PhD position on Linguistic Politics in Early Colonial North America
Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society (LUCAS) invites applications for a
PhD position on Linguistic Politics in Early Colonial North America (1.0 fte, 4 years)
The PhD candidate will be working within the research project ‘Leveraging Language, Proclaiming Power’, funded by the Dutch Research Council’s Vidi scheme, and directed by dr. Alisa van de Haar (university lecturer in historical French literature at Leiden University). Prof. Michiel van Groesen (professor of maritime history at Leiden University) will be the co-supervisor of the PhD candidate.
The PhD position
This doctoral research project will examine how communicative practices in early settlements in New Netherland, New France, New England, and Virginia reflected and shaped power dynamics. It will examine which choices were made with regard to communication and language in encounters within individual settlements (including enslaved inhabitants), between settlements and colonies, and in interactions with Indigenous populations. For each of these communications choices, its power implications will then be assessed. The research will focus on a selection of settlements, in the period 1604 to 1664. Rather than a linguistic study, the PhD project entails a historical analysis of the social implications of language choices. The final dissertation will offer new insights into the interplay between language strategies and power structures in and around the selected early settlements. Because of its comparative approach, it will shed new light on language practices related to French, Dutch, and English colonies, respectively.
Deadline for application: 15-03-2026