The Department of History at the University of Basel, Switzerland, invites applications for a PhD position in a global history project led by Prof. Dr. Marie Muschalek (principal investigator, PI), to be filled as of April 1st, 2025 or by agreement.
The project explores the life-worlds of nature experts who killed animals in order to keep and study them in the long nineteenth century. Team members will research the practices, people, and objects of this endeavor in multiple places in the world:
Case Studies
1. Birds in the tropical dry and moist forests of Northern South America
2. Fish and mollusks in the shallow and deep waters of the Southwestern Pacific
3. Large mammals in the mixed wood and grasslands of Southern Africa (done by the PI)
We seek researchers interested in:
1. daily practices in the field, manual skills and techniques of capturing, shooting, skinning, and preserving animals,
2. the men and women, indigenous and intruder alike, involved in the business of collecting animals-turned-specimens, and/or
3. the specimens, trophies, and marketable commodities they produced.
Our goal is to account for the complexities of human curiosity and the many different and culturally specific histories of violence against nonhuman and human life within the broader framework of colonial subjugation and its politics of difference.
Your position
As a PhD candidate, you will research the collection of fish and mollusks in the Southwestern Pacific, which was the stage of sustained and intense seafaring exploration and multi-imperial penetration throughout the entire nineteenth century. Possibly including the collectors of Hamburg’s Godeffroy Museum, you will follow those naturalist journeys that crossed the vast seas between islands, littorals, and archipelagos in search of marine life, while critically relying on indigenous navigation and fishing skills and animal knowledge.
You will be expected to
* conduct independent archival research and complete the dissertation within the funding period;
* actively participate in advancing the project’s overall research goals and collaborate closely with your teammates;
* help with administrative tasks, conference organization, communication tasks, and webpage content management.
You will be encouraged to
* conduct fieldwork and respectfully collaborate with local experts in the geographical area of your work package;
* publish one peer-reviewed article or book chapter;
* present your findings at international conferences.
Your profile
* You must hold a Master's degree (or equivalent) in History or a related discipline.
* You must be fluent in English, our team’s working language. Additional language proficiencies relevant to your work package are welcome.
* You must take residence in Basel during the entire contract period and be able to travel for the project’s field research.
* You should have some experience in archival research and a familiarity with the historiography of the Southwestern Pacific’s (post-)colonial past.
* You should be keen to learn, open to creative, experimental work, and eager to actively participate in the team effort.
We offer you
* A fully funded PhD position (4 years) at the History Department at the University of Basel, Switzerland.
* A motivated, interdisciplinary team that will support your ideas, research, and career in a stimulating, welcoming, and multicultural environment.
* You will pursue your dissertation project within a collaborative framework, affiliated as a member of the team.
* Salary and social benefits are provided according to university standards.
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