Research Associate: Global Socio-Economic Rights, Local Contexts: Work in East Africa and Western Europe, 1880 to the Present

Contract Type:

Full-time, fixed-term for three years with a start date of 1 October 2024 and an end date of 30 September 2027

We are looking for a highly motivated and professional individual to work with Dr Julia Moses on the AHRC -funded project ‘Global Socio-Economic Rights, Local Contexts: Work in East Africa and Western Europe, 1880 to the Present’. The project investigates how contemporaries since the late nineteenth century, and especially between the end of the Second World War and global economic downturn in 1973, have understood and expressed socio-economic rights: in particular, related to work (or choosing not to work), to earn one's own money and to maintain certain 'living standards'. This project suggests that work stands at the core of understandings of socio-economic rights and parses how the relationship between rights and work is contingent on different historical and cultural contexts. It offers a global perspective, charting four connected case studies - the UK, Germany, Kenya and Tanzania. It asks how ideas about and policies on work-related rights have been articulated in different settings, over time, and how these have diffused globally, through interpersonal and international connections, new developments in international law and changing experiences of and expectations about the relationship between the economy, society and the state. It also reflects on the specific sociological contexts and connotations of ideas about socioeconomic rights, including how women, ethnic and religious minorities, children and the elderly, have fitted into and shaped discussions and policies.

As a Research Associate, your primary task will be to draw on archival and published British, German and international sources related to understandings of social rights around work in the period between ca 1945 and 1973, and to carry out oral history interviews in Britain and Germany (in English and German). You will be expected to contribute to a co-authored monograph, journal article and policy paper on this topic as well as to contribute to the project website, including a virtual exhibition and blog, alongside other tasks, including helping with project management, working with external stakeholders and co-organising project events. The successful applicant will be based at Sheffield’s Department of History, mentored and line-managed by Dr Moses. They will also be expected to spend up to four months during the project at the Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany, mentored by Professor Stefan Berger.

You will have a doctorate in modern history, or equivalent experience; research experience with German and British primary sources; and, excellent communication skills in English and German. Ideally, you will also have experience with oral history; public engagement; digital humanities; and project management.

This post is fixed-term, full-time for 3 years with a start date of Tuesday, 1 October 2024 and an end date of 30 September 2027.

To apply for this job please go to www.sheffield.ac.uk/jobs and search for the job using the reference number provided.

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