Postdoctoral researcher MAKEBELIEF: Imagineering Religion and Religious Heritage in China - Meertens

About the role

The ERC project MAKEBELIEF: The Religious Politics of Theme Parks investigates how in the 21st century, immersive media are mobilized to ‘imagineer’ religion, heritage and national identity. The project provides a comparative analysis of religious theme parks in the Netherlands, China, Turkey and the United States. The Meertens Institute offers a position within this project.

What you will be doing

You will work as a postdoctoral researcher in an interdisciplinary team of researchers. Your research will focus on the use of immersive media to imagineer religion, heritage and national identity in China. You will engage a combination of methods, including historical analysis, (remote) digital ethnography and potentially ethnographic fieldwork. You will also participate in collaborative and interdisciplinary endeavors with other MAKEBELIEF team members. You will develop the case study as outlined in the project proposal, develop your own case studies and assist in management tasks in the project.

What you will be contributing

• You will participate in a research team that engages in ethnographic fieldwork in theme parks across the globe.
• You will do research within the scope of the project MAKEBELIEF, focussing on religion, heritage and national identity and the use of immersive media in China. One of the case studies mentioned in the proposal is the Oriental Buddha Park in Leshan; you are invited to add case studies or sites to your research.
• You have a PhD in Religious Studies, Anthropology, Media Studies, Cultural Studies or another relevant discipline.
• You have a working proficiency in Dutch and/or English and preferably, though not mandatory, Mandarin or Cantonese.
• The project is based in Amsterdam; at the start and during the full length of the contract you reside in The Netherlands.

What we are offering

You will be working at the Meertens Institute, a research institute of the Humanities Cluster of the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences. The Meertens Institute studies how collective identities are constructed, and how these processes are shaped through embodiment and cognition. In both societal and academic debates on these topics the Meertens Institute aims to play a leading role.

During the project you will be able to further develop your research interests and receive further training in working in interdisciplinary research teams. You will consolidate your expertise in contemporary challenges involving religion, heritage and polarisation as well as the importance of media.

Your workplace

Our offices are located in a historical building in downtown Amsterdam. Researchers work together in projects and a shared office space and can choose to work part of their time at home.

About Meertens

The Meertens Institute, together with the International Institute of Social History and the Huygens ING, is part of the KNAW Humanities Cluster. This is a partnership in which research in the humanities (history, ethnology, literature, linguistics) is carried out using advanced methods, in which computer science plays an important role.

The Meertens Institute is a national institute for research and documentation of the Dutch language and culture, and language and culture in the Netherlands. It consists of the research groups Ethnology and Variational Linguistics, both of which hold leading positions in international research on everyday language and culture.