HomeHoarding and Disorder in Comparative Perspective – FNRS Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
Published on Tuesday, January 29, 2019
Abstract
Search is open for a 2 year postdoctoral position at ULB in Brussels, Belgium. The candidate will contribute to a research project with PI Sasha Newell on Hoarding and Disorder in Comparative perspective. The successful candidate will conduct independent fieldwork in Belgium in relation to the themes described below and produce their own research products from it, while coordinating their findings comparatively with those from the US and Côte d’Ivoire. The candidate may develop their own methodologies and interpretative schemas, while dialoguing with those employed in other parts of the project by the PI. They will collaborate with the PI (Sasha Newell) in presenting and/or writing up some of the material collected in a comparative frame, help to organize a conference on hoarding and disorder that brings in a broader range of regional and interdisciplinary scholarship, and help to edit a volume or special issue using the proceedings from that conference.
Announcement
Practical information
- 2 year FNRS Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship:
- Université Libre de Bruxelles – Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des Mondes Contemporains
- Location: Brussels, Belgium
- PI: Sasha Newell
Hoarding and Disorder Project Summary
This project seeks to document sociocultural and economic variation around practices of accumulation, storage, and the containment of clutter. This grant specifically covers a cross-cultural approach to hoarding to complicate the dominant biomedical approach to hoarding and examine everyday family practices surrounding clutter and household accumulation. By extending the study of hoarding and clutter into two other locations, Belgium and Côte d’Ivoire, the project aims to explore the sociocultural variability of hoarding practices while seeking to uncover correlations between specific patterns of accumulation, sets of values, architectural forms, and socioeconomic practices. Researchers are encouraged to approach issues of materiality, animism, affect, clutter and domesticity, consumption and collection, archives and memory, rationality and mental disorders, digital accumulation and disorder, public versus private domestic space. This research seeks to discover the specific coordinates that produce hoarding phenomena, mapping contrasts and overlaps with normative forms of collection and accumulation, and correspondences with particular regimes of value, especially those surrounding capitalism. The project will also seek to connect material accumulation with new forms of digital accumulation to see to what extent these issues are repeated in digital spaces, which we will consider as form of materiality. By producing a comparison of hoarding practices and cosmologies of value based on ethnography of homes in the US, Belgium, and Côte d’Ivoire, this project lays the ground work for a more comprehensive comparative study in the future.
Position Description
The successful candidate will conduct independent fieldwork in Belgium in relation to the themes described above and produce their own research products from it, while coordinating their findings comparatively with those from the US and Côte d’Ivoire. The candidate may develop their own methodologies and interpretative schemas, while dialoguing with those employed in other parts of the project. They will collaborate with the PI (Sasha Newell) in writing up and/or presenting some of the material collected in a comparative frame, help to organize a conference on hoarding and disorder that brings in a broader range of regional and interdisciplinary scholarship, and help to edit a volume or special issue using the proceedings from that conference.
Expectations and Activities
A successful candidate will:
- Have (or will obtain before commencement of grant), a PhD in Anthropology, Sociology, or closely related discipline, and has received doctoral degree no longer than 5 years before commencement of employment (excepting official leaves of absence, etc.)
- Have demonstrated ability to carry out ethnographic research.
- Have excellent written and oral communication in English. French or Dutch skills are expected for the purposes of conducting fieldwork (one is required, both a plus)
- Conduct 12 months of empirical fieldwork on household consumption, accumulation, clutter, and organization, most of which will be conducted in Belgium.
- Participate in Hoarding and Disorder activities specified by the project PI
- Participate in the activities of the Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des Mondes Contemporains
- Present findings at conferences and workshops
- Prepare publications and possibly cowrite one or two publications with PI
- Meet Hoarding and Disorder interim goals and adhere to project timelines
- Contribute to research, administrative and coordination duties associated with the project, including interim reporting to funders and the preparation of project-related events such as the international conference on hoarding.
- Have expertise in some of the project’s main areas of enquiry (materiality, consumption, collection, clutter, hoarding, domestic space, organization, concealment, kinship, affect, animacy)
- Experience or expertise concerning Belgium is an asset but not required
Employment conditions
- Period of contract: 2 years (starting point flexible but no later than July 1st, 2019 in order to receive full 2 years salary)
- Activity rate: Full-time (100%)
- Gross Salary (pretax): 43 315,00 € per annum
- Affiliation: LAMC, University Libre de Bruxelles
- Residence in Belgium (Brussels or very close proximity) during the two year fellowship.
Application Procedure
We look forward to receiving your application, which must include:
- a CV, including a brief description your relative abilities in English as well as French or Dutch.
- a letter of motivation explaining your interest in the project, any former experience and expertise pertinent to the project, and the directions you would be most interested in taking the project.
- the names of three people who may be contacted for letters of recommendation
- a writing sample (approx. article length)
Applicants who have not completed their PhD degree by the time of application should include a statement from their supervisor confirming the expected date for the achievement of their degree.
Applications are due by February 20th.
Please send applications to anewell@ulb.ac.be, or contact the same address for questions about the position.
Interviews (via Skype or in person) will be scheduled for shortlisted candidates by early March.
Subjects
- Ethnology, anthropology (Main category)
- Society > Sociology
- Mind and language > Psyche > Psychology
- Zones and regions > Europe > Belgium
Places
- Université Libre de Bruxelles
Brussels, Belgium (1050)
Date(s)
- Wednesday, February 20, 2019
Attached files
Keywords
- materiality, consumption, domestic space, hoarding, accumulation, storage, affect, psychology
Contact(s)
- Sasha Newell
courriel : alexander [dot] newell [at] ulb [dot] be
Information source
- Sasha Newell
courriel : alexander [dot] newell [at] ulb [dot] be
License
This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.
To cite this announcement
« Hoarding and Disorder in Comparative Perspective – FNRS Postdoctoral Research Fellowship », Scholarship, prize and job offer, Calenda, Published on Tuesday, January 29, 2019, https://doi.org/10.58079/11u7