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Josep San Ruperto has received the 2017-2018 outstanding PhD award for his thesis “Emprenedors transnacionals. Les trajectòries econòmiques i socials dels Cernezzi i Odescalchi a la Mediterrània occidental (ca. 1580-1689)” (‘Transnational entrepreneurs. The economic and social trajectories of the Cernezzi and Odescalchi in the Western Mediterranean (circa 1580-1689)’). The research has been directed by Amparo Felipo Orts and Carmen Pérez Aparicio, professors in Modern History at the University of Valencia.
Josep San Ruperto got a doctorate in Modern History at the University of Valencia in 2017. His interest in analysing the social and economic networks of the different agents in the western Mediterranean led him to research and get a doctorate on this topic. During his doctorate studies, he obtained a predoctoral fellowship VALi + d from the Generalitat Valenciana and he did two research stays at renowned foreign centres, such as the European University Institute of Florence, where he spent three months, and one one-month stay at the University of Rome La Sapienza.
He is currently teaching at the University of Valencia, but to finish the postdoctoral contract he will return to the University of Exter (United Kingdom), where he already spent 7 months in the work team of Maria Fusaro, director of the project “Average Transaction Cost” of the European Research Council (ERC).
What difficulties have you encountered?
Undertaking a doctoral thesis inherently involves some difficulties. On the one hand, those related to research work. In modern history, our sources of analysis are archival documents and bibliography. Faced with the challenge proposed to deploy a research whose purpose was to make connections between individuals from different parts of the Mediterranean with a transnational perspective, he had to plan different trips to archives of Italy and Spain. The collection of custodial sources in scattered cities has allowed me to do this work, but at the same time it has encountered difficulties in identifying, selecting and analysing various documentary types.
On the other hand, it should be mentioned that this was possible thanks to the grants for predoctoral research stays of the Valencian Government, which made my trip to Italy possible. This type of research is impossible without a good financing, and in case you do not have it, it could have been a great difficulty to take the work forward. Anyway, at this time it was not possible to reach other archives and libraries and I had to wait to visit them when I got the postdoctoral funding.
What continuity does this work have?
The doctoral thesis had the objective of focusing on the transnational perspective to enter into intra-European connections with the formulation of the business networks of the Cernezzi and Odescalchi business companies. The work raised some questions to solve in the future, among which one of the main ones was to understand how the agents of the Mediterranean participated during the seventeenth century in the process of globalisation and how their individuals articulated. Faced with the supposed Mediterranean “decadence” during the seventeenth century promoted by the Atlantic expansion and the transfer of the hegemonic centre of the European economy to the countries of the North Sea, my questions were in the direction of answering how the agents of the Mediterranean were adapted to the processes of global connection, paying attention to the Republic of Venice, Geneva, the State of Milan, but also in the Valencian Country. These questions led me to propose a new research project entitled “El Mediterrani en la globalització del segle XVII. Xarxes, trajectòries individuals i circulació” (‘The Mediterranean in the seventeenth century globalisation. Networks, individual trajectories and circulation’) in which I am currently working thanks to the postdoctoral contract of the Ministry of Education, Research and Culture of the Valencian Government.
What do you think your research contributes to the scientific community as a whole and to society?
In 2016, historian Serge Gruzinski published a book with the question “Do we still need History?” (Abbiamo ancora bisogno della storia?) and raised the importance of the discipline to understand the world, our world, which has achieved an unprecedented communicative and intercultural speed.
According to my point of view, to understand it in its complexity, without being led by populist speeches, we historians must be responsible and ask ourselves how certain processes of change took place in the past and how the people who lived them faced them. That is why I think the question from Gruzinski has a clear answer: we need history, a story that is attentive and committed to current problems and conflicts, with questions of our time, but with exemplary historical rigor.
In this regard, my research is part of a broad historiographic framework that has put the transnational and global perspectives in the middle of the research agenda. In addition, the study of Mediterranean agents at a time that has traditionally been considered as decadence or crisis allows us to clarify the great narratives through case studies in which we can see contexts of opportunities, creation and innovation in the Mare Nostrum.
What applicability can your work have?
I could begin by saying that based on a work of academic origin, I believe that its aim is to make it available to broader sectors of readers with an interest in history and in the configuration process of the Mediterranean as a space articulated around networks of transnational agents.
Within state-wide universities, transnational and global perspectives have come later than in other countries. In my opinion, these types of research can give impetus to transforming our teaching explanations and presenting processes that escape from such defined and unique territorial frameworks, even more so in modern history where borders were much less defined. With this intention, the doctoral thesis will be published thanks to the Noguera Foundation during this year 2019.
Does getting a Doctorate facilitate employability?
The labour market after the doctorate is very uncertain, especially in the field of humanities. On the one hand, it is necessary to indicate that continuing in the academic field involves a temporary nature and obstacle race. My pre-doctoral contract was three years, but my thesis had to finish one year later. Then I applied for post-doctoral aids and spent another year. Bureaucratic fever in Spain is much greater than in other European countries, as I have seen, and therefore, requesting post-doctoral aids, in many cases, involves a number of obstacles. In my case I have been able to enter the labour market following the university career, but in the field of humanities it is not always easy.
Would you recommend starting doctoral studies? What advice would you give to a person who wants to get a PhD?
Undertaking a doctorate is a challenge, with a great deal of obstacles and difficulties, but it is rewarding. Not only for the final product, but because during the journey there is a process of personal maturation, learning and knowledge of many people that make you a freer person. You have to think well about what you want to study and especially why it motivates you, since after all you have to spend between three and four intense years of your life working on a topic and, to carry it out, you will need patience and passion.
Have you actively participated in outreach activities and scientific communication? How important do you think these activities are?
In my case I have attended twenty congresses in Spain, Italy, Portugal and the United Kingdom, as a communicator, guest speaker and commentator. I believe that attending these scientific dissemination and communication activities have played a key role in the development of my research. In fact, in this type of meeting I have met a good number of the people who appear in the section of my thesis acknowledgments. Exchange and dialogue are essential in humanistic research.
Our work is generally very individual. We work with documents, at the archives and libraries, and sometimes we may feel alone. The help of directors, work colleagues and research teams is essential to reach our goals, but so are the people that you find in the scientific meetings. That’s why I think that you have to move around and go to these events.
