Gepubliceerd op 25-04-2018

Pre PhD fellow CREATE – Cinema Audiences

The Amsterdam Centre for Cultural Heritage and Identity and the Department of Media Studies of the Faculty of Humanities are looking for a Pre PhD fellow CREATE – Cinema Audiences in the area of Cinema Studies as part of Creative Amsterdam: An E-Humanities Perspective (CREATE), supervised by prof. Julia Noordegraaf.

CREATE is a research program that uses large-scale digital data and techniques to investigate how cultural industries have shaped Amsterdam’s unique position as a Creative City in a European and global context, from the 17^th century until the present day. In collaboration with the Common Lab Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (CLARIAH – the national infrastructure for digital humanities research funded by NWO), the CREATE program now recruits a researcher that studies the history of cinema audiences with digital methods and tools.

Project description
You will develop the pilot project Amsterdam Cinema Audiences: A Geospatial Analysis of Film Exhibition and Consumption in Early 20^th century Amsterdam.

This pre PhD project aims to add to a better understanding of the audiences that went to see movies in Amsterdam cinema theatres in the early 20^th century. In contrast to the critical reception of cinema as published by reviewers, the consumption of the new medium by cinema audiences has been much harder to grasp and study. New, digital data and tools now allow us to connect cultural data on cinemas and their programming to social and economic data on the population of Amsterdam at cadastral level. You will test the opportunities of a spatial approach to cinema going in early 20th century Amsterdam using GIS tools with the georeferenced and vectorized cadastral map of Amsterdam in 1920 (made available through CLARIAH), the online database Cinema Context and relevant contextual data on the social and economic composition of cinema neighborhoods in that period. In the second part of the project, you will combine this spatial analysis of cinema programming and consumption with an analysis of the films screened and their critical reception, using the Jean Desmet collection and the tools in the CLARIAH Media Suite.

This project is embedded in the research program Amsterdam Time Machine (ATM), one of CREATE’s main themes. ATM aims to develop a hub for linked historical data on Amsterdam, creating a web of information on people, places, relationships, events, and objects that can be explored via historical maps and 3D representations. The systematic linkage of datasets from heterogeneous sources allows researchers to ask new questions on, for instance, cultural events, everyday life, social relations, or the use of public space in the city of Amsterdam.

The project is developed and will be supervised by Prof. Julia Noordegraaf (Media Studies) in collaboration with programmers, GIS specialists and historical database experts.

Requirements
If you are the Pre PhD fellow we are looking for, you have:

a research oriented master’s degree (MSc or MA) in Media Studies or Social History completed before 31 August 2018;
a strong background or demonstrable interest in cinema history, and the cultural and commercial circuits in which films were distributed, screened and consumed;
proven interest and preferably skills in digital methods and techniques with regard to humanities research, in particular working with historical (structured) data;
excellent understanding of the Dutch language;
research experience, or a track record of project based work, and the ability to function in a multidisciplinary team.

Further information
For any additional information you may contact:

Prof. Julia Noordegraaf, CREATE program leader

Appointment
This is a temporary appointment for 10 months (1 September 2018 until 30 June 2018) at the Department of Media Studies of the Faculty of Humanities. The gross monthly salary (on a full-time basis) will be €2,709. The Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities is applicable.

Job application
The UvA is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We value a spirit of enquiry and endurance, provide the space to keep asking questions and cherish a diverse atmosphere of curiosity and creativity.

Your application should include:

1. an up-to-date CV;

2. other requested documents in one PDF file (not zipped), consisting of:

a statement of ideas for the proposed research project (up to 500 words);
a letter of motivation;
up to three letters of recommendations;
a copy of your diploma.

You may send your application no later than 21 May 2018 using the link on the UVA-webpage.