Welcome to the 2023 post-doctoral fellows of the International Excellence in the Humanities Fellowship Programme

> Post-doc project at the MaCI
 

A global market of violence. Firearms surveillance in European ports from 1890 until 1939 (England, France, Italy)
 

It unravels the evolution of gun control in Europe and its influence on State power and violence. Its objective is to trace the impact of the widespread distribution of firearms at the outset of the 20th century on societal perceptions, policing strategies, apprehensions, and institutional transformations in Europe.

‘I will investigate the historical shift in three European countries – France, England, and Italy – from permissive gun control policies to stringent controls between 1890 and 1939. Despite their political and institutional differences (democratic vs authoritarian regimes), these nations shared a common transformation. I aim to uncover the reasons and methods behind this shift through an analysis of policing practices in key European ports – London and Liverpool in England, Marseille and Le Havre in France, Naples and Venice in Italy –, simultaneously examining the central ministries' correspondence in London, Rome, and Paris. Adopting a comparative and transnational approach,  I will organize international conferences and workshops with experts on gun control, exploring global and transnational issues.

I have a profound interest for subjects pertaining to political violence, state-building, and the efficacy of police institutions in governing territories and societies. Analyzing paramilitary groups’ history in Belle Epoque France, I discovered the pivotal role of guns in shedding light on violence and States capacity to control or use it.  With GlobArms, I plan to utilize my expertise in policing, security, and comparative research to analyze the impact of early 20th-century gun control policies on the development of contemporary European statehoods.’

 

For this research, Andrea will collaborate with the CERDAP². He will be working closely with Aurélien Lignereux, Professor of Contemporary History at IEP Grenoble and member of CERDAP². His research focuses on the police forces and their establishment, missions and composition, mainly in nineteenth-century Europe and Napoleonic France. Initially editor-in-chief, he has since been director of the journal Annales Historiques de la Révolution Française, which covers all the revolutionary movements that affected the world between the 1770s and the 1830s.

 

 

> Post-doc project at the MaCI
 

Classical reception in Abdias do Nascimento and the Teatro Experimental do Negro
 

‘Through an archive and research-as-creation work, I intend to analyze the classical reception in the theoretical writings of Afro-Brazilian artist and intellectual Abdias do Nascimento, and in the stagings he made with the Black Experimental Theater company, founded by himself in 1944 in Rio de Janeiro.

The first stage of the project methodology involves a research trip to Brazil, the main aim of which is to compile archive data and personal accounts from former T.E.N. members. Nascimento founded the Instituto de Pesquisa e Estudos Afro-Brasileiros (IPEAFRO, Institute of Afro-Brazilian Studies), whose aim is to preserve and disseminate black Brazilian history and culture. This organization is still active today, and holds a very large archive on Nascimento's work and especially on the T.E.N.’

For this research, Magdalena will be affiliated to Litt&Arts and will be working closely with Professor Malika Bastin-Hammou. As a specialist in Greek theatre and its reception, Malika Bastin-Hammou has worked on the history of translations and productions of Aristophanes. Since 2020, she has been coordinator of the ANR project IthAC, dedicated to the study of the reception of ancient theatre in Europe in the 16th century. She is also director of the Translatio research centre (part of the UMR Litt&Arts), which focuses on the transmission, translation and reception of ancient and medieval texts, and the cultural transfer phenomena that surround them.

> Post-doc project at the MaCI
 

Hopes, movement, labour. Irregular migration imaginaries (MOBILISE)
 

It ethnographically unravels the multiple meanings, experiences and imaginations of labour and mobility. It aims to trace the migration trajectories of young West African men who experience diverse regimes of mobility, immobility and labour throughout their existential and physical movements towards Europe.

‘The field-sites for the project are France and Senegal. In France, a destination and a transition point for irregular migrants, I conduct research in Lyon and Grenoble. In Senegal, both a starting and transition point for West African migrants, I engage in research in Mbour, one of the preferred departing points to the Canary Islands.  MOBILISE uses classic ethnographic methods and complements them with creative approaches. I plan to organise a series of workshops/creative labs where research participants will engage in creative activities revolving around drawing to explore imaginations and experiences of migration and labour. I have a longstanding interest in different forms of mobility, which have grown at the intersection of sociology, anthropology, human geography and urban studies. For the last years, working alongside migrant food couriers has prompted me to investigate how different mobility regimes and punitive migration policies impact labour and movement across borders. For MOBILISE, I use insights from my previous research on the gig economy to further study how precarious work is a precondition and a consequence of irregular migration.’

For this research, Cosmin is affiliated with the Institute of Languages and Cultures of Europe, America, Africa, Asia, and Australia (ILCEA4). He is also a member of the ILCEA4 axis Migrations, Frontiers and International Relations. He will be working closely with Sara Casella-Colombeau, Senior lecturer, member of the ILCEA4 and head of the MFIR axis. She coordinated the Policy Department of the Institut Convergences Migrations (ICM) until 2020. As a political scientist, her research focuses on the construction of Europe and the establishment of the Schengen Area, migration policies including the control of irregular immigration and the question of professions in international migration issues.

> On 24 November, he will take part in a seminar organised at the University of Aix Marseille by Centre méditerranéen de sociologie, de science politique et d'histoire (MESOPOLHIS) entitled "Migrations, mobilités, circulations" Comment enquête-t-on à la frontière ? : questionnements méthodologiques.

Website : medium.com/@cosminpopan
Twitter : @CosminPopan