The Launch of EUTERPE
Posted on 11 November 2022
Informal queries can be directed to York’s Primary Investigator, Dr. Boriana Alexandrova, at boriana.alexandrova@york.ac.uk.
More information about EUTERPE and the other PhD posts advertised at Central European University, Utrecht University, University of Bologna, University of Oviedo, University of Lodz, and Coventry University can be found here. Please note that there are different application deadlines for each PhD post, with the earliest one being Nov 17, 2022 (Utrecht University), while others are set throughout December 2022 and early January 2023.
About this MSCA/UKRI Doctoral Network
The aim of EUTERPE is to offer an innovative approach to rethinking European cultural production in light of the complex social and political negotiations that are shaping European spaces and identities at present. EUTERPE intends to do that by bringing together gender and transnational perspectives within an interdisciplinary approach to literary and cultural studies.
The EUTERPE international consortium, involving seven European universities, will recruit, employ, and provide advanced training for 11 Doctoral Candidates who will develop original research projects (to eventually turn into monographs) in the broader area of European Literatures and Gender in Transnational Perspective. The research scope of EUTERPE will cover four main areas that form the core of our eight research and training Work Packages (WPs):
- Transnational women’s literature and its travels: points of entry and pathways (WP 1: Central European University, Austria; WP2: University of Oviedo, Spain);
- Translational genres: crossing borders in gender, form, space, and identity (WP 3 & WP4: University of Bologna, Italy; WP 10: University of York, UK);
- Transnational women intellectuals, multilingualism and decolonising European pedagogies (WP 5: Utrecht University, Netherlands; WP6: University of Oviedo, Spain; WP 11: Coventry University, UK);
- Transnational literature and cultural production: intermediality as a form of translation (WP7: University of Granada, Spain; WP8: University of Lodz, Poland).
About the “Translational Genres” research strand, University of York:
Together with the University of Bologna, the University of York team will explore how transnational and migrant writers re/imagine European identity through a variety of genres, literary forms, and methods. We will gather and study a range of texts spanning multiple genres (from fantasy and science fiction to poetry, fiction, autobiography, film, drama) and languages that approach questions of transnationality, migration, race, class, disability, and cultural identity through a gendered lens.
WP 10 (York) will specifically explore the diverse and creative ways in which multilingual writers forge new forms of literary border crossing through practices of gendered, linguistic, cultural, and formal translation. Walkowitz’s notion of the “born-translated” novel , whereby border-crossing becomes not only an act but a genre in its own right, will be expanded beyond considerations of the “novel” as a singular genre in order to encompass texts that cross borders not only between languages but also between genres, genders, and form. We intend for this research strand to make a timely and necessary contribution to emerging debates in trans/feminist studies of migrant literatures, multilingualism, and gender, deepening understandings of how multilingual and migrant writing shapes and is shaped by nuanced intersections of gender, language, culture, race, class, sexuality, and disability. The translational and the transnational will be theorized as new critical terms and methodological approaches to suit the changing notion of European culture and identity.
York’s expertise, networks, and facilities for the study and practice of translation and creative research methods will form the ideal environment for this interdisciplinary and methodologically innovative project.
The York-based Doctoral Candidate will have three main objectives:
- To build on the notion of the “born-translated” novel, or the blending of gender and sexuality studies with migrant/multilingual literary studies (as in the works of scholars such as Paul Preciado for example), in order to interrogate and reimagine the definition of translingual, border-crossing writing not merely as an aesthetic effect in transnational literatures but as a genre in its own right.
- To deepen understandings of how multilingual and migrant writing shapes and is shaped by nuanced intersections of gender, language, culture, race, class, sexuality, and/or disability.
- To experiment with practice-led research methods, using translation and/or various forms of creative practice (e.g. creative writing, performance, mixed-media artforms), alongside social science methods (e.g. interviews, focus groups), in order to develop innovative interdisciplinary methods for approaching border-crossing artworks that challenge and question existing conventions in literary scholarship.
The candidate will be supported by the rich interdisciplinary expertise, networks, and facilities provided by York’s Centre for Women’s Studies, Department of English & Related Literature, and Humanities Research Centre for the study and practice of social science and artistic research methods. The University Library will provide access to research materials, as well as mobility to the Boston Spa Library as needed. The DC will also be able to avail of the Department of English & Related Literature’s extensive networks of creative writers (not least via our illustrious Writers in Residence, Royal Literary Fellows, and the Writers at York series), alongside training in translation, creative writing, and the creative industries.
Candidate eligibility criteria:
- The successful candidate must hold a 2nd Level Master Degree (120 ECTS + 180 ECTS in a bachelor degree) or a Single Cycle Degree (minimum 300 ECTS), or a comparable university degree (Second Cycle qualification), as required by the partner universities for admission to doctoral studies, in the fields of Literature, Literary Translation, Gender Studies, or related fields post-1800. Applicants are expected to have completed their degree by November 28th, 2022.
- The candidate must have demonstrable background knowledge, study experience, and/or professional, activist, creative, or related interest/experience in literary multilingualism, multi-/transculturalism, migration, and/or gender studies.
- Fluency in any languages other than English and/or experience of working multilingually (e.g. as a translator or as an artist, activist, or professional in a multilingual setting or medium) would be strongly desirable.
Applicants must not already hold a doctorate or be within more than 12 months of their enrollment on any ongoing doctoral programme.
English Language requirements:
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IELTS |
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C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency |
176, minimum 169 in each component |
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Duolingo |
120, minimum 105 in all other components |
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LanguageCert SELT |
B2 with 33/50 in each component |
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LanguageCert IESOL |
B2 Communicator: Pass with 33/50 in each component |
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PTE Academic |
61, minimum 55 in each component |
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TOEFL |
87, minimum of 21 in each component |
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Trinity ISE III |
Merit in all requirements |
For more information on the University of York’s English language admissions criteria, please visit the English language criteria for research degrees page.