Position:
PhD project, 4 years (1.0fte), start date: 1 April 2018. Initially a contract will be given for 12 months, with an extension for the following 36 months on the basis of a positive evaluation.

Title:
Anchoring the Fascist Revolution: Latin and Its Audiences in Fascist Italy (1922– 1943) (Anchoring Work Package 6)

Salary:
€2,222 to €2,840 gross per month (based on 38 hours a week)

Supervisors:
Dr. B.L. Reitz‐Joosse (RUG), Dr. H. Lamers (University of Oslo) and Prof. Dr. R.R. Nauta (RUG)

Organisational unit:
University of Groningen, Faculty of Arts

Job description:
Recent scholarship has seen an increasing interest in the use of Latin under Italian Fascism. The Fascists regarded the language of ancient Rome as an important component of their ideal of romanità. The use of Latin, ranging from brief inscriptions or short mottos on stamps to entire Latin odes in honour of Mussolini, can be regarded as a means of ‘anchoring’ the revolutionary ideology of Fascism in the Roman past.
The PhD candidate will investigate how exactly the Latin language and Latin texts could serve as a cultural anchor for Fascist ideology in Italy between 1922 and 1943. We assume that anchoring strategies employed in different media and contexts differed according to the type of intended audience. How was Latin used to address, for example, the intellectual and academic elite able to peruse Latin compositions, secondary school students reading Fascist school books in Latin, or the general public, who were exposed to Latin inscriptions or mottos on stamps, even when they knew little or no Latin?
Candidates are invited to design their own research project around these questions. They are free to adopt a more literary or more historical perspective. In their proposal, they should outline their suggested approach, main research questions, and expected original contribution to the field.

Primary and secondary material about this subject can be difficult to obtain. If you would like to apply for this position, we therefore advise you to contact Dr. B.L. Reitz‐ Joosse (B.L.Reitz‐Joosse@rug.nl) informally and request a small dossier of selected articles and an example of the type of source you would be working with.

More information about the Anchoring Innovation research agenda of OIKOS can be found on the OIKOS website (http://www.ru.nl/oikos/anchoring‐innovation/), including an article by Ineke Sluiter, entitled “Anchoring Innovation: a Classical Research Agenda” (http://www.ru.nl/oikos/anchoring‐innovation/publications/).

Tasks of the PhD candidate will include:
- Completion and defence of a PhD thesis within four years
- Contributing to the digital bilingual (Latin/English) edition of Fascist Latin texts as developed by the research team
- Participation in meetings of the project research group(s)
- Presentations of intermediate research results at workshops and conferences
- Participation in the training programme of the Graduate School and Research School

Requirements:
- A (R)MA or MPhil degree in a relevant field (e.g. Classics, Neo‐Latin, History,
Comparative Literature), held by time of appointment
- Demonstrably excellent knowledge of Latin, sufficient for working with untranslated, challenging Latin texts
- Very good Italian reading skills (active knowledge is a plus)
- Excellent research skills
- A strong cooperative attitude and willingness to engage in collaborative research
- Excellent command of English
- Willingness to spend at least some time in Italy and at the Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas of the University of Oslo.

Job application:
In order to be considered, applications must include the following information (in the order stated), in one PDF file (not zipped):
- Cover letter
- CV, including contact details of two referees
- Academic transcript
- Research proposal of 1500 words (excluding bibliography and – if appropriate
– appendix containing list of sources: together max. two pages A4)
- Copy of relevant degree certificate(s)

Please submit your complete application to Dr. Roald Dijkstra, the coordinator of the Anchoring programme via anchoring@let.ru.nl before 1 November 2017.

Interviews will take place in the week beginning 4 December 2017. For candidates living abroad interviews may be held via Skype.