PRR Project

Summary

This position is for an Assistant Professor in Classical Studies, with a double goal. The employee will conduct teaching activities in the Classical Studies section of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures (DLLC), Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Coimbra (FLUC). And the position also entails conducting research in the Centre for Classical and Humanistic Studies (CECH). In order to understand the relevance of the scientific profile requested and the rationale for this strategic hiring, some context must be provided.The CECH displays a strong focus on Greek and Latin Philology (in the areas of language, literature and culture). Through the connection between teaching and research, the CECH is heavily involved in teaching activities at the FLUC. Professors whose research takes place in the context of the CECH teach a significant number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the area of Classical Studies, as well as introductory disciplines and others that are transversal to the various degrees of the FLUC. Against this backdrop, it should be noted that the area of Classical Studies is facing a huge shortage of teaching staff, which makes the hiring of an Assistant Professor of Classical Studies, more specifically in in the area of Greek, and specialising in Ancient History and Ancient Philosophy, absolutely vital. Such a position, which falls within one of the main scientific domains of both the centre and the department, is needed to teach specific undergraduate, master’s and doctoral courses in Classical Studies, such as Greek Language and Literature, Ancient Historiography, Themes of Greek Prose and Poetry, “Ethos, Praxis and Poiesis” (a doctoral seminar in Classical Studies-Poetics and Hermeneutics), as well as introductory courses such as Origins of Western Thought and cross-cutting courses such as Greco-Latin Mythology.This hiring can thus be seen as providing a much needed renewal to the Classical Studies section, which has not made any new hiring in twenty-five years and in the meantime has seen its permanent Faculty decrease by 50 per cent and the percentage of teaching service provided by researchers and visiting professors with temporary and precarious work contracts increase dramatically. Furthermore, this position is also of strategic importance because it will enrich the department and the centre with fundamental and innovative research in an area without which the department and the centre will not be able to thrive. Such a hiring would guarantee the continuity of teaching activity and ensure the smooth running of the Centre, allowing for a more equitable and fair distribution of service among human resources.It should be noted that the CECH’s overarching scientific profile in Philology is permanently enriched by research conducted in fields of knowledge that have contributed to humanistic education since their Ancient Greek origins, such as Literature, Philosophy, the Arts and History. The CECH adopts a firm strategy of internationalisation and has increasingly taken on a role of interlocutor, facilitating dialogue between the North and the South (through the triangulation of Europe, the United States and Latin America) in terms of research, advanced knowledge production and dissemination pertaining to the field of Classical and Humanistic Studies. The profile of the candidate to be hired must therefore correspond to the CECH’s main research areas, while also being able to produce top research in those areas and contribute to the centre’s internationalisation by establishing international research partnerships and publish in international journals and publishing houses.One of the main and most productive research areas at the CECH is the research group of “DIAITA Heritage: Food, Environment and Well-being”, coordinated by Carmen Soares and devoted to the study of food from historical, cultural and heritage perspectives, in its global, national and local dimensions, focusing on the Mediterranean diet and food sustainability from Greco-Roman antiquity to the present day. One of the dimensions of this research group that the hiring should strengthen is that of environmental studies and the interaction between nature and culture in the ancient world, in line with themes, social concerns and fields of study that are prevalent today, such as the Environmental Humanities. The prospective employee will therefore contribute to this working group. As this is a multidisciplinary group and the subject of the environment is also multidisciplinary, the candidate should have skills in Greek philology and a good knowledge of Ancient Historiography, particularly Herodotus and Thucydides, as well as of Ancient Philosophy, given that the theme of nature is central to authors such as Plato and Aristotle, or to currents of Greek philosophy such as Epicureanism and Stoicism.