POSITION
Under the supervision of Dr. Martin Fotta, the candidate will conduct ethnographic and archival research in northern Brazil and other Lusophone locales. The doctoral student will work as a part of a research team within the project ‘Romani Atlantic: Transcontinental Logic of Ethno-Racial Identities’ funded by the Lumina Quaeruntur Award of the Czech Academy of Sciences. CAS is a research-only institution, so the student will simultaneously be based at and receive their PhD degree from Charles University.
ABOUT THE JOB
- Expected start date: 01.07.2022 (or 01.09.2022 latest)
- Duration: 4.5 years
- FTE: full-time position
- Workplace: Prague (a candidate must be prepared to relocate to Prague)
- Salary: a gross salary of EUR 1250 per month (In addition, if the applicant receives their PhD through Charles University, they will be paid an additional EUR 400 per month for three years as the state stipend).
YOUR QUALIFICATIONS
- Master’s degree in anthropology or related discipline.
- Highly organized researcher with a demonstrated capability of working autonomously.
- Excellent oral and written English skills are required; working knowledge of Romani, Portuguese or Czech would be an advantage.
- Familiarity with critical race studies, decolonial and postcolonial theories is an advantage.
- Experience with different ethnographic methods and/or with archival research will be highly valued.
WE OFFER
- Opportunities to work alongside experienced scholars within an innovative research project.
- Possibility to learn different skills, such as ethnographic fieldwork methods, coding, analysing qualitative data, writing journal articles and funding applications.
- Funding for fieldwork and to participate at conferences.
- Training seminars and workshops to further professional qualifications and for personal development.
- Institutional affiliation with the Institute of Ethnology of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Charles University in Prague.
- Pleasant working environment in the centre of Prague.
APPLICATION PROCESS
The application must contain following documents:
- Motivation letter
- CV
- Writing sample
- Copies of your university degrees and of official transcripts
- The names and contact details of two potential referees
The deadline for the application is 01.03.2022, 5 pm Central European Time. Please email a single pdf file to office@eu.cas.cz under the subject ‘Romani Atlantic PhD position.’
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The project ‘Romani Atlantic: Transcontinental Logic of Ethno-Racial Identities’ recasts Roma from ‘the largest European minority’ to a pan-Atlantic diaspora shaped by the processes and relationships that structure the globalized world. It advances our understanding of the relational nature of identity formation and social classifications. Despite the centuries-long presence of Roma in the Americas and Africa, scholarship remains methodologically Eurocentric. Romani identities are commonly treated in isolation from global connections that shape how they view themselves and are viewed relative to other ethno-racial communities. Alternatively, the project proposes to investigate Romani identity within comparative, transnational, and intercultural frameworks. The team will conduct ethnographic and archival research in the South Atlantic (Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde) and examine Romani social position in relation to other ethno-racial projects (e.g., Atlantic slavery). This will generate insights into how different racial contexts impact their belonging and interethnic interactions.