Maître de conférences (equivalent to Assistant/Associate professor, with tenure at the end of the first year) (EXPIRED)

Teaching Profile

The “Humanities and Music” program is unique in France and contributes to Nantes University’s special character, attractiveness and reputation. The program enables Humanities students from various disciplines throughout the “Humanities Cluster” to develop a real understanding of music. Conversely, it enables musicians to deepen their theoretical, aesthetic and scientific reflection on their practice.

Working in a key position within a team comprising an associate professor in philosophy and music, as well as temporary lecturers (academics and professional musicians), the successful candidate will be responsible for the pedagogical and organizational coordination of the “Humanities and Music” program, in addition to teaching.

The courses they will teach may include Musical analysis and harmony, Introduction to composition (second year), Topics in musical culture: panorama of ethnomusicology (first year), Music and human sciences (second year), and History and analysis of Western music (third year). A solid background as an instrumentalist and technical training in the teaching of music theory are therefore required. Occasional contribution to the preparation of competitive exams for teachers of secondary schools (“CAPES” and “Agrégation”) in various disciplines in connection with musical aesthetics, is also expected.

The primary teaching language is French, and the successful candidate will be required to be able to teach in French at the latest one year after their arrival. The ability to teach in another language is also highly desirable.

Research profile

The person recruited will be affiliated with the Centre atlantique de philosophie (UR 7463 CAPhi). They will be involved in developing interdisciplinary research in all the fields represented at CAPhi (including, but not limited to, musicology, philosophy, sociology, or literature) on music and its aesthetic, metaphysical, social or political dimensions. For more information about CAPhi and its activities: https://www.caphi-philo.fr/

The successful candidate may collaborate with colleagues in the other departments of the “Lettres et Langages” Research and Teaching Unit (i.e., Linguistics, Literature and Classics, and Education), or with colleagues in other disciplines in the “Humanities” Cluster. International experience, demonstrated through publications and research activities, will be particularly appreciated, as will responsiveness to calls for applications for research funding.

The successful candidate will contribute to Nantes University’s international standing in the contemporary musicological debate, by strengthening its institutional ties with musicology departments at other universities, and by carrying out international-level research and projects.

External outreach profile

In the absence of a musicology department at Nantes University, the person recruited will be responsible for maintaining long-established external partnerships, both cultural and educational:

- with the international music festival La Folle Journée;

- with Angers Nantes Opéra;

- with the Nantes Conservatory;

- with Ensemble Utopik, a nationally-renowned contemporary music ensemble;

- with the continuing education department of Nantes University (and its university diploma in Music Therapy).

Pursuing a tradition to which CAPhi is strongly attached, the successful candidate will be expected to pay particular attention to the promotion and dissemination of research, and to engage in activities outside the University, for diverse audiences and non-specialists.

About Nantes and Nantes University

Located on the banks of the Loire, immediately south of Brittany, Nantes is a friendly city, renowned for its quality of life. With a growing population of more than 320,000 (greater urban area: 680,000), it is the sixth largest city in France, and one of the most dynamic, green, and livable cities on the Atlantic Coast. The seacoast is about 45 min from the city center by car, while Paris can be reached in 2 h 20 min by train. Nantes is renowned for its welcoming, family-friendly atmosphere, as well as for its history, gastronomy (with six Michelin-starred establishments), and rich cultural offerings. In addition to multiple concert halls, music and sports venues, art galleries, and cinemas, these include the historic Château des Ducs de Bretagne, the Fine Arts Museum, the Voyage à Nantes (a 20km “dispersed monument” of contemporary art which is renewed every summer), and the Machines of the Isle of Nantes, an artistic project inspired by both the city’s industrial past and the universe of Jules Verne, who was a native of Nantes. For more information about the city: https://www.levoyageanantes.fr/en/

The first university of Nantes was founded in 1460. Today, Nantes University offers a university model that is unique in France, bringing together a university, a university hospital (CHU de Nantes), a technological research institute (IRT Jules Verne), a national research organization (Inserm) and several “grandes écoles” (Centrale Nantes, École des Beaux-Arts Nantes Saint-Nazaire, École d’Architecture de Nantes). It has over 43,000 students, including over 4,000 international students, and 42 research centers. For more information about Nantes University: https://english.univ-nantes.fr/