*2 year FNRS Postdoctoral Research Fellowship:*

*Hoarding and Disorder in Comparative Perspective*

Université Libre de Bruxelles – Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des Mondes
Contemporains

Location: Brussels, Belgium

PI: Sasha Newell



*Hoarding and Disorder **Project Summary: *

This project seeks to document sociocultural and economic variation around
practices of accumulation, storage, and the containment of clutter. This
grant specifically covers a cross-cultural approach to complicate the
dominant biomedical approach to hoarding and examine everyday family
practices surrounding clutter and household accumulation. The project seeks
to explore the sociocultural variability of hoarding practices while
uncovering correlations between specific patterns of accumulation, sets of
values, architectural forms, and socioeconomic practices. Researchers are
encouraged to approach issues of materiality, animism, affect, clutter and
domesticity, consumption and collection, archives and memory, rationality
and mental disorders, digital accumulation and disorder, public versus
private domestic space. This research seeks to discover the specific
coordinates that produce hoarding phenomena, mapping contrasts and overlaps
with normative forms of collection and accumulation, and correspondences
with particular regimes of value, especially those surrounding capitalism.
The project will also seek to connect material accumulation with new forms
of digital accumulation to see to what extent these issues are repeated in
digital spaces, which we will consider as form of materiality. By producing
a comparison of hoarding practices and cosmologies of value based on
ethnography of homes in the US, Belgium, and Côte d’Ivoire, this project
lays the ground work for a more comprehensive comparative study in the
future.



*Position Description: *

The successful candidate will conduct independent fieldwork in Belgium in
relation to the themes described above and produce their own research
products from it, while coordinating their findings comparatively with
those from the US and Côte d’Ivoire. The candidate may develop their own
methodologies and interpretative schemas, while dialoguing with those
employed in other parts of the project. They will collaborate with the PI
(Sasha Newell) in writing up and/or presenting some of the material
collected in a comparative frame, help to organize a conference on hoarding
and disorder that brings in a broader range of regional and
interdisciplinary scholarship, and help to edit a volume or special issue
using the proceedings from that conference.



*Expectations and Activities*

A successful candidate will:

   - Have (or will obtain before commencement of grant), a PhD in
   Anthropology, Sociology, or closely related discipline, and has received
   doctoral degree no longer than 5 years ago (excepting official leaves of
   absence, etc.)
   - Have demonstrated ability to carry out ethnographic research.
   - Have excellent written and oral communication in English. French or
   Dutch skills are expected for the purposes of conducting fieldwork (one is
   required, both a plus)
   - Conduct 12 months of empirical fieldwork on household consumption,
   accumulation, clutter, and organization, most of which will be conducted in
   Belgium.
   - Participate in *Hoarding and Disorder* activities specified by the
   project PI
   - Participate in the activities of the *Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des
   Mondes Contemporains*
   - Present findings at conferences and workshops
   - Prepare publications and possibly cowrite one or two publications with
   PI
   - Meet *Hoarding and Disorder* interim goals and adhere to project
   timelines
   - Contribute to research, administrative and coordination duties
   associated with the project, including interim reporting to funders and the
   preparation of project-related events such as the international conference
   on hoarding.
   - Have expertise in some of the project’s main areas of enquiry
   (materiality, consumption, collection, clutter, hoarding, domestic space,
   organization, concealment, kinship, affect, animacy)
   - Experience or expertise concerning Belgium is an asset but not required

*Employment conditions*

   - Period of contract: 2 years (starting point flexible but no later than
   July 1st, 2019 in order to receive full 2 years salary)
   - Activity rate: Full-time (100%)
   - Gross Salary (pretax): 43 315,00 € per annum
   - Affiliation: LAMC, University Libre de Bruxelles
   - Residence in Belgium (Brussels or very close proximity) during the two
   year fellowship.

*Application Procedure*

We look forward to receiving your application, which must include:



(1) a CV, including a brief description your relative abilities in English
as well as French or Dutch.

(2) a letter of motivation explaining your interest in the project, any
former experience and expertise pertinent to the project, and the
directions you would be most interested in taking the project.

(3) the names and contact information of three people who may be contacted
for letters of recommendation

(4) a writing sample (approx. article length)

Applicants who have not completed their PhD degree by the time of
application should include a statement from their supervisor confirming the
expected date for the achievement of their degree.

*Applications are due by February 20th. *Please send applications to
[log in to unmask], or contact the same address for questions about the
position.

Interviews (via Skype or in person) will be scheduled for shortlisted
candidates by early March.

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