PhD in Global Histories, Cultures, and Politics

Academic Year 2021/2022 PON Scholarships Call
Subject area Humanistic Studies
Cycle 37
Coordinator Prof. Luca Jourdan
Language English, Italian
Duration 3 years
Positions 4 positions. More information in the PhD Programme Table.
Application deadline Oct 20, 2021 at 11:59 PM (Expired)
Enrolment period From Nov 05, 2021 to Nov 12, 2021
Doctoral programme start date Jan 01, 2022
Operating centre
Bologna
Main Department
Department of History and Cultures - DiSCi
Associated Departments
Department of Political and Social Sciences - SPS
Department of the Arts - DARvipem
Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures - LILEC
Research topics

The PhD programme is characterised by a global and interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of historical and social processes. The “global” is not merely understood as a wider geographical scale, but rather as an epistemic device leading the study of the present and the past. “Globalisation” is therefore not taken as something given but as a set of processes, whose variable combination is necessarily the effect of the action of specific political, social, and economic forces that attract investigation through the interaction of multiple disciplinary approaches. Historiography -touching upon topics transversal to different ages such as political, economic, social, and religious history, history of ideas, institutions, settlements, gender history - meets area and oriental studies to grasp the polycentric of global spaces traversed by transnational flows of people, ideas, and commodities. Intellectual and conceptual history, pursued in a non-Eurocentric perspective and attentive to theoretical traditions that have remained marginal in political, social, and cultural studies, allows an analysis of the prospects and limits of Western grand narratives. Anthropology, through a peculiar ethnographic sensitivity, demonstrates how phenomena with a global scope inscribe onto the concreteness of social actors’ experience. Political philosophy -understood as critical theory and entering constant dialogues with such approaches as cultural, postcolonial, and gender studies- provides the conceptual and analytical framework that is needed for the production of a global political theory. Geography provides the language and the methods that allow grasping and representing the multiple spatial and territorial frame within which the investigated processes develop – with a specific focus on “trans-scalarity”.

Job opportunities and potential areas of employment
Public and private research institutions, national and international universities, museums and cultural institutions; national and international organisations working in the field of multiculturalism, migration, labour mobility, international cooperation; multimedia publishing industry. The training programme aims to provide transversal skills which can be promoted in many job contexts: building, management and implementation of scientific research projects, dissemination of research results through various communication tools (publishing, mapping, exhibition etc.).
Admission Board

