Dr Eric Burton
Associate Professor
Phone: +43 512 507-44026
Email: Eric.Burton[at]uibk.ac.at
Room no. 40618
Consultation hours by appointment via e-mail
Research interests
- Global History
- East-South relations during the Cold War
- Decolonisation and liberation movements
- Socialisms and Solidarities
- History of development policy and development work
- African educational migration during the Cold War
Studies and academic career
- since 02/2026 Associate Professor of Global History, Department of Contemporary History, University of Innsbruck
- Habilitation 2025
- since 4/2019 Assistant Professor of Global History, Department of Contemporary History, University of Innsbruck
- 4/2019 Guest Lecturer, University of Ghana
- 2018-2019 Research Associate in the project Socialism goes global, University of Exeter
- 2018 PhD in History, University of Vienna
- 2017-2018 EEGA Leibniz Science Campus Visiting Researcher, University of Leipzig, Germany
- 2015-2019 Lecturer in African History and International Development, University of Vienna (with interruptions)
- 2014-2016 Research Associate in the project Entsandte Expert/inn/en von Entwicklungshilfe und Sozialistischer Hilfe in Zeiten der Systemkonkurrenz, Institute for Economic and Social History, University of Vienna
- 2014 BA in Cultural and Social Anthropology, University of Vienna
- 2013 Diploma (Mag.) in International Development, elective subjects African History and Kiswahili, University of Vienna
- 2011-2012 Semester abroad at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Excerpt
- „Brüder, zur Sonne“? Entwicklung, Dekolonisierung und sozialistische Solidarität in den österreichischen 1960ern, ed. with Lucile Dreidemy and Hanna Hacker, zeitgeschichte 52 (2025), issue 3.
- Collective Colonialism for European Integration. The Rise of the Pan-European Movement in Post-imperial Austria, with Lucile Dreidemy. In: Bernhard Schär, Mikko Toivanen (eds.), Integration and Collaborative Imperialism in Modern Europe. At the Margins of Empire, 1800-1950, London: Bloomsbury, 2025.
- Frontline Citizens: Liberation Movements, Transnational Solidarity, and the Making of Anti-Imperialist Citizenship in Tanzania, in: International Review of Social History 69, no. S32 (2024), pp. 197-224.
- From Convergence to Divergence. Mozambique's Failed Campaign to Join Comecon and the Collapse of East-South Solidarity, ca. 1977-1985, in: Cold War History 25 (2025) Issue 3, pp. 423-445.
- Innsbruck postkolonial: Eine Stadt mitten in den Bergen–verstrickt in globale koloniale Verhältnisse?, WebApp, ed. with Konrad Kuhn in cooperation with the Innsbruck City Council, 2023.
- Development, with James Mark and Steffi Marung. In: James Mark and Paul Betts (coords.): Socialism Goes Global: The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the Age of Decolonisation, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2022, pp. 75-114.
- In Diensten des Afrikanischen Sozialismus. Tansania und die globale Entwicklungsarbeit der beiden deutschen Staaten, 1961-1990, Berlin-Boston: De Gruyter, 2021.
- Sozialistische Globalisierung. Die Tagebücher der DDR-Freundschaftsbrigaden in Afrika, Asien und Lateinamerika, with Immanuel Harisch. In: Zeithistorische Forschungen 17 (2020), issue 3, pp. 578-591.
- Navigating Socialist Encounters: Moorings and (Dis)entanglements between Africa and East Germany during the Cold War Anne Dietrich, Immanuel Harisch, Marcia Schenck (eds.), Berlin-Boston: De Gruyter, 2021.
- Decolonisation, the Cold War and Africans' Routes to Overseas Education, 1957-1965, in: Journal of Global History 15 (2020) issue 1, pp. 169-191.
- Hubs of Decolonisation. African Liberation Movements and Eastern Connections in Cairo, Accra and Dar es Salaam. In: Lena Dallywater, Helder A. Fonseca, Chris Saunders (eds.), Southern African Liberation Movements and the Global Cold War "East": Transnational Activism 1960-1990, Berlin-Boston: De Gryuter, 2019.
funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF
Duration: 2026 - 2030
Hubs of Decolonisation. Anti-imperial infrastructures, visions and mobilities in Cairo, Accra and Dar es Salaam, 1956-1966 (habilitation project)
developed from a course with Konrad Kuhn in SS 2022
Bars, curtains and pipelines: Conjunctures of African mobility towards and beyond Eastern Europe during the Cold War, University of Leipzig
Functions
- Co-editor of historia.scribere
- Austrian Journal of Development Studies (JEP) (Editorial board member)
- Stichproben. Vienna Journal of African Studies (editorial board member)
- Book reviews and peer reviews for H-Diplo, Third World Quarterly, International History Review, H-Soz-Kult, H-Socialism, Austrian Journal of Development Studies (JEP), Stichproben-Wiener Zeitschrift für Kritische Afrikastudien
Memberships
- European Network in Universal and Global History (ENIUGH)
- African Studies Association Germany (VAD)
- Mattersburger Kreis für Entwicklungspolitik
- Dokumentations- und Kooperationszentrum Südliches Afrika (SADOCC)
- Vereinigung Deutscher Historikerinnen und Historiker (VDH)
Awards and honours
- Nomination by the University of Innsbruck for Ars Docendi - Austrian State Prize for Excellence in Teaching for the course Postcolonial Innsbruck (together with Konrad Kuhn) (2023)
- Shortlisted for the LehrePlus! prize of the University of Innsbruck for the course Postkoloniales Innsbruck (together with Konrad Kuhn) (2023)
- Walter Markov Prize 2020, dissertation prize awarded by the European Network in Universal and Global History
- Fellowship Eastern Europe - Global Area (EEGA) Leibniz Science Campus, University of Leipzig, 2017-2018
- Dissertation completion scholarship, University of Vienna, 2017
- Merit Scholarship, University of Vienna, 2012/13
- Research scholarship, University of Vienna, 2012
- Merit Scholarship, University of Vienna, 2011