5 Postdoctoral Researchers (2023DILIFRUA170)

Job position

Postdoctoral Researcher

Description

The ERC research project, The Cultural History of the Black Diaspora in Early Modern Spain (BADEMS), is recruiting five researchers with effect from 15 June 2024 or as soon as possible thereafter. The Badems project focuses on the cultural legacy of Black women and men that lived in the Iberian Peninsula in sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It aims at narrating an untold story of both the tangible and intangible cultural heritage that Black Africans created as singers, dancers, actors, storytellers, and poets, as well as exploring the ways black Africans refashioned and contributed to the production of early modern cultural narratives and the era’s multilingual practices. More broadly, BADEMS seeks to further the understanding of Black communities by investigating their experiences of survival through creativity and the processes of identity-building and transcultural practices in early modern Spain.

The successful candidates will be central to the implementation of this multidisciplinary project under the supervision of Dr Diana Berruezo-Sánchez (PI). They will have the engaging and skillful task of identifying Black cultural agents —Black musicians, actors, storytellers, and dancers— in sixteenth and seventeenth-century records mostly in Spanish and occasionally in Portuguese too. Successful candidates will examine a wide range of manuscript and print documents, such as (but not limited to) the performance of plays and poetry readings; notarial records; the foundation and trials of Afro-Hispanic confraternities; and chronicles of local fiestas, which will help to identify audiences and performers. Their findings will contribute to the project’s most ambitious undertaking —the first systematic locating of Black creators in early modern Spain— and will be allocated into the project’s online digital archive. This systematic new research aims at uncovering a significant number of Black creators, and such extensive new material would provide solid evidence for arguing that black Africans were indeed active cultural agents of the period.

The successful candidates will be postdoctoral researchers with experience in archival work and familiar with sixteenth and seventeenth-century records in Spanish. Master’s and PhD students with broad experience in archival work who expected to finish their doctorate in the short and mid-term are also encouraged to apply. Informal enquiries on eligibility criteria can be made to pr.badems@uab.cat.

These two-year positions will be part of a larger team of early modernists working on the fields of Literature, Linguistics, Cultural History and Black Studies and being based at the Faculty of Spanish Studies at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Successful candidates are expected to conduct archival work in situ. Each researcher will be based in and work in the archives of one of the following cities: Madrid, Seville, Granada, Cádiz, and Badajoz. Candidates, therefore, are expected to be living, or willing to move at their own expenses, at a commuting distance from the archives of Seville, Madrid, Cádiz, Granada, and Badajoz. Some travelling can be expected to an archive in a commute distance and such expenses will be covered by the project. The PI will travel to Madrid, Seville, Granada, Cádiz, and Badajoz to help postdoctoral researcher’ s work and re-assess their work making necessary changes. For instance, when an archive contains too many records, the PI will help devise a plan to cover such extensive collections; and when it does not reveal enough Black creators, the postdoctoral researcher will be allocated to another archive (preferably in the same city but maybe at a commute distance). The project will have a network of assessor of various disciplines that will help to better identify archives and sources. While the PI will maintain conversations with the assessors, successful candidates may occasionally be asked to join (online) meetings with assessors. The collaboration with the rest of the team will be remotely via weekly meetings. 

Successful candidates are expected to conduct a one-week induction workshop to familiarize themselves with the project and may be asked to read some material. Also, they may be expected to occasionally travel to Barcelona at the project’s cost.

Duties

• Contributing to the development of a digital archive by providing data from sixteenth- and seventeenth-century records in Spanish – and occasionally Portuguese.
• Carry an active role in seeking data, and constantly reporting to the PI to help reassessing the work with archivists and assessors.
• Being active in searching records and sources of information while in the archives.
• Working independently in the archive and collaboratively with the team via online platforms.
• Tagging and coding the findings with IT tools provided by the project’s technicians.
• Contributing to the project’s Data Management Platform.
• Contribute to the project’s activities.
• Actively participating in weekly meetings. These would entail reporting findings or lack of findings, proposing alternative ways of finding material if needed, helping colleagues directing their findings, etc.
• Occasionally attending collaborative meetings with assessors.
• Attending virtual and/or in-person induction workshops. It is expected a workshop at the beginning of the contract to familiarize oneself with the project and few others later in the contract to familiarize oneself with IT tools of encoding the information. 

Person specification

1. Evidence of sufficient specialist knowledge to carry out archival work. Successful candidates are expected to be knowledgeable with and have sufficient experience in reading and transcribing early modern Spanish texts and records, both manuscript and printed. Knowledge about archives will be highly considered.

2. The completion of a doctorate in History, Philology or relevant fields with expertise in archival work. Master’s and PhD students with expertise in archival work who envisage to finish their doctorate in the short and mid-term will also be considered.

3. Native or near-native fluency in written and spoken Spanish is required, as well as familiarisation with sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spanish language. Knowledge of Portuguese to read and transcribe records is desirable. Fluency in English will be highly considered. Although Spanish will be welcome, many of the project’s meetings will be in English.

4. Motivation and curiosity for Black histories. 

5. Ability and commitment to work both independently and collaboratively as part of an interdisciplinary and international team.

6. Motivation to pursue a career in research.

7. Excellent written and communication skills.

8. Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail.

Benefits

Work with a multidisciplinary research project; avenues to continue research; support for publications; engagement with interdisciplinary scholars; and having the opportunity to develop language skills.

Salary

25.028,76 € This minimum gross salary can be negotiated based on the candidate’s CV and expertise

Eligibility criteria

Experience in archival work, knowledge of early modern Spanish language, motivation to work in a project dealing with Black diasporas.

How to apply

A cover letter explaining how you meet these criteria must be submitted along with the CV and 2 contact references by 15 February via the online platform. Each application requires two reference letters - referees should email their confidential letters directly to oscar.ruiz@uab.cat by 15 February 2024.

The appointment committee recognises that candidates can contribute to these goals in many different ways and will use its professional judgment –based on the evidence available– to decide how successfully candidates could make such contributions, bearing in mind the needs of the project.

Selection process

All applications will be acknowledged after receipt and will be considered by the selection committee as soon as possible after the closing date. All shortlisted candidates will be interviewed and will be asked to give a short presentation to the committee and read early modern manuscripts as part of the interview process.

Interviews for shortlisted candidates are expected to be held online at the end of February or beginning of March.

The selection panel is committed to fairness in selection decisions. Members of selection committees will be aware of the principles of equality of opportunity, fair selection and the risks of bias. Applications are particularly welcome from women and Black and minority ethnic candidates. If, for any reason, you have taken a career break or have had an atypical career and wish to disclose this in your application, the selection committee will take this into account, recognising that your archival experiences may have been affected as a result.

The selection committee reserves the right to not fill this position if no suitable candidates are identified.

Candidates are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

Informal enquires can be made to pr.badems@uab.cat