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Community Manager Colonial Contract Labor (IISH) – deadline 9 April 2025
For the research project Colonial Contract Laborers and Collective Action in the Dutch Empire, the International Institute for Social History (IISH, KNAW) is looking for a Community Manager for 12 hours for 2.5 years.
The project focuses on the collection of new event datasets on collective action and forms of resistance by indentured laborers working in Dutch colonies after the abolition of slavery. In line with the global labor history research agenda, it aims to complement current scholarly attention to the history of slavery with the study of the coercive labor regime of contract labor that became even more widespread after abolition.The goal is to gather new knowledge and to make visible the various ways in which Chinese, Indian, and Indonesian indentured laborers resisted the conditions of the appropriation of their labor power in the Dutch Empire.
This project builds on ongoing research into the history of workers’ collective action around the world as part of the Hub Global Labor Conflicts data platform project at IISH. Embracing the idea of citizen science, we aim to actively involve descendants of former contract laborers or members of the different affected communities in guiding this project, including developing research questions, identifying sources, and collecting data. The project is embedded in a citizen science project of the Humanities Cluster of the KNAW. With this collaboration, the IISH, Meertens and the Huygens Institute aim to promote the democratization of historical research and cultural heritage projects.
The Community Manager will work closely with two researchers at the IISH, as well as with two similar teams at the partner institutions and will help to build engagement with relevant communities, organise community spaces and events, and help to organise and communicate research.
Applications should be submitted ultimately 9 April 2025. Specifications are to be found on the website of the IISH via the button below.
