The University of Leeds is delighted to advertise a Postdoctoral Fellowship as part of the major research project ‘Performing the Jewish Archive’.
Location: Leeds – Main Campus
Faculty/Service: Faculty of Performance, Visual Arts & Communications
School/Institute: School of Music
Category: Research
Grade: Grade 7
Salary: £31,342 to £37,394 per annum
It is likely that an appointment will be made at or below £35,256 since there are funding limitations which dictate the level at which the appointment can start.
Contract Type: Fixed Term (40 months)
Closing Date: Monday 27 October 2014
Reference: PVMUS1000
Fixed term from 30 November 2014 to 29 March 2018
“Performing the Jewish Archive” (AHRC Theme ‘Care for the Future’)
You will work on this £1.8m international project funded under the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s (AHRC) ‘Care for the Future’ theme. You will be part of a large international team of researchers led by Dr Stephen Muir (Principal Investigator), with Co-Investigators from the Universities of York, Wisconsin-Madison and Sydney, working with unique archival materials relating to Jewish music, theatre and literature c.1880-1950. You will interact with a large number of external partner organisations, including The National Archives, British Library, Anne Frank Trust, Holocaust Survivors Friendship Association, Hans Gál Trust, major Jewish and non-Jewish museums and archives around the world and a number of high-profile community, educational and performance organisations in the UK, Europe, USA, South Africa and Australia. You will be based in Leeds, though the project will offer the opportunity of (and may sometimes require) substantial travel both within the United Kingdom and internationally during the course of the project.
During the long 20th century, displacement has affected the musical, theatrical and literary output of Jewish artists in myriad ways. Many works are thought to have been lost or have, until recently, languished in obscurity. ‘Performing the Jewish Archive’ is motivated by our desire to recover and engage anew with these creative artefacts, and to stimulate the creation of new works to re-animate existing archival repositories. We aim to theorise and reconceptualise the Jewish archive as ‘co-textual’: all artefacts are components of a non-hierarchical, non-linear system that destabilises the relationship between past, present and future, origin and diaspora. We aim to explore archives that have recently come to light and seek out archives that have yet to be located. We will disseminate our research through scholarly conferences and publications, educational projects, and public performances, including five international festivals foregrounding for audiences the relationships between the past and the present established in performance. We will also develop methods of audience response testing to help determine how successful our performances are in generating audience engagement. The project will produce an interactive public web resource featuring an online database of our project performances and a ‘co-textual archival user dashboard’, and will make recommendations to Governmental Commissions and Parliamentary Groups.
You will possess a PhD in Music (or a subject area relevant to the project) or an equivalent level of research experience. You will also have expertise in areas related to: Jewish music, theatre and literature; archival studies and/or Holocaust studies. Experience of both archival and ethnographic research methodologies (interviews, transcriptions, observations, etc) is desirable, as is experience in organising and participating in public performances. Excellent interpersonal and team-working skills, and the ability to work with colleagues from academic institutions and non-academic organisations, are essential, as is the ability to work independently, under pressure and to deadlines. Good communication and writing skills are essential and experience of conference organisation and public-engagement activities is desirable. Fluency in one or more of the following languages would be an advantage: German; Czech; Polish; Hebrew and Yiddish.
For informal enquiries please contact Dr Stephen Muir, email: s.p.k.muir@leeds.ac.uk
More details can be found here: https://jobs.leeds.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx?ref=PVMUS1000