AHRC-funded doctoral studentship: Queer Theory in France

Readers may be interested in the following opportunity:

AHRC-funded doctoral studentship: Queer Theory in France Applications are invited for a three-year doctoral studentship, funded by the AHRC and commencing in October 2012.

The studentship will be based in the Department of French Studies at Warwick University. The studentship is one of two attached to the AHRC-funded interinstitutional research project ‘Queer Theory in France’, run jointly by Dr Oliver Davis (CI, Warwick) and Dr Hector Kollias (PI, King’s College London). The applicant for the Warwick doctoral studentship will be expected to propose a thesis topic which engages with aspects of the political and social context of queer theory in France.

Project summary: This project seeks to analyse the appropriation of French thought by British and American queer theorists and to examine moments of recognition and resistance in the ongoing re-translation of queer theory back into the French national context. In what ways have significant overarching political, social and legal differences in the three national contexts influenced this traffic of ideas? Is a theorization of lesbian and gay, or queer, cultures as subcultures necessarily in conflict with French Republican universalism? How is queer separatism framed differently in each national context? How resistant have French academic institutions been to queer theory and why? Why have some disciplines been less resistant than others? How has queer theory’s retranslation into the French context been affected by the prominence of psychoanalysis in France? How have different French feminisms influenced the re-translation of queer theory into the French national context? How prominent are transgender questions in French queer theory; is it accurate to allege that French queer theory has tended to eschew ‘gender trouble’ and favoured instead ‘homonormativity’? How do the three national contexts differ in their intracultural translation of queer ideas? How do they differ in moving between activist-popular and intellectual-academic contexts? The successful applicant will either have an undergraduate degree in French (Studies), with some evidence of specialisation in questions of gender and/or sexuality, or in History, or Sociology, or Philosophy, in each case with some evidence again of interest in such questions and also in France and the contemporary context. The successful applicant will have fluent spoken and written French and will have developed their skills of conceptual analysis and their engagement with questions of gender and sexuality at Master’s level. The successful candidate will be expected to undertake funded research visits to France, which will include interview-based research. S/he will also be expected to organize, under the supervision of the investigators, two one-day seminar-workshops at Warwick, one in Year 2 and one in Year 3 of the project. S/he will be expected to assist the investigators in the organization of an international conference in Year 3 and to assist the investigators in the organization of public panel debates in Year 3 of the project. In addition to the doctoral thesis, the successful candidate will, by the end of the project, be expected to have written one article for publication and presented at least two seminar or conference papers. The studentship will pay for all tuition fees (at UK/EU rates) and will provide a maintenance grant of £13,400 in the first year, rising to £13,745 in the second year and £14,123 in the third. Potential applicants are warmly invited to contact Oliver Davis with any questions about either the studentship or the project: O.Davis@warwick.ac.uk

How to apply: The extended deadline for receipt of applications is midday on Friday 15 June 2012. Applications must consist of: 1. CV 2. covering letter 3. research proposal 4. c.5000-word sample of the candidate’s academic writing. These first four tems should be sent, together, by post to: Dr Oliver Davis, Department of French Studies, Warwick University CV4 7AL, UK. 5. two confidential supporting references, which candidates should ask referees to send directly, by post or email, to Dr Oliver Davis by that same 15 June deadline. 6. completion by 15 June of an application through the central Warwick University online application process at http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/apply/ 

 Shortlisted candidates may be interviewed late June or early July.

Share this: