Job Announcement: 3-year postdoctoral position in the history of mining in early modern Japan
Joshua Batts
Dear colleagues,
I am looking for one postdoctoral researcher in late medieval/early modern Japanese history to join my ERC Horizon Project “Material Authority: Managing Mineral Abundance in Early Modern Japan” (MMA), based out of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). I ask that you circulate the following job announcement to prospective candidates within your networks, and to invite the applications of listserv members with relevant research interests and experience.
Early career scholars are encouraged to apply, and there is the possibility of accommodating ABD candidates as well, circumstances permitting. This call has been timed for the North American market, but candidates based elsewhere are also encouraged to apply.
The role is a three-year, fixed-term position, and comes with the medical care and social security benefits standard to employment in Spain. Applications are due on 21 January, 2026, end of day. Short-listed candidates will be interviewed in the second half of February.
Applicants are required to submit a research abstract of a few hundred words proposing a line of work within the project; short-listed candidates will be asked to submit a longer research brief of 1200-1500 words.
Below I’ve pasted a project abstract. For more information on the project and position, including application requirements, please consult https://projectmma.uab.cat/job-announcement-2/.
Note that applications must be submitted through the UAB job portal at seleccio.uab.cat (call number 2025DILIFRUA139).
Prospective applicants with questions about the position may contact the PI directly off-list at joshua...@uab.cat. For questions about the application process, please contact Project Manager Rosa Puga Aranda (RosaMar...@uab.cat).
Many thanks,
Joshua Batts
Project Abstract
Material Authority (MMA) puts mines and mining at the center of the political, commercial, and social transformations within Japan from the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. Recognizing that a boom in precious metals proved instrumental in shaping early modern Japan’s domestic governance and foreign relations, the project proposes the first comprehensive study of Japan’s “mineral politics” during this time. Examining mines well-known (Iwami, Sado) and less-appreciated (Ikuno, Naganoburi) from across the archipelago, MMA departs from quantitative analyses prioritizing mineral production and investigates how authority materialized through mines, and how mines and mineral extraction authored power in Japan. Material Authority integrates and interrogates many of the landmark transitions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: protracted conflict yielding to political unification, a rapid expansion and curtailment of foreign relations. Mines are present in accounts of these transformations but have never been offered as an organizing principle by which to examine each and their effects on one another. To this end, the project team will pursue three lines of research: exploring how mines shaped authority, catalyzed management, and facilitated exchange. A paleography seminar will facilitate collaboration and develop skills honed by research in Japan conducted at archives and through on-site visits. A parallel research seminar will spotlight scholarship on mineral politics and resource management across geographical specialty and model a final goal of Material Authority: to inform inquiry into the entangled transformations in material extraction and human power across the early modern world.