Title of the fellowships: Micro-histories of Industrial Woodlands in Eastern Europe (1870-1914)
Location: University of Turin, Italy
Salary: €2,100 net per month, plus full reimbursement of conference and archival trip expenses.
Hours: full-time
Contract type: 2 years, renewable (2+2)
Deadline: 23 September 2024, 1pm CET
Job reference: DSS.2024.05-06
Applications are invited for 2 postdoc positions in History to be held at the Department of Historical Studies of the University of Turin, Italy. The postdoctoral fellows will join the team of the ERC Starting Grant project INWOOD – Industrial Wood: European Industrialisation as Seen from the Forests (1870-1914).
About the project
INWOOD studies industrialisation through the most important pre-industrial resource: wood. Scholarship on industrialisation has concentrated on the introduction and spread of new energy sources and materials, paying scant attention to the pre-existing resources. However, available data shows that wood was fundamental in the key sectors driving industrialisation, while its consumption increased during this process.
INWOOD analyses the role that wood played during industrialisation and the impact of industrialisation on the actors and sectors most involved in wood use, with a focus on Europe during the first globalisation (1870-1914). Inspired by current debates on ecological crisis and energy transition, the project pioneers an interdisciplinary and multi-scale approach to analyse the links between the following interrelated issues:
Economic dynamics on a macro scale: the changes in wood consumption in relation to industrial demands, but also the spread of alternative energy sources and materials; the transformation triggered by industrial technology in the geography of wood flows and in the logistics of the wood supply chain.
Social dynamics on a micro scale: the impact of changes in the wood economy on the populations living close to the woodlands, in both the areas that were central before industrialisation and those that became central because of it; the choices made by actors involved in the exploitation of woodlands when faced with these developments.
Ecological dynamics on multiple scales: the evolution of the European forest cover in terms of reforestation in some regions and deforestation in others; the main qualitative changes in the forest landscape in terms of tree species composition, age and density.
INWOOD integrates sources and analytical methods to change the way scholars understand industrialisation and to provide the historical context for present-day debate about the role of forests in climate change mitigation and biodiversity preservation.
About the positions
The postdocs will work within the ERC project ‘INWOOD – Industrial Wood: European Industrialisation as Seen from the Forests (1870-1914)’. The postdocs will analyze specific areas of Central and Eastern Europe (preferably within the Austro-Hungarian Empire) that experienced a boom in timber processing and trading activities between the late 19th century and the early 20th century. The postdocs will adopt a micro-analytical approach to study the socio-economic impact of these transformations on rural communities and the ecological impact on the forest landscape at the local level. Ideal candidates should have proficiency in English and at least one of the languages of the area, as well as experience in analyzing archival sources produced between 1870 and 1914 by forest authorities, state authorities, local institutions, timber merchants, etc.
Language Proficiency: English, German and another language of Central and Eastern Europe
Application process
Application must be submitted through the University of Turin PICA portal, following the instructions of this document (available only in Italian, sorry for this). Queries about the position should be addressed to Giacomo Bonan, project PI: giacomo.bonan@unito.it
Job Reference for the online procedure: DSS.2024.05-06
Job Title for the online procedure: Micro-histories of Industrial Woodlands in Eastern Europe (1870-1914)
