Postdoctoral researcher within the project Re/Presenting Europe

Postdoctoral researcher within the project Re/Presenting Europe

Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS) invites applications for a postdoctoral researcher within the project Re/Presenting Europe – Urban and Hip Hop as Critical Ways of Engaging with European and Dutch Identity and Belonging (0.8 fte, 20 months).

The Postdoc will be working within the NWA-ORC research project Re/Presenting Europe – Urban and Hip Hop as Critical Ways of Engaging with European and Dutch Identity and Belonging, funded by NWO for five years (September 2022-2027), and directed by dr. bram ieven (university lecturer at Leiden University).

The project

This project focuses on positive examples of diversity and belonging in society and examines how they contribute to a sense of belonging across various ‘othered’ (minority/of migration background) communities in Europe. As a project team we examine popular sports like football and baseball, as well as representations in art and culture with a focus on urban and Hip Hop. In the project we collaborate between several universities and societal and grassroot organizations in the Netherlands, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten. The full project consists of five linked working groups that will address dominant spaces of representation of belonging, both in the formal institutional space of education and healing, as well as informal spaces of sports, popular culture, and urban arts. The goal of the project is to come to a more inclusive understanding of Europe, and we value candidates who demonstrate multicultural competence – the awareness, knowledge, and skills needed to work with others who are culturally different from self in meaningful, relevant, and productive ways.

Subproject:

You will join the working package ‘Playing Together: Toward a Counter-Hegemonic Concept of Dutch Braided Identity in Hip Hop and Urban Arts’. The objective of this work package is to study how Urban and Hip Hop culture in Europe (and in the Netherlands specifically) has contributed to an emancipatory sense of identity and belonging across various ‘othered’ (minority/of migration background) communities in Europe. Hip Hop and Urban are understood in a broad sense, as a culture that produces its own forms of (embodied and situated) knowledge. The research team of the work package collaborates closely with various community partners; and that collaboration takes place on an equal footing, i.e. we strive to co-produce knowledge of how Urban and Hip Hop have developed historically in the Netherlands (and more broadly, in Europe) and how this has contributed to identity formation.

You will join us at an exciting moment, as the research team has made a start with the Hip Hop and Urban archive, has produced a first season of a podcast on Hip Hop in the Netherlands, and the PhD researcher has published (peer reviewed) articles on Dutch Hip Hop and identity. You will be working closely with the research team (Sybille Lammes, Dastan Abdali, bram ieven) and our community partners to further these efforts. You will take a leading role in developing a community driven digital archive on the culture. Alongside this task you have ample space to develop and pursue your own research on Urban and Hip Hop with regard to European identity and belonging.

Key responsibilities

• You will take a coordinating role in our efforts to build a digital archive of Dutch urban and Hip Hop culture (in close collaboration with our community partners and the researchers of the project). This will include a.o. assisting in organizing archival days with our community partners, but also thinking about the conceptual focus and implications of the archive.
• You will assist in coordinating a white paper on urban and Hip Hop community archiving that respects and reflects the values and knowledge of the community.
• You will develop and publish your own research on identity and belonging in European Urban and Hip Hop; you are expected to publish two peer reviewed academic articles and one long read for the duration of the appointment.
• You will develop two educational lesson packages on urban and Hip Hop and European identity for high school teachers.
• You will assist in planning/designing/preparing/commissioning future efforts to strengthen societal and academic awareness of the importance and impact of urban and Hip Hop in Dutch and European society and culture.
• You will participate in the intellectual life of the Institute and contribute to the research profile of LUCAS;

Your profile

• You hold a PhD in Cultural Studies, Media Studies, History, Anthropology, Postcolonial Studies, Dance or Music Studies, or a comparable discipline;
• You are able and willing to take a pro-active role in our effort to coproduce knowledge on Dutch and European Hip Hop and Urban culture and identity with our community partners.
• You will take a leading role in our joint effort to build a digital archive of the culture).
• You are able to communicate and collaborate effectively in a team setting; experience and affinity with working with grass roots organizations and practitioners, or having experience as a Hip Hop or Urban practitioner yourself, is a strong plus;
• You have excellent communication skills in English and preferably also good communication skills in Dutch, as evidenced in written publications and/or other media (web/podcast/radio productions); experience in other (relevant) languages is a plus;
• You will develop independent research on European Urban and Hip Hop and identity and belonging, complementing and strengthening the focus of the research team (see below for expected output.)
• You are attentive to the social, emotional, and political complexities of the subject.

International candidates are encouraged to apply but must be willing to relocate to the Netherlands for the duration of the project.

The organisation

The Faculty of Humanities at Leiden University is a unique international centre for the advanced study of languages, cultures, arts, and societies worldwide, in their historical contexts from prehistory to the present. Our faculty is home to more than 6,000 students and 800 staff members.

Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS) is one of the seven Academic Institutes of the Faculty of Humanities. The institute hosts a range of academic disciplines, clustered around a key research theme: the relationships between the arts and society. Our members study cultural production over the course of two millennia, from classical antiquity to our contemporary world, and teach in programmes ranging from Classics and Book History to Modern Literature, International Studies and Art History. Strengthened by our diversity, LUCAS members are uniquely placed to study the broad concept of the arts, with its rapidly changing ideas, aesthetics, and theories of cultural production. Through research, teaching and outreach, the Institute aims to deepen our understanding, both inside and outside academia, of the cognitive, historical, cultural, creative, and social aspects of human life.

As an academic community, we strive to create an open and welcoming atmosphere, stimulating everyone to get involved and contribute, and connecting scholars from different fields and backgrounds.

Terms and conditions

We offer a 0.8 FTE position as postdoctoral researcher for 20 months. The appointment will start 1 November 2025. The salary is in accordance with the collective salary agreement of the Association of Dutch Universities (CAO) and depending on qualifications and experience. The gross monthly salary is € 4.060,- (scale 10.4) to € 4.383,- (scale 10.6) for a full working week.

Leiden University offers an attractive benefits package with additional holiday (8%) and end-of-year bonuses (8.3%), training and career development. Our individual choices model gives you some freedom to assemble your own set of terms and conditions. Candidates from outside the Netherlands may be eligible for a substantial tax break.

Diversity & inclusion

Fostering an inclusive community is a central element of the values and vision of Leiden University. Leiden University is committed to becoming an inclusive community which enables all students and staff to feel valued and respected and to develop their full potential. Diversity in experiences and perspectives enriches our teaching and strengthens our research. High quality teaching and research is inclusive.

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