Project description
Digging up the global roots of information
What do we know about East African information professionals during a period of Cold War internationalisms (between 1950 and 1980)? We know there was information inequality. But do we know why? Undertaken with the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the INFOSOC project will historicise today’s information society to show its global roots. As such, it will place contestations over information in their sociopolitical contexts and historicise the social science disciplines that codified the meaning and power of information. This project throws a spotlight on journalists, librarians, broadcasters, and government information officers. It will answer the following question: How did trainers, trainees and new professionals imagine and use what they called information and, crucially, with what consequences for our global information society?
Objective
INFOSOC critically historicises our contemporary information society, demonstrating its global roots through original research into the lives of East African information professionals during a period of Cold War internationalisms (1950s-80s). To understand the persistence of information inequality, we need to place contestations over information in their socio-political contexts and historicise the social science disciplines that codified the meaning and power of information. This interdisciplinary project places information professionals (journalists, librarians, broadcasters, and government information officers) at its centre. How did trainers, trainees, and new professionals imagine and use what they called information and, crucially, with what consequences for our global information society? To answer this question, I will take my expertise in East Africa's global history into new interdisciplinary territory at a leading international institution for research on histories of mass communication, Freie Universitaet Berlin (FUB), under the supervision of an expert in the field, Dr Valeska Huber. Two substantial secondments in East African institutions, St Augustine University Tanzania (SAUT) and the British Institute in East Africa (BIEA), will enhance INFOSOC's innovative methodological basis and broaden its societal impact. Through a programme of training-through-research and a targeted communication and dissemination strategy, including a hybrid workshop organised in Berlin, the PF will allow me to pioneer a new sub-field of global information history and to demonstrate the pertinence of the East African case to academic audiences beyond African history, as well as to public audiences in Europe and East Africa. By the end of the PF, I will have established an independent research profile as a public-facing scholar with a research-driven teaching portfolio and a commitment to sustainable collaborations between European and East African institutions.
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Keywords
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2021-PF-01
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14195 Berlin
Germany
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