Postdoctoral position on "QUEER RESISTANCE IN CONTEXT" (m/f/d)

You will be affiliated to the Research Institute for Organizational Psychology , which is seeking a postdoctoral research to work on the Stepping Stone project "Queer Resistance in Context: A Cross-Cultural and Multi-Spatial Ethnography of the Sociocultural Conditions in Which Creative Queer Spaces Organize Resistance". The project is led by Dr. Elo Reiss.
As field work will encompass research on queer BIPOC collectives in the Global Minority and Majority World, it is important for the researcher to be culturally embedded in those communities, have respective theoretical backgrounds in queer-, intersectional gender- and decolonial studies, as well as ethnographic experience.

Project Overview: The research project „Queer Resistance in Context“, which will be submitted to the SNF Starting Grant, investigates how creative queer BIPOC collectives organize resistance across different political, social, economic, cultural, and historical contexts. Extending beyond a Eurocentric framework, the study centers on the Global Majority's experiences, examining queer spatial practices as forms of resistance. The project seeks to answer the research question: How does resistance emerge from creative queer BIPOC collectives within different sociocultural conditions? The study has three key objectives: (1) understanding queer affective atmospheres in embodied encounters of BIPOC collectives, (2) analyzing the organization of queer resistance across diverse sociopolitical contexts, and (3) comparing the challenges of reproduction and transformation within queer BIPOC collectives. “Queer Resistance in Context” engages with these dynamics through a queer and decolonial theoretical lens that offers a critique of the current priorities in the neoliberal global discussions on organisation of resistance. Thereby, the contribution of the project reaches beyond the context of white queer activism in Europe and provides insights for organization studies of resistant organizing beyond the Global Minority World.

The position is limited to 11 months (extension may be possible depending on whether an application to the SNF starting grant is successful) and the start date is ideally 1st July or August 2025.
Applications should include a cover letter outlining how your background fits the position and your motivation for joining the project, a CV (including publications), and one writing sample.
Review of applications begins immediately, and will continue until the position is filled.

• You will conduct innovative and high-quality research for the overseas pilot study on the organization of queer resistance under different sociocultural conditions,
• take a leadership role in preparing the SNF grant proposal and collaborating on publications,
• have a central role in all aspects of the research process, from developing theory, qualitative data collection to the drafting and publishing of academic papers
• and have time dedicated to advancing your own research agenda.     

• A Ph.D. (completed or near completion) in organization studies, humanities or social sciences, with a strong background preferably in decolonial gender studies, queer studies and qualitative research methods
• Hands-on experience with designing and conducting own field work, preferably with ethnographic approaches
• Experience of working with marginalized groups, preferably BIPOC queer communities
• Effective written and verbal English-language communication, additional languages that would support data collection in a Global Majority context are an advantage
• Evidence of the capacity to prepare excellent publications
• Commitment to decolonial and race-critical queer research

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