Professor: Mary Lewis
Project title: Divided Rule: French Conquest, Tunisian Sovereignty and the Imperial Game in North Africa
Description: Professor Mary Lewis seeks summer and/or fall research assistant for an ongoing project regarding imperial rivalry in French North Africa and everyday life under colonial rule in Tunisia. Students with an interest in or some experience with historical research are encouraged to apply.
Skills/languages needed: The ability to read French is a must; the ability to read other relevant languages such as Arabic or Italian is an extra asset. Students available for both summer and fall are preferred and will be considered for renewal in the Spring 2009 semester.
Professor: Dariusz Jemielniak, Kozminski Business School (Poland)
Project title: Workplace Relations in Knowledge Intensive Work
Description: This project aims at understanding the notions of power, management, work, schedules, and family-workplace relations. Through qualitative analysis (open, unstructured interviews) it tries to reveal categories important for knowledge workers (in particular, software engineers).
Skills/languages needed: The research assistant will transcribe recorded one-hour interviews on perceptions of workplace, everyday work, managers, subordinates, and timing. The interviews are not directed, meaning the researcher often tries to follow the line of narration by the interviewee. Initial interviews may seem fuzzy, but after 10 or so a more general pattern emerges. The research assistant will then try to make initial categorizations and work on literature related to the material.
Professor: Wolfgang Gick, Dartmouth College
Project title: (i) Political Decision Making in Multiexpert Settings, (ii) Voting Rules under Strategic Disclosure, (iii) Expertise Games with Two Senders
Description: This project involves theory research on voting and expertise, modeling, and simulating, with an application to EU voting rules.
Skills/languages needed: Applicants should have a background in theoretical economics and/or theoretical politics, in particular game theory (signaling games and cheap talk games - minimum requirement would be an undergrad game theory course in GOV or ECON). Knowledge of older models of (bi-) partisan signaling in Congress and related literature is of advantage. Optimally, applicants should be able to write source code in Mathematica (6.0) for simulations and in TeX (and/or have editing skills in SciWord).
Other requirements: Ability to bring enthusiasm to the task to turn some empirically observable facts on how expertise is handled and EU voting is institutionalized into research output.
Professor: Alexander C.T. Geppert, Freie Universität Berlin
Project title: Outer Space, Extraterrestrial Life, and the European Imagination, 1923–1975
Description: The research assistant will directly contribute to a comprehensive research project on the cultural history of outer space, Astrofuturism, and extraterrestrial life in the European imagination of the twentieth century.
Tasks include:
- tracking down rather obscure source material in Harvard’s various libraries;
- collecting visual sources (postcards, book illustrations, films) and preparing them for analysis;
- examining early issues of specialized journals (Astronautica Acta, Bild der Wissenschaft, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, Spaceflight etc.) and a number of international newspapers (The Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, BILD);
- compiling brief bio-bibliographical sketches of the main space protagonists in Western Europe and the US;
- general tasks such as administrating book orders, double-checking facts and footnotes, helping prepare publications etc.
Other requirements: A certain enthusiasm for cultural history and an interest in historical research are indispensable for this position – a belief in UFOs is not.
Professor: Alison Frank, Assistant Professor, History
Project title: Imperial Trieste: Local Culture and Global Commerce in the Eastern Mediterranean
Description: This project combines a local study of the Habsburg Adriatic (before WWI) with an analysis of globalization and its effects on Mediterranean commerce. The research assistant will primarily be responsible for identifying and acquiring relevant primary and secondary sources. This requires enough familiarity with relevant foreign languages (primarily German and/or Italian) to be able to tell what a book or article is about -- but it does not require fluency in all of the languages listed below. Exact duties will depend on language skills and interests.
Skills/languages needed:
- Familiarity with research tools needed to find sources in the library and online.)
- German would be very helpful. Other helpful languages (not required, just helpful), in order of importance to the project: Italian, Slovene, Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian, French, (Ottoman) Turkish, Arabic.
Please only apply if you are really certain you will be able to devote 5-7 hours a week to this project!
Professor: Tobias Brinkmann, University of Southampton
Project title: Immigrants, Aliens, Refugees and Displaced Persons: Reassessing the Jewish Mass Migration from Eastern Europe to the West 1860-1950
Description: This research involves specifically Jewish newspapers, such as the London "Jewish Chronicle" or the Paris "Archive Israelites," regarding coverage of Jewish migration from Eastern Europe, especially for the period after 1890. Depending on interests, the research assistant could focus on other information resources, too (for instance, published government or NGO files on Jewish migration). Although some papers are being digitalized, most are only available on microfilm.
