Junior Fellowship “Cooking, Gender, and Culinary Narratives: Global Perspectives on Cookbooks and Cultural Heritage” (Univ. Graz)
The Department of Contemporary History at the University of Graz invites applications for two Junior Fellowships in 2027. The fellowships form part of the research project “Cooking, Gender, and Culinary Narratives: Global Perspectives on Cookbooks and Cultural Heritage,” funded by the Elisabeth List Fellowship Programme for Gender Research at the University of Graz (https://fellowship-geschlechterforschung.uni-graz.at/en/).
Junior Fellowship “Cooking, Gender, and Culinary Narratives: Global Perspectives on Cookbooks and Cultural Heritage” (Univ. Graz)
The research group examines the relationship between cooking, gender, and cultural narratives from a transnational and diachronic perspective, focusing on connections between the Americas and Europe from the early modern period to the twenty-first century. It approaches the Americas and the Mediterranean as “trading zones” of culinary knowledge and as experimental spaces in which gender roles, culinary identities, and ideas about nutrition are renegotiated. Fellows will contribute to a joint publication on these regions as dynamic sites of cultural exchange and transformation and will collaborate on the interdisciplinary analysis of digital culinary narratives.
The fellows will work on interrelated questions that foreground the historical depth of culinary and gendered practices while also addressing contemporary reconfigurations.
1. Historical trajectories and entanglements
– How did the interplay between gender, culinary narratives, and social practices unfold in the transhispanic and trans-Mediterranean regions during different historical periods?
– How do gender roles shape different narratives of food, cooking, and cultural heritage across time?
– What connections exist between culinary globalization and nationalism, and how have these developed historically in transhispanic and trans-Mediterranean contexts?
2. Contemporary negotiations and digital transformations
– How is transhispanic and trans-Mediterranean culinary heritage being negotiated in the early 21st century?
– What new narratives and forms of representation have emerged on the internet and social media, and how do they reshape gendered, national, and transnational culinary imaginaries?
Fellows will pursue their individual research projects while actively engaging with the scholarly community at the University of Graz. They will be expected to present their work during their stay and to contribute to the project’s collective outputs, including discussions toward the joint publication and interdisciplinary work on digital culinary narratives.
The working languages of the fellowship group will be English and Spanish.
Each fellowship includes travel to Graz, financial support in the form of either a monthly stipend or a salary, depending on the fellow’s individual circumstances, office space, and access to the University of Graz’s infrastructure and libraries.
– The Junior Fellowships are open to PhD candidates and may be granted for a period of up to four months.
– Fellowships may begin between March and May 2027 and must end no later than August 2027.
Applicants should be enrolled in a doctoral programme during their fellowship and should propose a project that contributes directly to the fellowship’s thematic and regional focus. Applications will be assessed on the quality and feasibility of the proposed project, its fit with the research group, the applicant’s academic qualifications, and the potential for interdisciplinary collaboration.
Fellows are expected to reside in Graz during their fellowship, work on their dissertation, and participate in the project’s final symposium, “Cooking, Gender, and Culinary Narratives”. The application deadline is 20 October 2026.
Applications must be submitted in English and should include: a cover letter stating the applicant’s preferred fellowship dates; a short curriculum vitae of no more than five pages; and a project description of no more than 1,000 words outlining the research question, methodology, and relevance to the fellowship theme.
Please submit your application as a single PDF file by email to Hannah Derler at hannah.derler@uni-graz.at. Applications must be received by the deadline stated above. Further information about the project and the Department of Contemporary History is available at https://geschichte.uni-graz.at/en/our-research/contemporary-history/.
For further inquiries, please contact Univ.-Prof. Dr. Christiane Berth christiane.berth@uni-graz.at
Junior Fellowship “Cooking, Gender, and Culinary Narratives: Global Perspectives on Cookbooks and Cultural Heritage” (Univ. Graz), in: H-Soz-Kult, 25.09.2026, https://www.hsozkult.de/grant/id/stip-164693.