2 PhD positions at the University of Lausanne, as part of the interdisciplinary FNS Sinergia project “Capturing the Present in Northwestern Europe (1348-1648). A Cultural History of Present before the Age of Presentism”, directed by Thalia Brero, Jan Blanc, Élodie Lecuppre-Desjardin and Estelle Doudet, starting September 1st, 2024.
General Information about the Project: Funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the Sinergia project “Capturing the Present in Northwestern Europe (1348-1648): A Cultural History of Present before the Age of Presentism” explores how the concept of “present” was perceived and experienced in Northwestern Europe from the Middle Ages to early modernity. This geographical area, which includes the Netherlands, the western Holy Roman Empire, northern France, and southern England, underwent significant changes during this period in politics, economics, religion, and the arts. Characterized by the coexistence of various political systems and languages, significant urban development, and rapidly evolving living conditions, this region offers a unique historical context that differs from the traditional depiction of the Renaissance. The Capturing the Present project brings together around fifteen researchers from the universities of Neuchâtel, Lausanne, and Lille, including 6 PhD candidates and 3 postdoctoral researchers. The team is supported by an international network of experts in history, art and literary history, linguistics, media studies, anthropology, and political science. Its aim is to demonstrate how discourses and images shaped the perceptions that men and women of that time had of their own era; how contemporary events were represented and interpreted; and how new ideas, as well as environmental, political, and societal changes, were perceived.
The first PhD candidate will focus on visual and literary portraits in relation to the perception of the present in 15th-17th century Northwestern Europe. The PhD candidate will be supervised by Jan Blanc and Estelle Doudet.The doctoral student will be responsible for a PhD research project on the art of portraiture and its relationship with the present time in textual and visual arts of Northwestern European regions from the 15th to the 17th centuries. The thesis’ main objective will be to establish and study a textual and iconographic corpus in order to understand the reasons and manners in which new ways of thinking and practicing literary and artistic portraiture developed between the late 14th and 17th centuries, in relation to the perception of the present time (e.g. human, individual, and collective representations anchored in current events, contemporary issues, the present moment, etc.) For the complete job listing, click here.
The second PhD candidate will focus on the literary and visual representations of natural disasters as markers of the present in 15th-17th century Northwestern Europe. The PhD candidate will be supervised by Estelle Doudet and Marije Osnabrugge.The doctoral student will establish and study a corpus of contemporary texts and images from the Little Ice Age, shedding light on the notion of natural disaster and its use as a marker of the present time. This corpus may include, among others, historical, scientific, theological texts, travel narratives, narrative fictions, theatrical and poetic works, as well as paintings, prints, drawings, and decorative objects. A secondary objective is to develop an ecocritical approach (environmental humanities, disaster studies) to a corpus of historical sources, in relation to the perceptions of the present time expressed by these sources. For the full description, click here.