Skills/languages needed: Knowledge of a major European language (German, French, Russian, Dutch, Danish or Yiddish) is a plus but not required.
Professor: Peter Vermeersch, University of Leuven
/ Project title: Nationalist Mobilization Versus European Integration in the New EU Member States (focus on Poland)
Description: The research assistant will be responsible for recognizing and analyzing forms of nationalist political mobilization in political party manifestos (through the use of atlas.ti) and gathering additional empirical material on national minority policies and party competition in contemporary post-communist Central Europe.
Skills/languages needed: Applicants should have an interest in political parties and electoral campaigning in Central Europe, as well as interest in gaining some experience with qualitative research methods. Passive knowledge of Polish is a plus, but not required.
Professor: Thilo Bodenstein, Freie Universität Berlin
Project title: Voters, Institutions and Policy Responses to Economic Integration in Europe
Description: The research assistant is expected to help with writing literature surveys, gathering and analysing data, and contributing to papers in progress; these research papers will eventually become the basis for book chapters. In addition, preparing outlines for conference talks may be required.
Skills/languages needed: Interest in political science topics and ability to write good English. Any other European languages would be plus, but not required.
Professor: Peter E. Gordon, Professor of History
Project title: (i) Histories of Reality: a review essay of new literature on historical ontology and historical epistemology; and (ii) Continental Divide: Heidegger, Cassirer, Davos [book currently being finished]: a philosophical and historical reconstruction of a debate between two famous German philosophers.
Description: The research assistant primarily should have a strong interest in Continental philosophy and/or intellectual history and social theory to help compile a bibliography of recent essays on realism and anti-realism debates in the human sciences. Additional work will include investigating some of the more hard-to-locate bits in the works of Cassirer and Heidegger about the Davos encounter, their debate in Davos, Switzerland, in 1929.
Skills/languages needed: German would be extremely helpful, as well as French.
Professor: Katiana Orluc
Project title: Europe Between Past and Future: Transnational Networks and the Transformation of the Pan-Europe Idea in the Interwar Years
Description: This project is a book that tries to demonstrate that the European Idea in the interwar period was bound to the specific political, cultural and economic conditions of its time; that the Pan-European movement was the hub of an extensive communication network throughout Europe and beyond, that it created a European public space where the meaning of Europe as well as the vision of a united Europe were debated; and that the European Idea was not per se aiming at peace and democracy and incorporated Fascist and extreme nationalistic ideas. Also examined are the formation and transformation of, and reactions over time to, Coudenhove-Kalergi's Pan-European Idea, as well as the development of the organisational structure of the Pan-European movement. The research assistant is expected to conduct bibliographical research, work/research on transnational networks and fascism in Europe, and research on documents in Japananese and in Czech.
Skills/languages needed: Japanese and/or Czech would be very helpful.
Professor: Uta G. Poiger, Visiting Associate Professor of History
Project title: Beauty and Business in Germany: An International History
Description: This book project examines how domestic and foreign cosmetics companies, with help from large advertising budgets, press, and film, responded to and influenced changing expressions of human beauty in 20th-century Germany. As companies sought to shape gender ideals and bodily markers of social standing, such as white skin or tanning, they participated in national and international dialogues about race and health. The study traces controversies generated by cosmetics advertising and consumption, for example about allegedly “unrespectable,” "un-German," or "un-Aryan" looks among women, or about a detrimental standardization of bodies. The research assistant will search for advertisements and commentaries in illustrated magazines, in graphic art journals and in the trade press, and work with a bibliographic database (no previous experience needed).
Skills/languages needed: Some German is a plus but not a requirement.
Professor: Kathrin Zippel, Associate Professor of Sociology, Northeastern University
Project title: Internationalization of Academia: Mobility of Academics
Description: This project compares the international mobility of social scientists in the UK, US and Germany. Using curriculum vitae and publication records, the study investigates the degree to which scholars from top universities conduct international research, publish in international journals, and participate in networks, conferences, etc. Based on reputation rankings, researchers from the top 10 departments of economics, political science and sociology in these countries will be selected. The research assistant will help with data collection, development of a coding scheme, and quantitative analyses with a basic statistical program; the research assistant will also gain interviewing skills. Since this project is in its starting phase, the research assistant will have the opportunity to learn first hand about how to design a research project and how to develop concepts and measurements.
Skills/languages needed: Basic knowledge of Excel and statistical programs is preferred, but not required (can be taught on the job). German language skills would be a plus, but also not required.
