Global Commodities
The Material Culture of Early Modern Connections, 1400-1800
CALL FOR PAPERS
To be held at the Global History and Culture Centre University of Warwick - 12-14 December 2012
Material culture created and was created by connections with ‘others’ in the era before the global exchange of people, political ideas and economic processes intensified through industrialization. The exchange of goods and the culture of commodities played central roles in forging enduring and transformative global connections.
This conference seeks to explore how our understanding of early modern global connections changes if we consider the role material culture played in shaping such connections. In what ways did material objects participate in the development of the multiple processes often referred to as ‘globalisation’? How did objects contribute to the construction of such notions as hybridism and cosmopolitanism? What was their role in trade and migration, gifts and diplomacy, encounters and conflict? What kind of geographies did they create in the early modern world? What was their cultural value vis-à-vis their economic value? In short, we seek to explore the ways in which commodities and connections intersected in the early modern world.
This conference wishes to bring together scholars with expertise across a range of disciplines and geographic areas that came into direct contact in the early modern period, by which we mean the world between ca. 1400 and 1800. Of course many areas of the humanities and social sciences have expanded their enquiries in disciplinary and spatial terms, but truly global and interdisciplinary approaches still have to rely heavily on dialogue and collaboration between scholars. We hope that this conference will present an opportunity to bring together scholars from very different geographical and disciplinary backgrounds, who all share an interest in exploring commodities in global contexts.
We welcome in particular, but by no means exclusively, contributions on:
•specific commodities, luxuries and artistic objects, including traded goods, rarities, objects in cabinets of curiosities and their role in elite and non-elite consumption;
•the role of nodes (ports and ships, custom and auction houses, courts and cities) in the global exchange of goods;
•production for global markets/distant markets, with special reference to issues of design, customization and quality.
Papers should be no more than twenty minutes long. Where possible we welcome proposals for sessions of three or four papers. To submit a proposal, please send a 200-word abstract of the proposed paper, together with a one page CV, to: ghcc.conferences@warwick.ac.uk - Global History and Culture Centre, Department of History, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
The closing date for proposals is 1 June 2012. Successful candidates will be notified by the 1 July 2012.
The registration fee is £100 (£45 for students), payable by 15 October 2012. The late registration fee (after 15 October 2012) is £120 (£55 for students). One-day attendance is £65 (£75 for late registration) and for students £30 (£40 after 15 October 2012).
Please note that the registration fee covers lunch and coffee breaks, but does not include dinner or accommodation. A registration form to book a room on campus and/or attend dinners will be made available to participants.
Participants are expected to organise and cover the cost for their own travel. A small number of bursaries will be made available to graduate students.
If you have any further questions, please contact:
Anne Gerritsen, University of Warwick, a.t.gerritsen@warwick.ac.uk
Giorgio Riello, University of Warwick, g.riello@warwick.ac.uk
