B-magic: The Magic Lantern and its Cultural Impact as Visual Mass Medium in Belgium (1830-1940): PhD vacancies

There are 6 PhD vacancies available within the B-magic project. Be
sure to submit your applications by July 2. More information regarding
the positions, terms of appointment, and the project can be found on
our website www.B-magic.eu

The B-magic project aims to ‘rediscover the various functions’ of the
lantern performance within the Belgian public sphere, in particular,
its use in the transmission and negotiation of knowledge, norms and
values by different societal groups. Scientists and entertainers,
teachers and priests, political movements and organisations: they all
used projected visual narratives to inform, entertain, educate and
mobilize audiences of up to more than a thousand people per occasion.
The lantern was the first visual mass medium to contest the printed
word as a primary mode of information and instruction. All layers of
society, both literate and illiterate, received visual information
about nature, religion, science, new technologies and foreign
countries. Our team therefore consists of researchers from cultural
history and history of science, media and communication science, and
film and theatre history. Together, we will investigate the role of
the magic lantern in the first hundred years of Belgian history.

The B-magic consortium will research the *pivotal role of the magic
lantern in Belgian society*from the country’s independence (1830) up
to 1940, when its use declined. To this end, it brings together an
interdisciplinary team of researchers from Performance Studies, Cinema
and Media Studies, Urban History, History of Science and Knowledge,
Communication Studies, Semiotics, and Narratology. B-Magic will
produce the first comprehensive study of the role of the magic lantern
as a mass medium in a country.

Vacancies

The B-magic project will host six PhD candidates. Vacancies are now published and open until July 2.

University of Antwerp (UA)

* Doctoral student, Theatre studies and intermediality – 2018BAPFLWEF170:

https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/jobs/vacancies/ap/2018bapflwef170/

* Doctoral student, Urban history – 2018BAPFLWEF169:

https://www.uantwerpen.be/en/jobs/vacancies/ap/2018bapflwef169/

KU Leuven

* PhD position, Cultural History since 1750 – BAP-2018-267:

https://www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jobsite/jobs/54643720?hl=en&lang=en

Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB)

* PhD position in theatre studies – EURAXESS Job Offer id: 304244: