Postdoc Position in Anthropology AlterTech Activist Infrastructures in Asian Diaspora

Are you an experienced researcher of Asian activisms Are you interested in exploring how activists craft dissident infrastructures in the diaspora and circumvent long-distance surveillance Would you like to conduct multi-sited research in Europe and explore the possibilities of multi-modal collaborative knowledge production Are you an energetic team player and passionate about developing theoretical synergies from different ethnographic subprojects

Postdoctoral position in ERC project AlterTech

The Department of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam is currently seeking a postdoctoral researcher for the project Activist Techtopias: Crafting Alternate Infrastructures of Resistance in Asia (AlterTech) led by Dr Yatun Sastramidjaja. The project is funded by a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant.

The Department of Anthropology is one of the departments at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FMG). The postdoc position is embedded in the programme group Moving Matters: People Goods Power and Ideas which is part of the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR).

The project and what you will do

AlterTech is an ethnographic study of how rights and grassroots movements across Asia navigate deepening digital repression by experimenting with new practices and uses of technologies both to dodge the repression and to disrupt the infrastructures that enable it. It examines how political and technological action intersect and how movement infrastructures are reconfigured in a contextwhere state surveillance and surveillance capitalism coalesce. By decentring the digital in our concept of technology and exploring how technologies are crafted and infrastructures are reassembled bottom-up we aim to uncover how a novel type of technopolitics and utopian imaginaries evolve in practices of resistanceand everyday struggle.

Inspired by decolonial epistemology and using a multi-modal collaborative methodology AlterTech seeks not only to analyse these processes but also to engage in them. We therefore seek to form a team of dedicated researchers who are committed to exploring the generative possibilities of engaged scholarship. The research team consisting of three PhD candidates one postdoctoral researcher and the Principal Investigator (PI) will conduct ethnographic research at different scales. While the PI will examine hemispheric entanglements among transnational NGOs and the PhD candidates will develop ethnographic case studies in specific settings in Asia the postdoctoral researcher will conduct a multi-sited study among activists-in-exile and diaspora in Europe.

The postdoctoral project will examine how dissident infrastructures are made in the diaspora and explore the role of situated nodes in emerging networks in a context of geographical dispersion and long-distance surveillance. We suggest the case of diaspora from China Hong Kong or Myanmar. However strong proposals on different cases will be considered. Together with the PI the postdoctoral researcher will also take an active role in creating synergy among the various sub-projects with the aim to advance theories of infrastructural interventions and multiscalar technopolitics of contemporary activism.

Your tasks

• You will conduct a multi-sited ethnographic research project on diasporic Asian activism in Europe through the lens of infrastructure and technopolitics.
• You will publish at least one single-authored and two co-authored articles based on this research and co-edit a special issue on the subject.
• You will present your work at team workshops at international conferences and at research seminars in the Anthropology Department of the University of Amsterdam.
• You will assist the PI in coordinating the project as well as in theory-building.
• You are expected to live in the Netherlands and take active part in team meetings and the research environment at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) and the Moving Matters programme group.

What do you have to offer

You have:

• a PhD within the social sciences or humanities preferably in social and cultural anthropology. The degree must have been obtained before the employment starting date;
• excellent oral and written communication skills in English;
• excellent command of ethnographic research methods and the ability and willingness to conduct challenging fieldwork on a sensitive topic;
• language proficiency and in-depth knowledge of the group you will do your research with;
• independent thinking and critical analytical skills;
• excellent collaboration skills and the ability to join interdisciplinary academic communities;
• excellent organisational skills needed to finish the project in three years while assisting the PI in coordinating the overall project; e.g. independent and proactive work attitude good planning and academic writing skills.

You preferably have:

• previous research experience with ethnography of activism;
• knowledge of or affinity with current debates in anthropology of infrastructure technology and activism;
• affinity with decolonial and engaged anthropology and commitment to exploring multi-modal participatory methods;
• a promising publication record relative to opportunity in academic and non-academic outlets.

This is what we offer you

The position concerns temporary employment of 30.4 hours per week (0.8 fte) for a maximum term of three years. Employment will in principle start on 1 September 2026 and will initially be for one year. Following a positive assessment and barring altered circumstances this term will be extended by two years.

In case of equal qualifications internal candidates will be given preference over external candidates.

What else do we offer

• a position in which initiative and input are highly valued;
• an enthusiastic and warm team that is open to new colleagues;
• an inspiring academic and international community in the heart of Amsterdam.

You will work in this team

To work at the Department of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam is to work in a discerning independent creative innovative and international climate characterised by an open atmosphere and a genuine engagement with academic colleagues as well as with the communities we study. You will be based within the program group Moving Matters: People Goods Power and Matters is a renowned centre of political anthropology and contemporary Asian studies which explores themes such as transnational flows and mobilities structural inequalities and changing power relations. We are a close-knit community that values social interaction and peer support as much as academic performance.

If this vacancy speaks to you but you are uncertain whether you meet all requirements please do get in touch with us or light of our departments commitment to a diverse and inclusive working environment we strongly encourage applications from qualified candidates who come from groups historically disenfranchised by and underrepresented in Dutch academia.

You may apply online by using the link below. Applications in one .pdf should be submitted no later than 9 March 2026 and should include:

1. your application letter describing your qualifications and motivation. Please specify which aspects of the project you are interested in and tell us what brought you to your present focus of intellectual and scholarly interests. Also briefly describe the case study you would like to explore (2 pages max.);
2. your Curriculum Vitae;
3. a scan of your PhD certificate;
4. contact information for two academic references (no letters of recommendation at this stage);
5. an example of writing (max. 25 pages) that reflects your qualifications for this position.

Shortlisted candidates will be invited for an interview. Interviews will be held in the first week of April 2026.

Do you have any questions or do you require additional information Please contact: Yatun Sastramidjaja Associate Professor in Anthropology and Principal Investigator of AlterTech .

No agencies please