PhD position at the project “Non-Ukrainians in Revolutionary Ukraine, 1917-1921: (Trans-)National Agency in the Struggle for Emancipation and Survival”
The Anthropos Doctoral School, Polish Academy of Sciences and Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw
We invite applications for one PhD position within the Project “Non-Ukrainians in Revolutionary Ukraine, 1917-1921: (Trans-)National Agency in the Struggle for Emancipation and Survival” directed by doc. dr hab. Gennadii Korolov (Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences), and supported by a grant from the National Science Centre under the OPUS LAP scheme/WEAVE initiative, in collaboration with the Department of East European History of the University Vienna (team led by prof. dr Börries Kuzmany).
Description of the project: The project aims to re-examine one of the most crucial periods of modern Ukrainian history – the revolutionary transformation of 1917-1921 – by synthesizing the diverse experiences of the non-Ukrainian population living in Ukraine. While the existing historiography of the revolution in Ukraine has focused primarily on the state-building efforts of Ukrainian national elites, the lives and activities of non-Ukrainians have been largely overlooked. Yet, Ukraine was a multicultural space in which linguistically and confessionally heterogeneous people lived side by side. We argue that no sincere history of revolutionary Ukraine can be written without incorporating the non-Ukrainians into the narrative.
Analyzing the political, cultural, and socio-economic agency of non-Ukrainians in Ukraine from a transnational perspective is at the core of this project. The study will focus primarily on Poles, Jews, and Russians, the most numerically and historically relevant nationalities, but will also examine Germans, Greeks, Belarussians, Czechs, and Moldovans. The project’s research questions are structured in five larger thematic clusters: the analysis of in-group transformations among non-Ukrainians, non-Ukrainians’ interactions with state authorities, non-Ukrainians’ external relations with co-nationals outside Ukraine, the interactions among non-Ukrainian groupings themselves, and the ways in which non-Ukrainians have experienced violence.
The methodological approach has been conceptualized in studies of transnational and entangled history slants, which allows us to explore intergroup and transnational interactions between Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians. We reject essentialist approaches to nationalism and instead explicitly examine the complex interplay between the state’s varying national categorizations, nationalists’ mobilization efforts, the population’s ambivalent national sentiments, and people’s situative and flexible identifications. In analyzing the activities of non-Ukrainians, we use a mixed institutional and biographical approach, looking at both non-Ukrainian organizations/institutions and individual trajectories. This mixed-methodology approach includes extensive use of primary sources from archives and libraries in Ukraine, Poland, Austria, Germany, Israel, and the United States.
The originality of our project lies in our aim to involve non-Ukrainians in the study of the post-imperial transformation processes in revolutionary Ukraine. We introduce innovative approaches, such as a transnational and entangled perspective, and a bottom-up approach to exploring the actions of non-Ukrainians. In addition, our attention to the gendered phenomenon of political emancipation and violence will provide insights into the intersectionality of nationalism and gender/sex. The results of the study will have a significant impact on the broader fields of history of revolutions and nationalism studies.
Scope of work:
- preparing a doctoral dissertation related to the project topic within 4 years as part of the training program at the Anthropos Doctoral School,
- participating in research team meetings online and in person (in Vienna and Warsaw),
- conducting archival research in the country of doctoral thesis and in international archives,
- participating in international conferences,
- preparing at least two articles and submitting it to an international journal,
- supporting the project manager in organizational matters.
Eligibility criteria:
- candidates must hold an MA degree in humanities or social sciences,
- good knowledge of the history of Poland, Ukraine and Russia in the first half of the 20th century,
- interest in history of Ukraine, I World War and issue of national minorities,
- experience in working with published and archival sources of the first half of the 20th century,
- very good knowledge of Polish or Ukrainian, Russian or Belarusian (depending on the chosen research area) and very good command of English (at a level enabling free communication and writing scientific articles),
- willingness to acquire new skills and work in a team,
- motivation to prepare your research project and develop an international academic career.
We offer:
- work in an international research team,
- financing of trips to archives and academic conferences,
- access to necessary literature,
- PhD supervision and support in the development of academic skills,
- support in the development of an academic career,
- a possibility to do part of the work remotely and an individualized PhD program.
Applications should contain:
- Attached recruitment form
- A letter of motivation
- In separate files:
- ID-sized photograph of the candidate
- copy of a master’s thesis or its equivalent (in PDF format)
- for non-EU applicants: certified diploma or certified translation, or a recognition statement provided by the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange (NAWA)
- confirmation of transfer of enrolment fee. The enrolment fee is PLN 150. Candidates should make payment to the account number of the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences: 04 1130 1017 0020 1463 2420 0002 (Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, SWIFT code: GOSKPLPW), and in the title of the payment write “Anthropos admissions” as well as your first and last name
Documents* should be sent electronically by November 30, 2024 to:
- szkola.anthropos@ihpan.edu.pl (subject: PhD student OPUS LAP – NURU – IH PAN)
- gkorolov@ihpan.edu.pl (subject: PhD student OPUS LAP – NURU – IH PAN)
Applications received after the deadline will not be considered for the selection process. The submission of documents should be understood as their receipt by the entities indicated in the announcement.
Candidates who successfully pass the evaluation of the submitted documentation will be admitted for an interview. The interviews will be held in English.
Starting date: February 3, 2025. The contract is for a maximum of 48 months. Monthly stipend is 4276.07 PLN gross for the first two years before the mid-term evaluation and 5340.90 PLN gross after this evaluation (gross amounts from which Social Security contributions of the PhD student are deducted). The scholarship is awarded in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Higher Education and Science and the regulations adopted by the National Science Center. Inquiries can be addressed to szkola.anthropos@ihpan.edu.pl and gkorolov@ihpan.edu.pl
* A candidate’s personal data are processed by the Institute of History at the Polish Academy of Sciences (Rynek Starego Miasta 31, 00-272 Warsaw) for the purposes of this application. Data is shared voluntarily, but these data are necessary for the application process. Data will be processed during the necessary period for carrying out a selection process, including archiving. Data can be shared with authorized entities, and administrative and organizational services, on the basis of applicable laws.
The person to whom the data belong, maintains the right to access their own personal data, as well as the right to correct that data, delete them or limit their processing. In addition, your personal data can be transferred at your request or you can file a complaint about its processing with the Office of Personal Data Protection.
For all matters concerning the processing of personal data, please contact the Inspector of Data Protection of the IH PAN: iodo@ihpan.edu.pl. Detailed information is available on our website: https://ihpan.edu.pl/en/about-us/personal-data-protection/
