Posts from April 2015

Two Post-Doctoral Teaching and Research Fellowships advertised

Written by on Wednesday, posted in News (No comments yet)

The Department of English, Linguistics and Cultural Studies is seeking to employ a couple of two-year fixed-term Post-Doctoral Teaching and Research Fellows in Visual Culture Studies and in Post-1800 English Literature; one or both of whom will be attached to the Institute for Modern and Contemporary Culture.

Such Fellowships are intended to offer postdoctoral career development opportunities and are aimed at recent PhD graduates (PhD award normally within the last 18 months). The main duties and responsibilities will be research and teaching on the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, including, as appropriate, our MAs in Art & Visual Culture, Cultural & Critical Studies, English Literature: Modern & Contemporary Fictions, or Museums, Galleries & Contemporary Culture. In the UK Government’s REF 2014 assessment of research activity, English at Westminster was ranked 28th out of 89 departments in Britain, with 79% of its work judged to be of world leading or internationally excellent quality. In terms of research publications, Westminster was ranked in the top 20 UK departments, with around a third of the work judged to be world leading.

Closing date:  Monday 1 June 2015
Interviews are likely to be held on the week commencing: Monday 22 June 2015

Further details and applications at:

Post-Doctoral Fellowship in English Literature Post-1800:
https://vacancies.westminster.ac.uk/hrvacancies/default.aspx?id=50034091

Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Visual Culture Studies:
https://vacancies.westminster.ac.uk/hrvacancies/default.aspx?id=50041345

 

Marx, Form, Isms – June 4-5 2015

Written by on Wednesday, posted in Event, News (No comments yet)

Thursday 4 – Friday 5 June
University of Westminster and Senate House, London

Marx, Form, Isms
A Re-Enactment of the 1920s Debates

Presented by the Retro-Formalism Group in cooperation with Marxism in Culture (University of London) and the Institute for Modern and Contemporary Culture (University of Westminster)

‘Marx, Form, Isms’ continues the work of the Retro-Formalism working group on literary theory, with a specific focus on political debates. Rather than reconstructing the historical debate of the 1920s between Marxist and Formalist thinkers on how political action and experimental literature might be intermingled, the event would like to open up the text archive of formalist and Marxist thought for today and future purposes in search of an unpredictable past. Beginning with the 1920s debates in the Soviet Union, through the recovery of Formalist theory in Europe through Structuralism in 1960s and 1970s, and renewed interest in cultural critique post-1968 and in the New Left, to the contemporary revivals of discussion of form and value-form in Culture and Marxism, ‘Marx, Form, Isms’ aims to explore historical valences of Formalist theory in relation to Marxist thought.

Thursday June 4th
The Boardroom, University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London W1T

5:30 – 7.30 pm Keynote Lecture: John Roberts (University of Wolverhampton)
Shklovsky, Error and the End of Saint Petersburg

Friday June 5th (day event)
Room 401, University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London W1T

10-11am Close Reading workshop on Osip Brik’s, “The So-Called Formalist Method” (1923)
Text: osip-brik-the-so-called-formal-method-1
Presented by Anke Hennig (CSM), David Cunningham (IMCC), Anthony Iles (Mute)

11:15-12:15 Panel I: Updating the Marxism-Formalism Debate
Galin Tihanov (Queen Mary, London)  Formalism and Soviet Power: A Necessary Reconsideration
Anke Henning (Central Saint Martins) Trotsky on Strindberg

12:15-1.15pm lunch

1.15-.145pm Panel II: Marxism and Formalism Today
Helen Palmer (Goldsmiths College, London) Queering Defamiliarization: Marxism, Manifestos and Matter

2-3:30pm Film Screening of Duncan Campbell It for Others (54mins)
Chaired by Anthony Iles

Friday June 5th (evening event)
Marxism in Culture Seminar, Torrington Room, Senate House, University of London

5:30 – 7.30 pm Final Roundtable: A Re-enactment of the Marxism-Formalism Debate
Participants: David Cunningham, Anke Hennig, Anthony Iles, Jan Levchenko, Marina Vishmidt

For more details please see the RetroFormalism website at: http://retroformalism.net/en/start

PhD Bursaries in Modern and Contemporary

Written by on Friday, posted in News (No comments yet)

The Department of English, Linguistics and Cultural Studies at Westminster is offering two studentships to prospective PhD students to begin in September 2015.

Full details and application here.

Based in the heart of London, we have a lively research culture consisting of conferences and research seminars, and the work done in our two research centres, the Institute of Modern and Contemporary Culture and the Centre for the Study of Science and the Imagination.

Applications are invited for the following awards for up to three years of full-time study:

One fee waiver (Home/EU rate) and £10,000 per year for three years.
One fee waiver (Home/EU rate) and £5,000 per year for three years.

We are looking for high-quality prospective doctoral students who will contribute to at least one of the following core areas of research in the department:

Modern and Contemporary Literature and Culture
Literature and Science
English Language and Linguistics

Successful candidates will be expected to carry out a number of hours of duties in the department as part of their training and development.

Deadline for applications is 5pm on Friday 31 May 2015.

Prospective candidates wishing to informally discuss an application should contact Dr Leigh Wilson (wilsonl@westminster.ac.uk).

Full details and application here.