1 PhD POSITION — HUMBOLDT UNIV BERLIN

1 PhD POSITION in EUROPEAN ETHNOLOGY / SOCIAL or CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
AT THE DEPARTMENT FOR EUROPEAN ETHNOLOGY / THE COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH
UNIT 640, PROJECT No. C4, HUMBOLDT UNIVERSITY BERLIN

Deadline: 17 JULY 2008

The Department of European Ethnology and the Collaborative Research Unit
640, “Changing Representations of Social Order: Intertemporal and
Intercultural Comparisons” at Humboldt-University Berlin offer a PhD
position within the research project “Kinship as Representation of
Social Order and Practice: Knowledge, Performativity and Legal-Ethical
Regulation” (Project C4, Stefan Beck and Michi Knecht).

This project seeks to understand how notions and practices of kinship / affinity /
togetherness are changing in relation to the appropriation of assisting
reproductive technologies and adoption in Berlin and Istanbul/Izmir,
with a particular focus on the emergent transnational scapes of
reproductive medicine. The position is for 4 years, open as soon as
possible, ending June 30th, 2012.

The PhD position will contribute to the Turkish and transnational part
of the project directed by Prof. Stefan Beck and Dr. Michi Knecht. The
focus will be on women, couples and kinship networks, who are using – or
have used – reproductive technologies or adoption in order to start, to
enlarge or complete families. Important sites of fieldwork in Istanbul,
Izmir and Berlin will be self-help groups and other concerned groups
within the reproductive health sector, infertility clinics, adoption
agencies, ethic committees and governmental staff and experts engaged in
redefining kinship and kinship law. Most importantly, interviews and
participant observation will take place within the everyday life of
families who are involved in our long term study.

Applicants are expected to develop, define and carry through their own
PhD research project within the research field of our project (assisting
reproductive technologies in Turkey and the emergent transnational
scapes of reproductive medicine, kinship and citizenship, concerned
groups / self help groups in the field of infertility treatment,
adoption, bioethics and regulation in the field of reproductive
technologies in Turkey) Applicants for this PhD position should have a
background in social / cultural anthropology, european ethnology or STS.
Place of work will be the Humboldt University Berlin, with long
intermittent periods of fieldwork in Istanbul/Izmir. For further
information on the research project see

http://www.repraesentationen.de/site/lang__en-US/3868/default.aspx

Applicants must have obtained a Master’s degree with excellent results
or complete a Master’s course before starting at HU. They should have a
very good written and oral Turkish and English and a good knowledge of
German.

Further requirements:

· knowledge in one or more of the following fields: new
anthropology of kinship, anthropology of knowledge, ethnographies of
assisting reproductive technologies, Anthropology of Turkey and the
Mediterranean, social studies of science and technology,
transnationalisation, methodologies of complex comparisons.

· Ethnographic fieldwork experience

· Ability to work in a team, excellent organisation and
communication skills

Applicants are kindly asked to send a letter of application with a
concise statement of their interest, a cv and up to three examples of
their academic writing (including unpublished thesis material), and
official transcripts or certified copies of University certificates.

The successful applicant must participate in and complete the PhD
programme of the collaborative research unit 640 at Humboldt University
Berlin.

The position is payed according to BAT IIa-O, 50 % The PhD students will
also receive an additional stipend for time abroad and funding for
travel and accommodation for the time spent in fieldwork.

Applications should be sent by post with the reference Nr. DR06408 to

Prof. Dr. Stefan Beck / Dr. Michi Knecht, Department of European
Ethnology, Humboldt-University Berlin, Mohrenstrasse 41, D – 10117
Berlin, Germany. Or per mail

Stefan.beck @ rz.hu-berlin.de;

michi.knecht @ rz.hu-berlin.de.

Deadline is July 17th 2008.

For further information potential applicants are encouraged to contact
their prospective part-project leader and main supervisor Prof. Stefan
Beck and Michi Knecht informally, by email in the first instance.