Le projet Intimate Colonies (IC) place la dimension intime et familiale de la question coloniale au cœur de son analyse, dans le but d’apporter des éclairages originaux sur les significations et les enjeux des héritages et des mémoires coloniales dans les sociétés européennes contemporaines. Le projet se distingue des travaux existants en réunissant, au sein d’un même cadre analytique, les mémoires coloniales des familles issues des sociétés colonisées et de celles associées aux sociétés colonisatrices, reflétant ainsi la réalité multiculturelle des sociétés européennes partagées par ces populations, plutôt que d’aborder un seul versant de ce système relationnel.

Practical Information

• Postdoctoral Researcher  
• Employment begins June 2026
• Duration of project: until the end of May 2030
• 3 years of the project are paid through a postdoctoral mobility fellowship, the fourth year is a salaried position (tax status changes). 
• Review of applications begins:  January 15th

Context of position

The research project Intimate Colonies led by Alice Aterianus-Owanga and Sasha Newell seeks a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to research family memories of colonialism in Belgium. The successful applicant would join the Laboratoire d’anthropologie des mondes contemporains (LAMC) for 4 years under the direction of Sasha Newell. The researcher will work largely independently on their portion of the project while meeting regularly with the entire team to discuss research progress, methods, and results. The overall project will be carried out in both Belgium and Switzerland, and the researcher will be expected to attend meetings in Switzerland on a yearly basis. 

The Intimate Colonies project

In recent years, public debates around decolonial movements, colonial monuments, and reparation for colonial injustice have placed colonial history and memory at the center of not only public and political discourse but also academic inquiry. However, few studies examine the pervasive presence and lived experience of colonial traces within the intimate spaces of domestic life and family history—key sites for the production and transmission of memory. The “Intimate Colonies” (IC) project places the intimate and familial dimension of the colonial question at the heart of its analysis, aiming to offer original insights into the meanings and stakes of colonial heritage and memory in contemporary European societies. Through qualitative and ethnographic research in two European contexts which currently undergo different though important moments of colonial turn—Switzerland and Belgium—the team project will delve into the memories, emotions, and objects passed down through generations. IC moves beyond existing research on this topic by bringing the colonial memories of both colonized and colonizers families together in a unified field of analysis, one that reflects the multicultural European societies shared by both these populations rather than approaching one side of this reticular system. It is guided by the central questions: what memories of the colonial past are transmitted among families who experienced the colonial period in Africa and reside now in Europe? How are traces of this past embedded in the everyday lives of these families, shaping subjectivities, belongings and relationships to places?

Mission of the Candidate

The postdoctoral fellow will focus on family memories of colonial Africa in Belgium. While remaining attentive to complex trajectories that blur or transcend the colonizer/colonized divide, we expect the postdoctoral researcher to focus upon one side of the divide, while a doctoral candidate will work on the other. The project is particularly interested in hiring a postdoctoral researcher who would work with African and Afro-descendant families that migrated to Europe. 

Workplace of the postdoctoral researcher

The doctoral student will be based at the LAMC (ULB, Solbosch campus) under the supervision of Sasha Newell, but will also collaborate with Alice Aterianus-Owanga at the Université of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, as well as the rest of the Intimate Colonies team. 

Required Qualifications

• PhD in Anthropology, or related field (Sociology, History, Geography, etc)
• capacity to speak, read, and comprehend French
• applicant must NOT have worked in Belgium in the last 12 months as the funding is based on mobility.
• Applicant must have experience with qualitative methods such as participant observation, interviews, ethnographic description, etc.
• Enthusiasm for collaborative team research on project themes

Desirable Skills

• Knowledge of Belgium
• Familiarity with academic literature on any of the following topics: Memory, Family, Colonialism, racialization, African societies, Diaspora and transnationalism
• English (especially reading and writing)
• Dutch (especially oral, for fieldwork)
• Experience in visual ethnography / film-making

How to apply

The application file must include :

• a detailed Curriculum Vitae
• a sample of academic writing (ideally a publication)
• a letter of motivation (2 pages maximum)
• the names, institutional affiliation and email addresses of two academics who can be contacted for a letter of support. 

Applications should be sent by January 15, 2026 (23:00 - Brussels time) to the following address with the title “IC postdoc”: alexander.newell@ulb.be. We will begin our review at that time but will continue to accept applications until the position is filled.

For shortlisted applicants, we will ask for a follow-up interview online in early 2026. The position will remain open until filled, and all applicants will be informed when the position is closed. For more information contact Sasha Newell at alexander.newell@ulb.be.

Equal opportunities policy

ULB's personnel management policy is geared towards diversity and equal opportunities. We recruit candidates on the basis of their skills, irrespective of age, gender, sexual orientation, origin, nationality, beliefs, disability, etc.

Would you like to be provided with reasonable accommodation in the selection procedure because of a disability, disorder, or illness? Please contact Marie Botty, the person in charge of diversity aspects for the academic and scientific staff (marie.botty@ulb.be). Be assured of the confidentiality of this information. More details on the ULB gender and diversity policy are available at Diversity at ULB - ULB. You will find all the regulations relating to academic careers on our site at http://www.ulb.ac.be/emploi/academique.html.