STIP: External Collaborators: Material Migrations (Gerda Henkel Foundation)


The research project “Material Migrations: Mamluk Metalwork across Afro-Eurasia,” funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation and co-directed by Gertrude Aba Mansah Eyifa-Dzidzienyo (University of Ghana), Jacopo Gnisci (University College London), Vera-Simone Schulz (Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz – Max-Planck-Institut) and Raymond Silverman (University of Michigan), invites applications for external collaborators from doctoral and postdoctoral researchers based at institutions across the world.

Application deadline: 31 Aug 2021

“Material Migrations” is an international research project that will examine transcultural interactions and the mobility of objects by focusing on metalwork from 13th-16th-century Mamluk Syria and Egypt that has travelled as far as Sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and East Asia. The project focuses on the movements, transformations, and roles of these objects. It explores how they have asserted their presence in the societies that have adopted them, places such as modern-day Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia and China. Questioning traditional notions of “center” and “periphery,” “Material Migrations” sets out to contribute to efforts to de-center Europe, and it will present new research on connectivity, long-distance entanglements, and site-specific contexts, and how the meanings ascribed to objects are shaped by time and place.

Who can apply?
Applications are welcome from doctoral and postdoctoral scholars whose research topics and interests lie broadly within the framework of the “Material Migrations”. Predoctoral candidates may be at any stage of their doctoral studies. Applicants should be working in the fields that engage material and visual culture in historical contexts, for example, art history, archaeology, and history, museum and heritage studies, as well as related disciplines.

Tasks and responsibilities:
Successful candidates will become active members of the “Material Migrations” project, they will participate in workshops, reading groups and other project events, and will contribute a chapter to the project’s final publication.

Terms and eligibility:
Doctoral and postdoctoral researchers based at institutions in any country of the world are invited to apply to become external collaborators of the project. External collaborators will participate in project activities and will receive reimbursements to cover the costs of travel to in-person project events.

How to apply:
Applications should include:
– A cover letter.
– A project description of the PhD or postdoctoral research project which should be related to the wider scope of the “Material Migrations” project (max 3 pages).
– A CV (including, if applicable, a list of publications).
– A writing sample of no less than 15 pages (e.g., a chapter of the master thesis or dissertation, a conference paper, a published chapter or article, etc.).
– Two letters of recommendation sent directly by the referees as an email attachment to material.migrations.afroeurasia@gmail.com One of the letters should come from a member of the applicant’s doctoral committee who is familiar with his/her work.
Women are particularly encouraged to apply.

Enquiries may be directed to material.migrations.afroeurasia@gmail.com
Applications and recommendation letters should be sent to the same email address.

Applications due date: August 31, 2021.
Online interviews with shortlisted candidates will be held in September 2021.

For more information, please visit the Gerda Henkel Foundation website https://lisa.gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/material_migrations_mamluk_metalwork_across_afro_eurasia