Professor: Andrea Liese
Project title: Organizational change and new modes of governance in the specialized agencies
Description of tasks:
- Help with search for documents and literature
- Help with mapping of changes (read documents, identify changes - conceptual framework is provided)
- Identify position of powerful member states (US, Germany, UK, France, Japan) by analyzing speeches and reports
- Help to identify interview partners in the US
- English
Professor: Kiran Patel
Project title: European integration history
Prof Patel is writing a book on European integration history with a focus on the Common Agricultural History (CAP), 1950s to 1970s. By working with him, the student could gain insights into European Integration history as well as into Prof Patel's research projects in general (including co-operations with institutions such as the German Historical Institute, Washington; the German Museum, Munich, the Modern History Faculty, Oxford etc.).
Description of tasks:
- edit manuscripts in English
- read documents on European integration in search for specific information, hypotheses etc.
- help with translations (Dutch/Italian to English)
- English, German, ideally also French, Dutch, Italian (or one of these three)
Professor: Mary Lewis
Project title: European history and imperialism
Professor Mary Lewis is looking for undergraduate who is interested in European history and imperialism (concentration in history not required) for assistance on two related projects:
- Ongoing research project on the effect of imperial competition between France, Italy and Great Britain over Tunisia in the 19th and 20th centuries.
- Research on the state of ìMediterranean Historyî as a field (and possible aid in preparation for a conference on this subject).
- Ability to read French with relative ease is required; other relevant languages (Italian, Arabic) are welcome but not mandatory
- Good research and organizational skills
- Availability of 5-10 hours per week on a regular basis
Professor: Miriam Laugesen (UCLA School of Public Health)
Project title: (1) European Integration of Health Care and (2) Historical decentralization
Professor Miriam Laugesen is looking for an undergraduate who is interested in public policy, specifically health policy, to research two projects: one on public attitudes to health care in Europe, and another on historical decentralization in European health care systems.
Skills⁄languages⁄time commitment needed:
- For the first project, no language is required.
- For the second project, reading knowledge of French, or Italian (or ideally both) is desirable.
- Availability for 5 hours a week in the semester is needed.
Professor: Dr. Robert Faulkner
Project title: Corporate Responses to International Environmental Policy — Comparing Europe and America
Description of tasks:
- compile bibliography of recent publications
- produce case study reports (5 pages) on climate change and emissions trading, genetically modified food regulation, and other cases as required
Professor: Thomas Risse
Project title: The Europeanization of Collective Identities and the European Public Sphere
Description of tasks:
Screen and summarize most recent literature on subject matter; conduct searches on relevant public opinion polls; help with media analysis in cooperation with Berlin–based team.
Professor: Tanja Boerzel
Project title: Why States Do Not Obey: Explaining Non-Compliance with European Law
Description of tasks:
This is a quantitative study of factors that may cause states to violate European law, using an original database with more than 6,000 infringements. Student will help with the statistical analysis and compilation of additional data.
Professor: Alison Frank
Project title: Health, Tourism, and the Natural Environment in Alpine Europe
Description of tasks:
This project addresses the relationship between the Alpine landscape and social understandings of healthy environments, and examines how definitions of what constituted a healthy environment changed over the course of the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as the effects of those changing perceptions on the physical landscape. Student will read travel literature looking for references to particular environments and landscapes, references to 'fresh air', spa culture, environmental preservation or degradation, reactions to new tourist patterns and increased traffic, the impact of the Railroad, etc.
Professor: Judith Surkis
Project title: Scandalous Subjects: Indecency Regulation in France and French Algeria, 1830-1930
Description of tasks:
This project explores how a legal and social model of the public and private divide came to define French “civilization” and citizenship, while framing Algerian Muslim subjects as sexually and culturally different. Student will help review and catalog archival documents including police records, trial dossiers, government reports, and periodical literature. Additional work will include bibliographic research.
Professor: Daniel Ziblatt
Project title: Electoral Systems in Comparative Historical Perspective
Description of tasks:
This project explores electoral reform and the history of voting rights in nineteenth century Germany. Students will use their German-language knowledge to read historical secondary materials and/or assist in conducting statistical analysis of nineteenth century legislation that came before the Prussian assembly and German Reichstag.
Professor: Niall Ferguson
Project title: Siegmund Warburg: Finance and Power in the Twentieth Century
Description of tasks:
This project is a biographical study of Siegmund Warburg, a London financier, and a business history set against the backdrop of European (and global) financial integration after 1945. The aim is to reveal hitherto neglected connections between post-war financial institutions and the integration of Europe, among other things. Student will conduct archival research at the offices of the Telegraph in London.