The
Institute for Historical Studies (IHS) at the University of Texas at Austin expects to appoint four resident fellows for 2014-2015 whose work engages with the year's theme, "Capital and Commodities." Fellowships are available for all ranks. They are not restricted to historians, but projects must have significant historical content. According to the call for applicants:
The co-development of financial and ecological crises, the global proliferation of mass consumerism, and ongoing social and military conflicts over access to natural resources suggest the critical importance of historicizing the study of capital and commodities. Indeed, over the last several decades, historians have compiled an impressive body of work on the history of
commodities and their production, circulation, uses, and cultural significance. Research into commodity chains has forced historians to consider questions of social identity formation and has invigorated analysis of systems of communication and representation. Historical studies have also revealed the impact of commodity production and consumption on natural landscapes and sociopolitical formations. Recent globalized economic crises have further helped focus scholarly attention on how commodity exchange and capital creation involve the conjunctural dimensions of history: credit booms and debt crises, cycles of inflation and deflation, economic growth (and its intellectual constructions) and limits to growth. In this
vein, the Institute encourages analytical approaches that underscore the sociocultural, political, environmental, and intellectual underpinnings of the history of capital and commodities. Proposals that encompass broad timespans (including the medieval and early modern periods) and that reach across geographic areas and disciplinary boundaries are particularly encouraged.
The application deadline is
January 15, 2014. For more information about the Institute's fellowship and application process, please visit:
http://www.utexas.edu/cola/insts/historicalstudies/fellowships/resident-fellows.php; queries should be directed to
historyinstitute@austin.utexas.edu.
