the activities in question.

Contacts
Head of department: PhD, Fredrik Hanell, +46 470-70 8589, [email protected]
Research director: Prof. Gunlög Fur, +46470-708499, [email protected]
HR partner, Maria Furbring, +46480-446751, [email protected]

For union representatives, please contact the university switchboard at 0772 – 28 80 00.

We welcome your application according to instructions no later than March 31 2024.

Linnaeus University has the ambition to utilize the qualities that an even gender distribution and diversity brings to the organization.

Please apply by clicking on the Apply button at the bottom of the ad. Your application should be designed according to the Template for application which can be found in the Guide to Appointment procedures under important documents below the ad. The credentials you invoke must be verified with certification and they must be attached digitally in your application. Other documents, including various types of scientific works, must be submitted digitally along with the application. The application and other documents to be marked with the reference number. All documents cited must be received by the University no later than 24.00 (Local time in Sweden) on the closing day.

URL to this page
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