The Space Between: Experiences as a Postdoctoral Fellow, Ben Goff, Ph.D. 2023

Greetings from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan!

When I arrived as a postdoctoral fellow on the University of Saskatchewan’s campus at the start of the fall semester in 2023, the History department faculty here appropriately described my position in one word: liminal. In this they meant that I occupy the space between two distinct stages of an academic career. I am no longer a Ph.D. candidate, but neither am I a faculty member. I am something in between.

This liminality comes with great benefits. In particular, the position provides a level of freedom unmatched in the profession. Because this is a temporary, two-year appointment, I can strategically choose where I spend my time. My Canadian colleagues often remind me how jealous they are of my flexibility while the rigors of a tenure-track appointment consume all their energy.

So, how have I taken advantage of this freedom?

Like most postdocs, I am leveraging my dissertation to produce a variety of publications, apply for grants, conduct archival research, travel to conferences, and teach specialized courses. For example, in this past year, I devoted much effort to writing a book proposal. My dissertation had investigated the changing fiscal and administrative structures of French military medicine between 1650 and 1815. This hefty chronological and thematic breadth presented challenges that I did not fully overcome as a Ph.D. student. My historiographic intervention and thesis still needed to be distilled into a clearer and more articulate statement. Working on the book proposal allowed me to address these challenges and engage more deeply with important scholarly debates such as work on the “Military Enlightenment” and the “Contractor State.” I read and wrote, read and wrote.

Through this process of refining my work, I produced two important “spin-offs” from the larger dissertation. The first was a standalone article where I examined intendant records from Normandy during the Seven Years’ War to understand how the French war ministry operated military hospitals. I have just recently submitted the piece and am awaiting its fate in peer-review. Fingers crossed! In the second “spin-off,” I applied for a grant from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, otherwise known as SSHRC. As an American, I had never heard of SSHRC, but it is analogous to the NEH in the States. I won an Explore Grant which will allow me to hire an undergraduate research assistant in the coming year to organize archival materials that I collected on my last research trip.

Speaking of research trips, the flexibility of the postdoc has allowed me to travel. Thanks to a grant from the International Commission on Military History and a travel stipend from the University of Saskatchewan (via my postdoctoral supervisor, Matthew Neufeld), I undertook the aforementioned research, spending six weeks in France, bouncing from Paris to Lille to Perpignan. (Photo #1: me in the Departmental Archives in Lille) Also thanks to this money, I have been lucky enough to present papers at two academic conferences, one in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and one in New York City. I even squeezed in a quick vacation to London. Seeing England was a first for me. For all you history nerds out there, you can see me standing by the Broad Street water pump in London where the physician John Snow first hypothesized that cholera spread through contaminated water, an insight that helped isolate the cholera bacterium and substantiate germ theory. (Photo #2)

Finally, I am devoting my attention to teaching courses that align closely with my research. I now adjunct at United States Naval War College, offering asynchronous classes on naval strategy to military officers. And, this coming fall, I will teach HIST 233 “War and Medicine,” a seminar developed by Matthew Neufeld that mirrors my own research. I cannot wait to talk to students about the history that I study every day!

I have one year left here at the University of Saskatchewan. I am currently applying for jobs, hoping to land the much-coveted, tenure-track appointment. Regardless of the looming job search, I feel truly grateful to have had this opportunity and all the flexibility that comes with it. My colleagues (especially Matthew), my fellow postdocs, and the larger university have all been warm, welcoming, and encouraging. I will miss them and this place immensely in a years’ time, much like I miss the people and places of FSU.  

I’ll wrap up quickly by talking about adjusting to life in Canada, specifically Saskatchewan. As you can very well guess, Saskatchewan is the climatic opposite of Florida. I have been assured by all the locals that this past winter was particularly mild. I believe them, but my weak southern constitution does not. I live close to campus and enjoy walking to work each day regardless of the weather. In the winter, when the temperatures reach -20 or -40-degrees Fahrenheit, I feel as though I am going on a short artic expedition just to reach my office. (Photo #3: me with my expeditionary gear). I cover every inch of skin and brave the elements. While the winters might be brutal, the summers are picture perfect. As I write this, the temperature is in the low 80s, with low humidity and a light breeze. It makes me wish I could stay!