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Gepubliceerd op 08-04-2019

PhD Position “Hodegetics: Language of Vice in Student Advice Literature, 1700-1900”

Job description

As per September 1, 2019, the Leiden University Institute for History will be appointing a PhD candidate within the NWO-funded VICI project Scholarly Vices: A Longue Durée History, supervised by Professor Herman Paul (https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/staffmembers/herman-paul).

In the German lands, an unbroken tradition of student advice literature known as Hodegetik existed from the late 17th to the late 19th century. It offered encyclopedic surveys of the fields of knowledge, while also teaching first-year students how to develop studious habits. Given the popularity of hodegetical courses, especially in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and the wide circulation of hodegetical textbooks, many 19th-century scholars in Europe must have been at least moderately familiar with the hodegetical tradition. Drawing on a selection of key titles, including H. A. Mertens’s Hodegetischer Entwurf (1779) and K. H. Scheidler’s Grundlinien der Hodegetik (1832), this sub-project examines how hodegetical textbooks relied on each other in warning their readers against vicious habits, how much continuity their catalogs of vice displayed, and to what extent vices that persisted throughout the 18th and 19th centuries were associated with easy-to-remember commonplaces (“the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”), anecdotes (absent-minded professors), or stereotypical images (dogmatic scholasticism).

Key responsibilities

  • Conducting research on “Hodegetics: Language of Vice in Student Advice Literature, 1700-1900” (see project description below);
  • Writing an English-language PhD thesis within four years;
  • Writing two (single- or co-authored) articles for publication in peer-reviewed journals;
  • Presenting draft articles or thesis chapters at conferences or workshops;
  • Co-organizing one of the workshops envisioned within the project;
  • Contributing actively to the project as a whole (e.g., serving as a peer reviewer for other team members, contributing to the project website);
  • If possible: contributing to undergraduate teaching

Requirements

  • MA degree in History or a related field;
  • Fluency in English and good passive command of Latin and German;
  • Demonstrable interest in the history of the humanities and/or the history of science (familiarity with German Enlightenment culture is an advantage);
  • Experience in working with 18th- or 19th-century source material;
  • Excellent writing skills;
  • Ability to work both independently and as part of the team;
  • Ability to work in an international and highly competitive environment.

Conditions of employment

We offer a full-time position for initially one year. After a positive evaluation of the progress of the thesis, personal capabilities and compatibility the appointment will be extended by a further three years. Salary range from € 2,325.- to € 2,972.- gross per month (pay scale P, in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities).

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. Candidates from outside the Netherlands may be eligible for a substantial tax break.  Additional budget allows for research visits abroad and attendance of international conferences. More at http://www.workingat.leiden.edu/.

Employer

Universiteit Leiden

Leiden is a typical university city, hosting the oldest university in the Netherlands (1575). The University permeates the local surroundings; University premises are scattered throughout the city, and the students who live and study in Leiden give the city its relaxed yet vibrant atmosphere.

Leiden University is one of Europe’s foremost research universities. This prominent position gives our graduates a leading edge in applying for academic posts and for functions outside academia. More at https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/working-at.

https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/werken-bij

Department

Faculty of Humanities

The Faculty of Humanities is rich in expertise in fields such as philosophy, religious studies, history, art history, literature, linguistics, international studies and area studies, covering nearly every region of the world. With its staff of 930, the faculty provides 27 masters and 25 bachelors programmes for over 6,000 students based at locations in Leiden’s historic city centre and in modern buildings in The Hague.  For more information: http://www.hum.leidenuniv.nl.

The overall project, Scholarly Vices: A Longue Durée History, revolves around a simple question: Why do scholars still evaluate each other’s work in terms that are often centuries old? Although modern science differs considerably from early modern learning, 17th-century terms like “dogmatism,” “prejudice,” and “speculation” are still being used, even if their meanings have changed over time. The project tries to explain the persistence of this cultural repertoire by zooming in on (1) interaction between idioms (cultural repertoires) available to scholars at certain points in time, (2) mechanisms that help transmit repertoires across time and place, and (3) rhetorical purposes for which repertoires can be used.

Drawing on a wide array of 18th, 19th, and 20th-century sources from across the academic spectrum, the project tests three hypotheses: (1) early modern language of vice persisted in productive interaction with modern notions of “bias,” “subjectivity,” and “conflicts of interest”; (2) commonplaces, anecdotes, and stereotypes (“dark Middle Ages”) were major mechanisms of transmission; and (3) language of vice was attractive, not despite, but because of its time-honored origins.

By doing so, the project hopes to enrich our understanding of continuity and discontinuity between early modern learning and modern science. It hopes to build bridges between fields (in the sciences, humanities, and social sciences) that are too often studied in isolation from each other. Finally, in the realm of knowledge utilization, it wants to encourage scholars to reflect on contemporary scholarly virtues and vices.

https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/humanities

Additional information

Diversity

Leiden University is strongly committed to diversity within its community and especially welcomes applications from members of underrepresented groups.

Information

A more extensive project description is available upon request from Professor Herman Paul e-mail h.j.paul@hum.leidenuniv.nl.

 

Apply here.

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