Cultural History of India 100 %

The University of Zurich invites applications for a professorship in cultural history of India (open rank) starting on 1 August 2028.

Candidates are expected to have produced excellent, internationally visible research in the cultural history of India and to bring teaching experience commensurate with their career stage. A source-based, cultural-historical research profile that engages with India's intellectual, religious, and artistic traditions and their reception, reinterpretation, and continuing impact is central to the position, whether based on textual, material, or both types of sources. Of particular importance is the demonstrated ability to connect historical and cultural-historical research with contemporary questions. Applications from Indology are as welcome as from related disciplines (e.g. Religious Studies, History, Economic History, Art History, Anthropology, Linguistics, or Legal History), provided the research is archivally and textually grounded and supported by demonstrated competence in Indian languages. Candidates must possess excellent linguistic and text-analytical competence in at least one Indian language, ideally a classical one alongside a modern Indian language (such as Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, or Urdu).

In teaching, the chair is expected to cover the cultural history of India in a wide sense, including engagement with texts, images, and objects, supported by competence in at least one Indian language. The teaching portfolio will address religion, art and material culture, law and politics, society and gender, and ritual and everyday religious practice, with the rela- tive weight given to each shaped by the profile of the appointee. Beyond innovative contributions to the field, the chair is expected to collaborate in research and teaching with the social-science chair in Indian Studies as well as with other professorships at the Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and with national and international institutions, including the Museum Rietberg and the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich.

A doctorate in Indology or a related discipline, completed by the time of application, and further excellent scholarly publications are required. Depending on the qualifications of the appointee, the professorship will be filled as a full, associate, or assistant professorship with tenure track. Teaching may be carried out in English. Non-German speaking candidates are expected to acquire a working knowledge of German within the first three years of their appointment.

The Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, the University of Zurich, and Zurich as an academic location offer a stimulating research and teaching environment with rich opportunities for scholarly exchange and collaboration.

The university of Zurich is committed to equality and to increasing diversity in research and teaching, and expressly invites applications that contribute to these goals.

Applications must be submitted online by 7 December 2026. Access and information for the online application are available on the website of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.