UPDATE: The deadline for applications has been extended until 1 March 2022!

The COST Action “Worlds of Related Coercions in Work” (WORCK) calls for a radical change of perspective in labour history. It links the stories of work and production with those of violence, expropriation, and marginalisation. By studying the persistence and transformations of coercion and bondage across gender orders, geographic regions and historical eras, WORCK shifts the focus of labour history: from the male-breadwinner model and the free wage labourer or the capitalist mode of production to the understanding of the mechanisms of coercion in all work relations throughout history; from the analytical framework of the modern West to radical historicisation that helps reconceptualising labour history as a specific approach to social history and to link the study of the past with current debates on social inequalities and the flexibilisation and precarisation of work worldwide.

WORCK is a network of 32 participating countries in all Europe. It brings together scholars working on labour and coercion in different time periods and regions. It is structured around four working groups: WG1: Grammars of Coercion; WG2: Sites and Fields of Coercion; WG3: (Im)mobilisations of the Workforce; WG4: Intersecting Marginalities.

The WORCK Training School will bring together 20–25 MA and PhD students from all over Europe . The programme includes lectures from international scholars, roundtables, and seminars from WG representatives. They will focus on theoretical and methodological issues, as well as on the implementation of digital methods in research. An important part of the programme will be reserved for a Student Conference with comments from senior researchers. The expenses connected to the participation in Training School (traveling and accommodation) will be reimbursed by COST Action.

If you wish to participate in the Training School, please send us the following material for an application:

- letter of motivation
- brief description of your project – please explain the connection with the WORCK themes and perspectives and title of the paper
- CV
- proof of student status, copy of Bachelor or Master diploma

Please send your application to Teresa Petrik (teresa.petrik@univie.ac.at) by 1 March 2022. Every participant is expected to send their paper (5.000 words) by 8 May 2022.

Participation can be funded for students from COST Member Countries and COST Near Neighbour Countries. For more information, please consult https://www.cost.eu/about/cost-strategy/cost-global-networking/.