Surname Name University Role email
Capuzzo Paolo Università di Bologna Member
Minca Claudio Università di Bologna Member
Rudan Paola Università di Bologna Member
Jourdan Luca  Università di Bologna Member
Cristofori Alessandro Università di Bologna Member
Domenici Davide Università di Bologna Member
Pallaver Karin Università di Bologna Substitute
Laudani Raffaele  Università di Bologna Substitute
Magnani Elisa Università di Bologna Substitute
Facchini Cristiana Università di Bologna Substitute
Learning outcomes
The main purpose of the PhD programme in Global Histories, Cultures and Politics is to train scholars in the main scientific areas, which are involved in the PhD project: history, anthropology, political theory and history of political thought, oriental and area studies, religion studies, and geography. A particular attention will be devoted to the interdisciplinary dimension of research as well as to the critical reflection on the multiple methodologies of human and social sciences. The most important outcomes of the PhD programme will be the development of original PhD thesis and the communication and dissemination of their research results in broader research environments. The acquirement of some basic abilities in the field of research will be guaranteed by means of a specific training in the following fields: ability to integrate in international research networks, to publish in high-ranked scientific journals, to develop research projects for post-doc job opportunities.
Activities to be carried out by Doctoral candidates
The main activity of PhD candidates will be the research for the fulfilment of the final PhD thesis. This will involve different activities according to the thesis subject and the methodologies which will be employed: research in libraries and archives for collecting sources, critical analyisis of the sources, reconstruction of the scientific state of the art; fieldwork with ethnographical methodologies; media analysis and mapping; theoretical reflection on political concepts; philological analysis. PhD candidates will be encouraged to take part to scientific conferences, to project and realise seminars in order to locate their own research in wider scientific environments. There will be an annual conference in which all PhD candidates will present their research work to external discussants. Some research typologies could also require traineeship at scientific and cultural institutions, at public institutions in the field of economic and social administration, or at NGOs.
Research training activities compliant with the Doctoral programme's learning outcomes
Teaching activities will be organised in three main strands:
- Individual tuition: each PhD candidate will be supervised by one tutor, who will work in collaboration with the other members of the Academic Board. Supervision is aimed at providing the adequate analytical tools to carry out the research and to write the final dissertation. It will be focused both on research methodologies and on the use of interdisciplinary perspectives. As part of their training, PhD candidates will be required to present their research during workshops and seminars organised in cooperation with other universities and/or research institutions.
- Interdisciplinary training: the PhD programme will organise seminars and workshops in which the PhD candidates will get in touch with different methodologies and fields of enquiry. This strand is aimed at developing analytical tools needed to study history, politics and cultures in a global perspective. Thanks to these activities, PhD candidates will be able to develop the skills needed to situate their research in a wider interdisciplinary analytical framework.
- Job-oriented training activities: this strand is aimed at providing PhD candidates with teaching skills, network-building capacities, and the know-how needed to write and manage successful research proposals. These activities will be organised in cooperation with other PhD programmes. Training will be provided by the Research Area staff of the University of Bologna, as well as by officers from various funding institutions. In order to promote their international training, enrolled PhD candidates will be required to spend at least six months abroad. As part of their training, they will be encouraged to participate to international conferences and summer schools organised by the PhD programme, as well as by international and Italian research institutions.
Internationalization features
The PhD programme can take advantage of international networks established by members of the Academic Board and of the two departments in order to develop international consortia for the achievement of double or joint degrees. At present, thanks to the allotment of a competitive international grant, the Gerda Henkel Foundation has funded a scholarship; the Global Academy of Humanities and Critical Theory is promoting a project for the construction of a transnational PhD programme with the University of Virginia. A collaboration with German research institutions for doctoral training and funding – such as the Bielefeld University - has been established long ago. We will further cooperate with institutions which fund scholarships for applicants graduated in foreign countries. In particular, there are already existing contacts with CONFAP and the China Scholarship Council. A partnership with the Roosevelt Institute for American Studies in Middleburgh, Netherlands, will allow PhD candidates' mobility for seminars and training activities. Two cotutelle agreements are soon going to be established with the University Paris 7 and the Sorbonne University. The cotutelle agreement already established by the Department of Foreign Languages with the University of Coimbra, "Patrimónios de Influência Portuguesa", with the Centro de Estudos Sociais della Universidade de Coimbra will be extended to the PhD programme in Global Histories, Cultures and Politics. The preference for the Italian/English languages - although in a context in which multiple languages expertise will be encouraged – responds to the need to create a common linguistic basis in order to facilitate the development of broad international cooperation networks.
Expected research results and products
The final dissertation is the main expected result of the three-year research period. During this period, PhD candidates will be encouraged to disseminate the preliminary results of their research in PhD seminars, national and international conferences, summer schools, and joint activities with other PhD programmes. They will be also encouraged to organise seminars related to their research themes. PhD candidates will be encouraged to submit scientific papers to peer-reviewed journals and volumes, in order to take advantage peer-reviewers’ comments. In this way, they will be able to evaluate the scientific value of their research, as well as their ability to adequately disseminate its results. As for the expected outcomes, thanks to the wide thematic coverage and to the interdisciplinarity of the PhD programme, candidates are expected to obtain research results in different fields. It will favour a reconsideration of disciplinary traditions and develop innovative conceptual and methodological approaches, fostering a multiscalar analysis of global processes based on comparative and transnational perspectives. With a special focus on the entanglement between conceptual and empirical dimensions of the research, methodological innovations are expected in the fields of: humanities and socio-political sciences spatial frameworks; intercultural contact/conflict; development of trade routes; processes of consumption and labour organization; political, social, and religious movements.
Doctoral programme Academic Board
Surname Name University/Institution Qualification
Balzani Roberto Università di Bologna Professore Ordinario
Baritono Raffaella Università di Bologna Professore Ordinario
Capuzzo Paolo Università di Bologna Professore Ordinario
Dainotto Roberto Duke university (United States) Professore Ordinario
Dogliani Patrizia Università di Bologna Professore Ordinario
Domenici Davide Università di Bologna Professore Associato
Facchini Cristiana Università di Bologna Professore Associato Confermato
Jourdan Luca Università di Bologna Professore Associato
Laudani Raffaele Università di Bologna Professore Ordinario
Lavenia Vincenzo Università di Bologna Professore Associato
Magnani Elisa Università di Bologna Professore Associato
Marcocci Giuseppe Oxford Univeristy (Great Britain) Professore Associato
Mazzone Umberto Università di Bologna Professore Associato Confermato
Mezzadra Sandro Università di Bologna Professore Associato Confermato
Minca Claudio Università di Bologna Professore Ordinario
Pallaver Karin Università di Bologna Professore Associato
Quaranta Ivo Università di Bologna Professore Associato
Rudan Paola Università di Bologna Professore Associato
Vecchi Roberto Università di Bologna Professore Ordinario