The Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology (Germany) and the Department of General History at the University of Geneva (Switzerland) invite applications for a PhD research scholarship within the project “Resilient Forest Cities: Utopia and Development in the Brazilian Amazon (20th and 21st centuries)”. The RESILIENT project is a newly-funded Grant of the Gerda Henkel Foundation as part of the special Programme: Lost Cities: Perception of and living with abandoned cities in the cultures of the world.

This interdisciplinary project is coordinated by Dr. Danielle Viegas (P.I.,Germany) within the isoTROPIC Research Group led by Dr. Patrick Roberts, together with Prof. Dr. Antoine Acker (Switzerland) and Prof. Dr. Patrícia Vieira (Portugal). It focuses on 20th century ‘lost cities’ in the Brazilian Amazon, exploring the ambiguity of notions of ‚lost‘ and ‚city‘ as well as the resilience of industrial cities in tropical forests. RESILIENT will use historical documents to explore the tension between drives towards developmentalist policies and socio-environmental resilience from a human and non-human perspective.

The project forms part of a wider research focus of the isoTROPIC group and Department of Archaeology at MPI-GEA centred on human history in the tropics and the interplay between urbanism and different environmental and historical contexts. It also builds on the rich history of energy research in Latin America at the University of Geneva, where the selected candidate will have the opportunity to collaborate with the research group AnthropoSouth: Latin American Oil Revolutions in the Development Century as well as the Latino lab and the numerous initiatives taking place at the Department of general history (especially in the fields of environmental, transnational and Latin American history).

We offer

The 3-year position will be hosted at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology (within the isoTROPIC permanent research group) in collaboration with the University of Geneva (Unit of Contemporary History with the history department). The successful candidate will be co-supervised by Dr. Danielle Heberle Viegas, Prof. Dr. Antoine Acker and Dr. Patrick Roberts.

The position offers a unique opportunity to develop cutting-edge and interdisciplinary research in environmental humanities. The Max Planck Society and the University of Geneva both encourage and promote multidisciplinary connections between environmental studies and the history of the Anthropocene. The position also provides:

Opportunities to learn new skills in archaeological sciences (if necessary/desirable)
Integration into our interdisciplinary research group as a member of the RESILIENT project as well as in the other projects conducted by the research team within the isoTROPIC, ECO and Antroposouth groups.
Generous financial support for field research in the Amazon Basin as well as conference presentations worldwide
Access to cutting-edge facilities and equipment
An excellent, friendly research environment
An English language working environment

Candidate qualifications

The ideal applicant should have a strong background in at least one of the following areas: Environmental Studies; Urban Studies; Anthropocene Studies; Amazonian Archaeology.

Essential:

Bachelor and Masters Degrees or equivalent in History, Archaeology, Anthropology or a similar discipline (completed by 15 June 2023)
Excellent language skills in both oral and written English and Portuguese, including ability to write independently in these languages
Practical and/or theoretical working experience in the Amazon Basin
Advantageous:

Experience in research management and dissemination (including social media and website editing)
Research experience in the Brazilian archives
Spanish and/or French and/or German language skills
Practical and/or theoretical experience in Digital Humanities
Knowledge of Archaeology in South America or the tropics of the Americas more widely
Experience working as part of a field team on a project

Candidate tasks

The PhD candidate will play a central role in the project and its outputs in cooperation with the research team. The selected fellow will have the following responsibilities:

a) Carry out research leading to a doctoral thesis within the framework of the RESILIENT project;

b) Actively contribute to the intellectual life of the project, including, but not limited to: participation in reading groups; participation in internal meetings;

c) Contribute to the planning of the project’s fieldwork; carry out fieldwork in the Amazon rainforest; gather, analyze and organize data;

d) Participate in academic conferences and publish research results in academic journals and books;

f) Support the organization of academic conferences and other events and activities sponsored by the project;

g) Contribute to the project’s public outreach activities including, but not limited to: maintaining the project’s website; publication of op-eds in the media; publication of podcasts and video logs in the project’s website; the production of a documentary film in cooperation with the research group.

h) Contribute to drafting the project’s reports to be handed in to the Gerda Henkel foundation;

i) Write reports on all activities undertaken, according to the work plan set in the Description of Action, and a calendar set with the supervisors.

Workplace

Research will be performed at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Jena, Germany. The PhD candidate will occasionally need to travel to Brazil or other locations in South America to perform fieldwork and archival research tasks. A research-stay is also planned to take place in Switzerland, where the PhD candidate will carry out research in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Antoine Acker.

Monthly Allowance

The monthly stipend is EURO 1.600,00, tax-free, provided directly by the Gerda Henkel Foundation. Please note that the payment of Health Insurance would need to be organised by the PhD student from these funds.

Duration of the scholarship

The fellowship contract, expected to start on September 1, 2023, will last three years.

Submission instructions

Please send your application as a single pdf file in English to career@shh.mpg.de until the final deadline including a clear indication of the reference of this call (RESILIENT) in the email‘s subject.

Applications must include:

1) Motivation letter including a brief proposal of the topic of a PhD thesis (max. 3 pages)

1.1) Possible thesis topics include (but are not limited to):

The heritage and/or afterlife of big development projects in the Amazon (ranching, mining, farming colonization, etc.)
The history and heritage of development or urbanization programs at border regions between different Amazonian countries
Case studies comparing the Brazilian Amazon with Amazonian regions in other South American countries
The transformation of former development projects or towns by Indigenous populations or other rural communities as well as landless families
The entanglements of ‘lost cities’ with developmentalist ideals and circulation of images of wilderness and technocratic utopias
The role of animals and plants in ‘lost cities’ that were reclaimed by the Amazonian natural world and assess the centrality of the natural environment in the success or failure of human urban spaces
The socio-environmental resilience of lost cities in the Amazon through the approach of environmental memory studies and/or archaeology
The role of the Amazonian ‘lost cities’ in the history of the Anthropocene in South America
2) Curriculum Vitae of max. 5 pages, highlighting the items most relevant to the topic of the call;

3) 2 recommendation letters;

4) A sample of academic work authored by the applicant. Samples may include an article in an academic journal or conference proceeding, a book chapter or a chapter of the Master’s dissertation; if the sample is co-authored the candidate must clarify their contribution.

Application Deadline

Call opens on: June 01, 2023

Call closes on: June 30, 2023

After June 30 applications will not be considered for evaluation.

Selection criteria

Interviews will be held online in mid-July after short-listing of best-evaluated candidates based on their scientific merit and curricular path.

Communication of Results

All candidates will receive the results of the selection process by email.

We value and promote diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunities, so we welcome applications from any backgrounds.