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Three Doctoral Positions at the Junior Research Group

Three Doctoral Positions at the Junior Research Group "Creativity and Genius"

Publié le par Université de Lausanne (Source : Maximiliane Lenk)

The Junior Research Group Creativity and Genius at Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, funded by the Elite Network of Bavaria, invites applications for:

3 doctoral positions (E13 TV-L, 66%)

starting in October 2017. The application deadline is May 31. Applicants should hold a degree in any of the research areas covered by the research group, preferably an MA in literary studies or an adjacent field, manage both German and English at an academically adequate level, and submit a research proposal showing an explicit connection to the research profile of the program.

Creativity is an imperative that aggressively structures postindustrial societies. Media, entertainment, design, architecture, consulting, public relations and research are creative industries in the narrower sense; moreover, creativity is a key concept for self-fashioning in social networks, lonely hearts ads or job applications. Theoretical conceptions of universal creativity, ranging from “aesthetic regime“ and “aesthetic capitalism” to a “regime of creativity”, all interpret it as an expansion of aesthetic practices and preferences to non-aesthetic areas of life. This interpretation poses three main challenges to the Humanities: to identify these practices, to contextualize them historically, and to establish creativity as an object of theory. The research group Creativity and Genius takes up these challenges. Its point of departure is the observation that 20th century creativity discourse relies on rhetorical strategies and poetic techniques first established in 18th century aesthetics of genius. In both historical conceptualizations, creative potential features the same remarkable contradiction: it describes, on the one hand, a superlative of extraordinary, singular individuality, and, on the other hand, a universally accessible resource. The research group attempts to establish a first link between literary scholarship on genius and interdisciplinary research on creativity. Its main question is: How could the marginal, if admired, figure of the poet become a paradigm for entire branches of economy? We will search for answers not with regard to historical meanings of creativity and its synonyms, but in the constant poetic structures that shape the discourses on creative potentials, and in the social functions they serve.

The research group will consist of four sub-projects, three of which are the advertised doctoral positions. Topics for possible dissertations may include, but are not limited to: 18th century literary and cultural history of genius, ancient or early modern predecessors, xxx in 19th century and classical avantgardes; the intersections between aesthetics of genius and poetics of genre; the theological heritage of the concept of genius and its relation to other integral poetological concepts of the 18th century (autonomy, imagination, inspiration, aesthetic experience); an interdisciplinary history of creativity, models of creative subjectivity in psychology, pedagogy, in the history of economy and the history of science, or in philosophy and the social sciences; artistic production and artistic self-fashioning; the historical opposition of (male) creation and (female) birth-giving, adaptations of “western” creativity, e.g. in Eastern Asia, and the Western appropriation of “eastern” creative practices from the 1970s on; the economic utilisation of creative potentials and the historic relation of art and labour which in the process of this utilisation assumes a new shape. The Junior Research Group leader strongly encourages independent research projects with research interests compatible with the fundamental task of reconstructing a poetics of human creativity.

The Junior Research Group will cooperate closely with the International Doctoral Program (IDP) MIMESIS at LMU Munich (http://www.mimesis-doc.uni-muenchen.de/index.html) . The IDP is dedicated to innovative doctoral research in the fields of literature and the arts, with special emphasis on historical, theoretical and trans-disciplinary perspectives. The doctoral researchers of the Research Group Creativity and Genius will become associated members at the IDP. Funding for publications, conference travel funding and very likely funding for a longer research stay abroad will be available. The positions will be granted for 3 years with the possibility of subsequent renewal. Applicants should be prepared to take up residence in Munich. They are expected to participate in regular events at the IDP as well as in internal colloquia and retreats of the JRG. Further expectations include contributions to organisation of conferences, workshops, and international co-operations.

Contact: Jan Niklas Howe (jnhowe@lmu.de). Required application documents (in one PDF document):

  • cover letter, giving the reasons for applying

  • curriculum vitae, including a detailed description of your academic career

  • two referees (preferably university professors) who upon request would be willing to provide a short letter of reference

  • outline of dissertation project (10 pages max.), work plan and time schedule for the completion of the research project

  • copies of all academic degrees acquired

  • sample of academic work (e.g. a chapter of a Master’s thesis, 25 pages max.)