REMINDER VACANCY: Postdoc position in Legal History and Construction History (4 years - Full time) (DEADLINE: 26 October 2022)

 

(CORE blog)

This vacancy fits within the framework of the EOS research project “Construction History, Above and Beyond. What History Can Do for Construction History”, directed by professors Michiel Dehaene (UGent), Dave De ruysscher (VUB, Tilburg University), Rika Devos (ULB), Johan Lagae (UGent), Stephanie Van de Voorde (VUB) and Ine Wouters (VUB). In total, 3 PhD positions and 4 postdoc positions are included in this project (the fourth postdoc mandate will be opened later in 2023). An overview of the full project and all mandates involved can be consulted on: www.vub.be/arch/project/eos.

The EOS research project will set up a dialogue (in terms of sources, methodologies, concepts and cognitive interests) between Construction History and three other fields of history, namely Colonial History, Legal History and Planning History. As such, the project sets out to strengthen the historical dimension of Construction History, while simultaneously demonstrating its relevance and potential to other fields and disciplines. The project overall concentrates on selected aspects in 19th and 20th -century building knowledge and building practice in Belgium and its former colony, with particular attention for tacit knowledge, in order to voice crucial yet underrated actors, sources and types of knowledge.

The individual trajectory of each postdoc researcher is embedded in this larger team, operating in the 3 universities (ULB, UGent and VUB). Intensive exchange and shared outcomes among team members are crucial for the success of the project. The postdoc positions are each situated in one of the 3 fields of dialogue: (1) colonial history – construction history; (2) legal history – construction history and (3) planning history – construction history.

This specific vacancy is issued by the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and engages in the dialogue between legal history and construction history. It is co-supervised by profs. Rika Devos (ULB) and Dave De ruysscher (VUB, Tilburg University).

This postdoc study focusses on the normativity of ‘implicit’ and ‘practical’ knowledge building in Belgium, during the 19th and 20th centuries. This type of knowledge is often enforced through informal rules, in many segments of society. The field of Construction History holds promising opportunities to further disentangle normativity and informal rules, as they can be enforced in the case of harm orconstruction faults. The liability of architects, contractors and even workers was tested against ‘rules of the trade’, which were rules of implicit, practical knowledge. The sources that can be used range from instructional literature to case law, in which the liability of constructors is explored. These sources shed light not only on the appraisal of ‘rules of the trade’ but also on how legal practitioners categorized ‘practical knowledge’.

The post-doc study in the dialogue between Legal History and Construction History explores the types of normativity as found in instructional literature for construction professionals. As such, this research will link up not only with recent developments in Legal History, but also engage with the larger knowledge gaps identified in this project by assessing not only the relation between different types of knowledge engaged in normativity, but also the relations between the actors involved – both professional builders and professional legal actors – and the untapped sources to assess this normativity, including their technical and legal challenges. Legal practitioners and construction practitioners produce very different types of documents, from different viewpoints, in different ‘languages’. How do they interact and integrate the insights of the other field? How can they be understood by the other field and were these sources accessible and used? Do they reflect the standard of building? How and when does practical knowledge turn into a normative set of (implicit or explicit) rules or guidelines? These issues are tested through case studies in the archives of construction companies, such as the private archives of the Blaton archives and Entreprises Louis de Waele.

The successful candidate will be based alternatingly at ULB and VUB, to allow a dynamic interaction with the team members and a full insertion in both institutions.

More information: here