“International circulation and regional integration between the Maghreb and West Africa”
Position description
International flows and circulation are crucial signs of regionalization processes. In Southern countries, where regional institutional integration sometimes struggles to become structured, they are good indicators of territorial networking, necessary for the development of a shared trajectory. Circulation of all types depends on infrastructures that, in recent years, between the Maghreb and West Africa, have recorded major modernization efforts (paving the Tangiers-Dakar coastal road, development of seaport and airport hubs in West Africa, etc.). This modernization has made it possible to achieve international standards and facilitated use, de facto integrating them into networks on several scales. This “connection” is indispensible to the regionalization process that we propose to analyze through the subject of “international circulation”.
Offering alternative solutions and arrangements to those that link Europe and Africa, the (new or reactivated) trade circuits between the Maghreb and West Africa have implications for the mobility of people and circulation of goods: new logistical transport needs emerge; people’s mobility practices evolve; new stakeholders attempt to take advantage of emerging liaisons. These same circuits raise the broader question of territories and their evolutions on metropolitan and regional scale: are the relations, trade and mobility (longstanding circulation, mobility over short and long distances), between cities in the corridor modified? Is the Tangiers-Nouakchott-Dakar road creating new stopping places? What links do infrastructures and trading places maintain with territorial transformations (urban landscapes, regional networks)?
All of these aspects should be highlighted and described using empirical and conceptual approaches to the role of circulation and mobility in the regional integration processes and networking of territories and Southern populations.
Planned collaborations
The person hired will receive support from the SAR-Dyn Métropolisation logistique au Sud [Sar-Dyn metropolization logistics in the South] project, obtained from LabEx in 2016, and from the UMR PRODIG, with the aim of conducting field research. He or she will be part of an active UMR PRODIG team (sous-axe Circulations et Mobilités [circulation and mobility sub-unit]), specializing in regional integration and transport issues.
The post-doctoral fellow will help organize the international symposium slated for 2018 on these issues following on from the publication (last quarter 2017) by Éditions Karthala of a thematic dictionary coordinated by N. MAREÏ and Y. RICHARD.
Required skills and abilities
The candidate must have the ability to combine empirical research in the South and conceptual research through three methodological components:
- collection of flow data on several scales (mobilizing national and international databases), and statistical and cartographic analysis. Mastery of GIS and vector graphics software will be appreciated (QGis, Inkscape);
- semi-structured interviews conducted during one or two field visits whose precise locations and interviewees (transporters, entrepreneurs, traders, users, migrants, public authorities) shall be defined in function of the project of the person hired;
- theoretical approach to the relationship between international circulation, regionalization and metropolization, highlighting the role of the geography of transport sites and trade in urban and regional networking processes.
The candidate must hold a PhD in geography, economy, development, socio-anthropology or political science.
Additional information
Contract start date: between 01/Sept/2017 and 01/Dec/2017 (as desired)
Length of contract: 1 year
Post-doctoral fellow’s supervisor: Nora MAREÏ, CNRS researcher – UMR PRODIG
Host laboratory : UMR PRODIG – 2 rue Valette, 75005 Paris
Net monthly remuneration: approx. €2,324
Contact :
- contact@labex-dynamite.com
- nora.marei@cnrs.fr
Recruitment procedure and schedule
The application must be submitted electronically by application form. It must demonstrate that the candidate fulfils the requirements indicated in the post-doctoral profile (specified tasks and skills). The application will include:
- a description of the research project (5 pages maximum) specifying the research-related issues, the methodology to be used, the empirical work (field and data), a feasibility report and project schedule;
- a covering letter;
- a curriculum vitae;
- a list of publications with internet links (if available);
- the doctoral thesis (PDF version);
- the doctoral thesis defence report (not required for candidates having defended their thesis in a foreign country and for candidates having defended their thesis too recently. The latter will include a letter confirming the forthcoming oral defence of the candidate’s research thesis prior to Thursday, June 15 2017);
- a copy of the doctoral degree, or certificate (the thesis must have been defended fewer than five years ago).
The deadline for the submission of applications is Tuesday, April 18 2017 (inclusive).
For your information: when the deadline has passed, the LabEx DynamiTe will contact the director(s) of the host unit(s) and will add one letter of invitation to the application.
This post-doctoral profile is open for applications at the same time as two other post-doctoral profiles. Nevertheless, only two of the three Profiles will be filled by two successful candidates (who will be recruited on two different profiles).
The 2 successful candidates following the assessment of the applications and interviews (which will take place on Thursday, June 15 2017) will be informed of the results from Friday, June 16 2017.
Work-Package: “Regional integrations”
For more information please click "Further Official Information" below.
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
http://labex-dynamite.com/en/post-doctoral-positions-campaign-2017-profile-n-2/