معرفی
David J. Gaunt is a Professor of History at Södertörn University in Sweden, where he has been based since 1999. Previously, he held a Docent position at Uppsala University starting in 1987. He is an Ordinary Member of the Academy of Europe in the History & Archaeology section, elected in 2011. His academic career spans several decades with significant contributions to genocide studies and social history.
Dr. Gaunt's educational background includes a B.A. (honors) from Kenyon College (1966), an M.A. from Washington University (1968), and a Ph.D. in History from Uppsala University (1975). He has also been a Guest Researcher at prestigious institutions including the Institut für Wirtschafts- und Sozialgeschichte in Vienna, the Max-Planck-Institut für Geschichte in Göttingen, the Cambridge Group for the Study of Population and Social Structure, and the Department of Social and Economic History at the University of Edinburgh.
Gaunt's research spans multiple interconnected fields including social history, family history, demographic history, economic history, genocide studies, and the history of ageing. His work particularly focuses on minority populations and their experiences during periods of conflict, with special attention to the Assyrian Genocide. He has made significant contributions to understanding kinship structures, social security systems, and the experiences of ethnic minorities during wartime.
His publication record demonstrates a consistent focus on historical trauma and minority studies, with particular emphasis on the Assyrian Genocide and related topics. His work bridges social history with genocide studies, examining how kinship networks provided social security in modern Sweden while also documenting massacres and resistance during World War I in Eastern Anatolia. This dual focus on structural social history and extreme historical events creates a unique scholarly perspective.
- Woodrow Wilson National Scholarship (1966-1968)
- Thord-Grey Fellowship, American Scandinavian Foundation (1970-1971)
- Rockefeller Foundation postdoctoral scholarship in population studies (1976-1978)
- Northern Scholar, University of Edinburgh
Professor Gaunt has supervised 20 PhD students throughout his career, demonstrating his commitment to academic mentorship. He serves as a corresponding member of the Social History Journal since 1975, Member of the Academic Board at the International Center for the Study of Russian and East European Jewry in Moscow since 2003, and Member of the Workshop for Armenian Turkish Scholarship since 2005. He previously served as a Board Member of Sveriges gerontologiska sällskap (1999-2002) and Fackråd för Nordisk Gerontologiska Forening (2000-).
