Starting 1 April 2024, the newly founded Käte Hamburger Research Centre for Cultural Practices of Reparation will begin its work at Saarland University. We are inviting applications for both junior (postdoc) and senior fellowships for a period of up to 12 months, to be held during the centre’s first academic year (October 2024 to September 2025).
The great task facing Europe in its future is to reshape its relationship with the world—and this insight has now advanced to become a central concern in both cultural production and reflection. In the face of harms which pose existential threats and cannot be repaired, practices of cultural reparation take on a function of founding the future.
The goal of the centre is to develop a transmedial theory of practices and processes of cultural reparation from a historical and transcultural perspective, thus helping to formulate a sociopolitical understanding of cultural reparations as a field of action. Its work is intended as a contribution toward reorienting cultural studies and creating knowledge about individual and collective processes of reparation in a globalized world—as insight that is indispensable for living together in the future. Our focus will be on memory cultures and historical-political discourses; individual experiences of harm, humiliation, and loss; and cultural-ecological questions.
Scholars in cultural studies and the humanities in the postdoc phase or further along in their academic careers are invited to apply. Fellows should be pursuing an independent research project that is relevant to the centre’s research agenda and should be the main focus of their work during their stay. The project should align with at least one of the centres’ three thematic fields—’history’, ‘experience’, and ‘nature’—and relate to the first of the four designated themes for the following academic years:
- 2024/2025: Theory
- 2025/2026: Society
- 2026/2027: Bodies
- 2027/2028: Things
Applications are being invited now only for the first year of the centre. Further information on the centre’s thematic fields and yearly themes can be found on the centre’s website: www.uni-saarland.de/khk.
Involvement and participation
The centre will welcome up to 12 fellows a year. We expect fellows to actively participate in the centre’s events (colloquia, working groups, conferences) and to contribute to publications produced by the centre. Fellows will also have the opportunity to organize conferences or to collaborate in teaching or other academic events with our research and cultural cooperation partners.
Saarland University is distinguished by its close ties to France and its strong European focus, with programmes and partnerships such as the Cluster for European Studies (CEUS) devoted to the topic of ‘European World(s): Projections, Reflections, Transformations’, the international university network University of the Greater Region (UniGR), and the European university alliance Transform4Europe (T4EU), from which the Käte Hamburger Centre can benefit.
Duration and conditions
Fellowships are usually awarded for one year, starting in this cycle on 1 October 2024. In justified cases, shorter periods can also be awarded, albeit with a minimum length of 6 months. As a fellow, it is generally expected that you will be released from obligations at your home institution, with your position covered (if applicable), for the entire time of your fellowship. A fellowship with the Käte Hamburger Research Centre entails corresponding financial compensation.
Fellows are expected to contribute to the work of the centre on-site during the duration of their fellowship; longer absences from the centre for extended research trips or stays are not possible.
Accommodation in modern apartments is provided free of charge, and accommodation for families can also be arranged if required. Travel costs to and from Saarbrücken will also be reimbursed for one round-trip journey. Insurance and all other living costs must be covered by the fellows themselves. You will be given a fully equipped workspace at the centre.
Application requirements and procedures
Applicants must hold a PhD or equivalent doctoral degree and be pursuing an independent research project relevant to the centre. Junior fellows are expected to hold an academic position which need not be a tenured professorship; senior fellows will generally hold tenured or otherwise permanent academic positions.
Applications will be accepted through 15 December 2023.
Please send your application with the following documents as a pdf to khk@uni-saarland.de: cover letter, tabular curriculum vitae, and list of publications, as well as a summary of your project (maximum of 5 pages) explaining its relevance to the centre in terms of at least one of the centre’s three thematic fields and the first year’s designated theme.
Applications may be submitted in German, English, or French. For applications in German or French, please include an English abstract with your summary.
Contact
Further information about the centre can be found online at www.uni-saarland.de/khk.
For questions about the centre’s research programme and potential applications, please contact one of its academic directors: Prof. Dr Markus Messling (markus.messling@uni-saarland.de) or Prof. Dr Christiane Solte-Gresser (solte@mx.uni-saarland.de).
For all further questions, please contact khk@uni-saarland.de.