Where: Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
Deadline: 1 August 2021.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities
We are seeking a postdoctoral scholar on the research topic of “Transformative intermediaries: infrastructure, platform, and logistics”. Contrary to the predication that technological innovations would remove intermediaries, economic operations in many sectors are more intensively mediated than before. The mediators include human agents, physical infrastructure, and technologies, particularly that of algorithms. Digital platforms, for instance, become new bases of profit and power by concentrating, upscaling, and physically concretizing intermediation activities. Does intermediation represent a fundamental mode of socioeconomic organization in the twenty-first century that is comparable to other well-established organizing principles, like reciprocity, redistribution, networks, and hierarchies? Is the means of mediation replacing both the means of production and of legitimate violence as the defining factors of political economy?
The postholder is expected to critically advance our understandings of how the global economy is being reorganized through the lens of mediation (broadly defined). Given our interest in mobilities, we particularly welcome proposals focusing on how the circulation of people, goods, and information are mediated.
The postholder must have carried out in-depth field research on related topics and be committed to broad conceptualization beyond case studies.
Your Profile
Applicants should either be in possession of a doctoral degree in anthropology, sociology or a related discipline or submit evidence indicating that such a dissertation will be finished and submitted before the designated starting date.
Our Offer
The postdoctoral position (TVöD E13) will be for a duration of 2 years, renewable for a third year. Employment will be on a full-time contractual basis. The workplace is Halle/Saale (Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany). The Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology offers a diverse, international, flexible and stimulating work environment, with support for training and professional development opportunities.
The Max-Planck Society is committed to increasing the number of individuals with disabilities in its workforce and therefore encourages applications from such qualified individuals.
The Max Planck Society strives to ensure gender equality and diversity. Furthermore, the Max Planck Society seeks to increase the number of women in those areas where they are underrepresented and therefore explicitly encourages women to apply.
Deadline: 1 July 2021.
Contact
Please submit your application materials electronically by following the link for vacancies on our homepage (under ‘Career’), or by going directly to the online application form using the link below.
Applicants should send the following documentation:
- cover letter
- CV, including list of publications
- 2 writing samples (chapter or article length)
- 1-2 page summary of doctoral thesis
- short (1-2 pages) proposal for the work (this will form a basis for discussion if the applicant is short-listed).
- photocopies of university degrees
- names of two referees
Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
Personnel Administration
Janka Diallo (jdiallo@eth.mpg.de)
We look forward to receiving your completed online application.
You may print the job advert using this link.
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