About the Project

Food Protests and Archival Politics

As postdoctoral researcher, you will be responsible for the Ottoman subproject within the Daily Bread project, which compares food protests between circa 1500-1800 in Dutch, Italian and Ottoman cities. In its methodology, the project merges social history’s attention for the politically disenfranchised with cultural history’s sensitivity to the impact of power on archives and history-writing. It also draws on insights from environmental and comparative urban history. Its primary objectives are to 1) recast the debate on how ordinary men and women shaped pre-democratic politics; 2) advance the agenda of comparative urban history; 3) answer environmental historians’ call to examine societal responses to climate change. Ultimately, the project aims to uncover the power relations at play in the streets, the archive and the production of history.

This is what we ask of you

• a recent (up to 5 years maximum after completion) PhD in History, Ottoman Studies, or a related discipline, held by the time of appointment;
• an excellent research and publication record in relation to your career stage and academic culture;
• a demonstrable affinity with the history of food, protest, and/or archival politics;
• excellent command of both spoken and written English;
• excellent knowledge of Ottoman Turkish and other relevant languages;
• a strong willingness to work collaboratively as part of an international research team;
• demonstrable organizational skills;
• commitment to relocate to the Netherlands: the position involves regular in-person meetings in Amsterdam.