The University of Luxembourg invites applications for the following
vacancy in its Centre for Contemporary and Digital History (C²DH)
2 Doctoral candidates (PhD student) in the field of contemporary
history/history of technology (M/F)
/Ref. 50012960 and ///50012961/ – (R-AGR-3499-10-C), Acronym: REPAIR/
Fixed-term contract 14 months, renewable up to 4 years, full-time
(40h/week)
Student and employee status (48 months studies programme)
Latest possible start date 1 September 2019
Your Role
The candidate will be a member of the Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary
and Digital History (C²DH), which is one of the three Interdisciplinary
Centres of Luxembourg University. The C²DH is a research centre for the
study, analysis and public dissemination of contemporary history of
Luxembourg and Europe with a particular focus on digital methods and
tools for doing innovative historical research. It serves as a catalyst
for innovative and creative scholarship and new forms of public
dissemination and societal engagement with history.
The PhD student will work under supervision of assistant professor
Stefan Krebs in the FNR funded research project “Repairing Technology –
Fixing Society? History of Maintenance and Repair in Luxembourg
(1918-1990)” (C15/SC/12547405). The REPAIR project will be the first
systematic historical study of repair practices, networks and
infrastructures in the short 20^th century (c. 1918-1990).
So far, repair and maintenance have been understudied sites and moments
in the history of technology. The focus on innovation has obscured the
importance of maintenance and repair; instead the bulk of research
focused on design, manufacturing and use of technology. It is generally
assumed that practices of repair and reuse have gradually declined along
with the rise of 20th-century mass consumption societies. However, it is
safe to argue that maintenance and repair have not become obsolete in
modern consumer societies. And the recent repair movement, visible in
local repair cafés and fix-it clinics, highlights the timeliness of
studying the history of repair.
The REPAIR project will analyse the changes and continuities in the
history of maintenance and repair, using Luxembourg as a key example of
a Western consumer society. The project encompasses three research
strands: the first investigates the maintenance and repair of one of the
quintessential 20^th century consumer technologies: the telephone; the
second traces the decline of professional repair services; and the third
focuses on the development of post-war self-repair practices, situated
between leisure activity and political activism.
Analysing the maintenance of technical infrastructures, urban repair
offers and cultures of self-repair will advance our historical knowledge
of the large material, organisational, knowledge and discursive
investments needed to keep technologies functioning. By revealing when,
why and how technical objects were maintained, repaired or scrapped, the
project will provide crucial insights into the historical and political
contexts of the emergence of consumer identities, the hidden societal
and environmental dimensions of repair, and the quest for more
sustainable consumption practices.
Activities
Write a thesis on “Infrastructures of Repair: Maintaining the
Telephone System in Luxembourg” OR “The Development of Urban Repair
Networks: the City of Luxembourg and Esch-sur-Alzette”
Contribute to research in the field of contemporary history, history
of technology and/or environmental history (and related fields)
For further information please contact: stefan.krebs@uni.lu
For more information about C²DH, please visit: https://www.C2DH.uni.lu
The job advertisements can also be found here:
http://emea3.mrted.ly/23zm1, http://emea3.mrted.ly/23zn5
Your Profile
Master’s degree or diploma in history, history of technology or
related field
Good command of the following languages: English, French and/or German
We offer
An interesting position within an international research centre;
Dynamic and multicultural research environment;
Personal work space at the University
Further Information
Candidates should submit the following documents:
Motivation letter
Curriculum vitae
Copies of diplomas
List of publications (if applicable)
Please send your application online by 22 April 2019 *to
stefan.krebs@uni.lu
The University of Luxembourg is an equal opportunity employer.
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