Leiden University PhD candidates exploring the history of early childcare in Central and Eastern Europe
The PhD candidates will become part of a research team exploring a century of early childcare and the invisible work linked to the first 1,000 days of human life in modern central and eastern Europe led by Prof. dr. Sarah A. Cramsey. The positions are fully funded under the ERC Starting Grant scheme (project CARECENTURY). The expected starting date is 1 September 2025.
Project description:
How did caretakers rooted in families, communities and societies nurture very young children across historical time? And, how have care practices changed across different peoples, states and political economies in the dynamic 20th century? This ambitious project answers these important, yet mostly overlooked, questions with a comparative study of early childcare in central and eastern Europe from 1905 to 2004.
The late Habsburg Empire and, after 1918, six of its successor states offer an ideal laboratory to explore how the invisible work of caretaking was impacted by changing political, social and economic circumstances. In this ethnically and religiously diverse region, care continued during depressions, wars, genocides, displacements and revolutions. This project will be the first to study early childcare in this region systematically and conceptualize the history of private and public caretaking in early life more broadly.
