Postdoc in History of Islam/Arabic Studies

Postdoctoral Researcher in History of Islam / Arabic Studies
The Faculty of Humanities at Leiden University invites applications for a fulltime Postdoctoral position in the History of Islam. The postdoctoral researcher will carry out research in the…

Job Description

Scholars have long recognized that although Shiʿi claims emerged early in Islamic history, Imami Shiʿism took a couple of centuries to crystallise. Scholarship on Shiʿism has tended to focus on doctrine, but hitherto there has been little research into the institutions and social networks of early Imami Shiʿism. The project aims to propose the first rigorously historical model for how, when and why a distinctive Imami Shiʿi Imamate emerged and developed as an institution. The ImBod project will frame the Imamate as a set of social interactions between the Imams, and the community who venerated them, within the broader networks of the early Islamic empire. Members of the ImBod project team will be assigned particular thematic spheres in order to identify and study the networks, actors, institutions, spaces, objects and processes through which the Imamate was mediated and performed within the Imami Shiʿi community and beyond.

The project will bring together a broad array of sources (material, documentary and textual) and approaches, both traditional close-reading and computational analysis in order to approach the vast, challenging textual corpus of Shiʿi and non-Shiʿi texts that bear on the development of the Imamate.

3 positions will be available within the ImBod team: a PhD candidate; a Postdoctoral researcher (3 years); and a Postdoctoral researcher (2 years).

Postdoctoral researcher (project 3): The material and spatial performance of Imamate and Imami community

Religious communities do not subsist on doctrines alone but must be instantiated ritually and materially. Histories of pre-Fatimid Shiʿism neglect material culture. Sources are scanty, but they do exist and must be collected and considered. The research in this subproject will address the evidence of art, architecture, inscriptions, papyri, coins and other untapped sources of material culture that relate to pro-ʿAlid and Shiʿi identity, as well as textual evidence relating to material practices such as prayer, almsgiving and pilgrimage. These sources will be viewed through the framework of the ritual performance of community and the representation of Imamic charisma in spaces and objects. The candidate for this project will investigate issues such as the role played by space, architecture and material objects in creating the life of the Imami community. The candidate for this position will have to work to develop a specific project topic within this broad area. Questions such as the following should be addressed: What were the locations in which Imamate, community and communal identity were performed? How was the Imamate performed within the spatial geography of the Shiʿi community. How was the Imamate was represented through the circulation of objects such as letters, seals and coins that provided physical links to a distant Imam. The candidate for this project will be required to master several domains of knowledge: textual sources relating to material and spatial aspects of Imamate and Imami community; material culture from the period of the Imams; and material culture from later (Buyid and Saljuq) periods which might help ask and answer questions about the period of the Imamate.

More information about the project can be found
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Key responsibilities:

• Submit at least 2 articles related to project themes for publication
• Work towards editing a special issue or edited volume
• Attend regular in-person team meetings
• Prepare and process textual resources for computational analysis by the project team as a whole
• Present research at international workshops and conferences
• Assist in event planning and organisation
• Assist in promoting the project’s visibility on project websi

Requirements

Requirements:

• A PhD in a related field
• Excellent (medieval) Arabic reading skills
• Experience in working with and thinking about material culture, physical documents, architecture or archaeology
• Excellent command of the English language
• Ability to develop original research
• Commitment to working in a team
• A willingness to embrace new approaches, including digital humanities (no prior experience necessary)

Conditions of Employment

Terms and conditions

We offer a fulltime, fixed-term position from 1 February 2024 until 31 January 2027. The starting salary is € 3,974.- gross per month (pay scale 11, step 0), based on a fulltime employment, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities and commensurate with qualifications and experience (negotiations for a new CLA are ongoing). Depending on qualifications, you may start at the appropriate step in scale 10 until you fully meet the requirements for scale 11 as specified by the Faculty of Humanities, particularly with regard to the number of years of relevant work experience.

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

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D&I statement

Diversity and inclusion are core values 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.

Employer

Universiteit Leiden

The Faculty of Humanities is an international centre for the study of languages, cultures, arts, and societies worldwide, in their historical contexts from prehistory to the present. We take culture broadly to include religions, philosophies, and worldviews as well as literature, art, and technology. We aim to contribute to knowledge, the sustainable well-being of societies, and the understanding of the cognitive, historical, cultural, artistic, and social aspects of human life. Our faculty is home to more than 7,000 students and 900 staff members. For more information: The PhD candidate will hold a position in the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies (LIAS), home to a large group of experts on the Middle East and Asia from prehistory to the present. Click

for more information about the organisation.

Additional Information

Information

Enquiries can be made to the project’s PI, Dr Edmund Hayes 
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