Requiered application documents for the applicants:

• Application Form

• Letter of Reference: written even by the supervisor in the PhD programme or a by a researcher/head of establishment, where the applicant completed the doctoral study.

• Scientific CV + List of Publications: all together max. 2 pages A4

• Copy of University Diploma or Provisional certificate of completion of PhD studies or another official confirmation, that the applicant has been awarded PhD Degree

Applicants can apply for positions in projects announced by the following departments in 2022:

1) Environmental Philosophy: Eco-Phenomenology and Eco-Hermeneutics – Department of Philosophy Faculty of Humanities

The Faculty of Humanities of the Charles University of Prague announces an open competition for a Postdoctoral Position in the field of Environmental Philosophy. The successful candidate will work at the Department of Philosophy. He or she must have a high level (C2 language proficiency level) of written and spoken English and French. Knowledge of other languages, e.g., German mainly, or Italian or Spanish, is a plus.

The topic of the natural environment has attracted increasing attention of philosophers working in the continental tradition. Among major philosophical heritages, thinkers working in the field of phenomenology and hermeneutics have developed – and continue to develop – relevant analyses on the being and the meaning of the natural environment. On the one hand, the inclusion of phenomenology in environmental philosophy has opened up the space for the development of the environmental discipline labeled “eco-phenomenology” (Brown, Toadvine). The eco-phenomenological approach, in which are folded both ecological phenomenology and phenomenological ecology (Wood), addresses the possibility to rediscover the natural environment as meaningful and worthy of respect. The natural space arises here as profoundly connected with human being as embodied and embedded. On the other hand, the consideration of the fact that the encounter with nature and the understanding of its sense requires mediation, has led hermeneutical thinkers to study the natural environment as an object of interpretation (Mugerauer, Van Buren). Eco-hermeneutics is, then, concerned with human mediation of the meaning of the natural environment, that is, with the practical mediation of our encounters with nature as a space calling for interpretation. Therefore, eco-phenomenology and eco-hermeneutics awakens us towards a renewed relationship with the natural environment. These disciplines are not opposed to the study of nature proposed by the natural sciences. Rather, these can be seen as valid attempts to foster an interdisciplinary dialogue between philosophy and the other branches of science attentive to the study of nature.

The interest in the field of environmental philosophy is demonstrated by current research projects and activities at the Faculty of Humanities of the Charles University of Prague. The Faculty is hosting an international research project on cosmology and phenomenology: “Fink and French Phenomenology”, directed by Hans Rainer Sepp at the FHS UK and Alexander Schnell at the Bergische University Wuppertal (project supported by the Czech Science Foundation and the Deutsche Forschungsgmeinschaft, Nr. 21-23337J, 2021-2023). Yet, this research work is connected to the scientific project “Face of Nature in the French Phenomenology”, directed by Karel Novotný (project supported by the Czech Science Foundation, Nr. 21-22224S, 2021-2024), at the Czech Academy of Science. Directors of these projects, Hans Rainer Sepp and Karel Novotný, are developing their own contributions to the field of environmental philosophy focusing their attention on oikological philosophy (H. R. Sepp, ed. Phänomenologie und Ökologie, 2020) and on the relation between life and world (K. Novotný Welt und Leib, 2021) respectively.

The successful candidate is expected to develop his or her own research project through the use of the phenomenological and the hermeneutical methodologies applied to the study of the natural environment. Rather than choosing either eco-phenomenology or eco-hermeneutics, the candidate has to work on the continuity between them. As such, by enlarging the movement of hermeneutic phenomenology (Heidegger, Gadamer, Ricoeur) to the analysis of the natural environment, in his or her research the candidate will mainly focus on the interplay between embodiment and nature, on the connection between life and the symbolic structures of nature, and on the relationship among lived space, dwelling, and nature. The phenomenological hermeneutical approach will enable the candidate to offer valuable methodologies and resources to discuss some central issues of the current environmental debate, such as the problem of sustainability and biodiversity preservation.

Faculty: Faculty of Humanities

Department: Department of Philosophy

Supervisor: prof. Karel Novotný, M.A., Ph.D.

E-mail: karel.novotny@fhs.cuni.cz

Deadline date: July 15, 2022

Position available from: January 1, 2023

Submit applications with all other documents to Research Administration Office: (CC: )

2) Art anthropology – Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology Faculty of Humanities

The anthropology of art is a sub-discipline of social-cultural anthropology and concerned with understanding the material culture and arts of various social, cultural, and political contexts globally. It combines the qualitative methods of anthropology, primarily ethnographic field research, with the visual theories and methods of art history and its related disciplines. Art anthropology is always an inter-and transdisciplinary endeavor and is especially suited for research projects that require this interdisciplinary set of theories and methods.

While earlier anthropological studies on art focused on key debates within this sub-discipline, including the differences between material culture and art, questions of agency, primitivism, aesthetics, and iconography, newer art-anthropological questions have turned to the collection and display of modern and contemporary art, art’s circulation in global art worlds, as well as the provenance and restitution politics of art and material culture. Especially the latter two aspects have received heightened attention due to recent societal debates about the provenance and restitution of major non-European collections kept in Europe, including the colonial theft of art such as the Benin bronzes, the showcase of human remains from different world regions, the theft of cultural heritage from museums in war zones, and many more issues. Therefore, art anthropologists have recently concerned themselves with the history, politics, and ethics of ethnographic and art collections in museological contexts. Topics have included the roles that anthropologists assume in institutions exhibiting ethnographic collections, the anthropologist's role as curator, or how anthropologists can help in building relationships with indigenous communities whose collections are showcased worldwide, and where repatriation surfaces as an important issue and demand.

The project to be undertaken in this context will focus on recent debates on decolonizing museums by focusing on two core aspects: provenance research to understand the biographies of objects and their rightful owners or authors and, secondly, processes of restituting/repatriating objects. A focus should be placed on strategies of decolonization and actively engaging with the social life of objects, their pasts, and their futures. This focus is inspired by the call by art historian Bénédicte Savoy and economist Felwine Sarr on the restitution of material culture looted during colonial times and what restitution must entail for it to become effective. The project should also assess current debates on restitution and provenance research in light of earlier concerns articulated by art historians, anthropologists, and post-colonial scholars.

Faculty: Faculty of Humanities

Department: Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology

Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Zuzana Jurková, Ph.D.

E-mail: zuzana.jurkova@fhs.cuni.cz

Deadline date: July 15, 2022

Position available from: January 1, 2023

Submit applications with all other documents to Research Administration Office: (CC: )