RHN 131/2023 | Opportunity
ERC Starting Grant Project ‘CATTLEFRONTIERS – (Post)Colonial Cattle Frontiers: Capitalism, Science and Empire in Southern and Central Africa, 1890s-1970s’ (2023-2028), principal investigator: Prof. Dr. Samuël Coghe
Department of History, Ghent University, Belgium
Closing date for applications: 17 December 2023
3 PhD research positions in African and Global History
Contract for 4 years (100% occupancy rate)
Requirements: MA degree in History, African Studies, History of Science, Anthropology or a closely related field (to be completed by the start date of the position)
Job description
The History Department at Ghent University is recruiting 3 doctoral fellows for the ERC Starting Grant Project ‘CATTLEFRONTIERS – (Post)Colonial Cattle Frontiers: Capitalism, Science and Empire in Southern and Central Africa, 1890s-1970s’ (2023-2028), under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Samuël Coghe.
CATTLEFRONTIERS explores how colonialism, global capitalism and science transformed cattle production in Southern and Central Africa during the colonial and early postcolonial period. From the 1890s to 1970s, (post)colonial governments, scientists, entrepreneurs and settlers promoted a broad range of interventions to overcome the allegedly uneconomic attitudes of African pastoralists and turn cattle into profitable commodities. Adopted, adapted, contested or eluded by African cattle herders and owners, these interventions transformed pre-existing cattle economies, pastoralist societies, rural ecologies and animal populations in many and often unexpected ways.
CATTLEFRONTIERS breaks new ground by offering the first history of these transformation processes from hoof to table, for multiple empires and over a long time frame, and by integrating them into global history through the concept of ‘commodity frontiers’ (see Joseph 2019; Beckert/Bosma/Schneider/Vanhaute 2021). It pursues these objectives through a series of interlocking case studies on French, Portuguese and Belgian (post)colonies in Southern and Central Africa (most notably French Congo, Madagascar, Angola, Mozambique, Belgian Congo, Ruanda and Burundi). These case studies relate to 4 lines of inquiry, of which the following 3 will be managed by the 3 doctoral fellows:
1. ‘The Biological Frontier: Veterinary Knowledge, Technologies and Animal Bodies’. Starting from a case study on the history of African Animal Trypanosomiasis (AAT) in the Belgian Congo/DRC, Ruanda and Burundi (1890s-1970s), this line of inquiry will analyse how (European and African) veterinary knowledge and technologies were produced, circulated, adapted, implemented, neglected and/or contested in order to protect and/or improve the health and physical constitution of cattle in (post)colonial Central Africa.
2. ‘The Mental Frontier: Pastoralist Subjectivities, Colonial Control and Market Integration’. Starting from a case study on Angola and Mozambique (1890s-1970s), this line of inquiry will analyse pastoralist change/strategies and colonial policies towards pastoralists in Southern Africa.
3. ‘The Socio-Ecological Frontier: Land, Environment and Labour’. Starting from a case study on new forms of cattle production (including ranching) in Katanga (1910s-1970s), this line of inquiry will analyse the commoditization of land, labour and the environment.
A case study relating to the fourth line of inquiry (‘The Commercial Frontier’: Production, Trade and Consumption of Cattle Commodities’) will be conducted by a postdoctoral fellow. The PI’s case study will combine the four lines of inquiry.
The case studies will draw on multi-sited archival work and, to some extent, oral history, combining approaches from colonial, African, globa l, social, economic and environmental history, as well as from the history of science and medicine.
Your Tasks:
- You will focus on one of the three lines of inquiry for doctoral fellows and conduct the corresponding case study. It is recommended that you work on the particular case study mentioned for ‘your’ line of inquiry, but you are encouraged to bring your own ideas to the topic and to help shape research on both the line of inquiry and case study.
- You will complete a PhD thesis under the supervision of the Principal Investigator (PI).
- You will contribute to the outputs of CATTLEFRONTIERS, most notably by (co-)authoring publications; co-organizing workshops, conferences and lecture series; presenting your results at international workshops and conferences; and contributing to the project’s website and social media accounts.
- You will assist the team with administrative and organizational support.
- You will actively contribute to the activities of the research group Economies, Comparisons, Connections (ECC) and of the History Department at UGent in general.
- You will, where appropriate, share research data and collaborate with other team members.
More information on the job profile and how to apply can be found here: https://www.ugent.be/en/work/scientific/3-phd-research-positions-4-years-in-african-and-global-history