Conference: Empire and Globalisation(s). Circulations, Exchanges and Trans-Imperial Cooperation in Africa, 19th-20th Century

International Workshop

Over the course of the last few years, the “transnational turn” in the social sciences has inspired a profound renewal of colonial and imperial history (Hedinger, Hée, 2018 ; Kreienbaum, Kamissek, 2016). A significant body of research has been investigating the dynamics of “imperial globalization” (Thomas, Thompson, 2014), as well as the vast array of “in-between” actors, spaces and institutions that have contributed to connecting countries and colonial territories of the world (Potter, Saha, 2015 ; Barth, Cvetkovski, 2015). Following this decentered approach, the study of the imperial past can offer a “bridge” toward global history and provide original insights into the ideological, institutional and technological mechanisms of contemporary globalization (Akita, 2002).

Bringing together senior researchers and young scholars, this workshop aims to further this debate by focusing on the history of the political, scientific and technical cooperation in European colonial empires in Africa during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It will shed light, on the one hand, on the wide range of collaborations that have been established between and beyond colonial administrations, in areas such as health, labor, security, and education, as well as natural and social sciences. On the other hand, the workshop aspires to connect the history of imperialism and internationalism (Bandeira Jerónimo, Monteiro, 2018). Special attention will be given to the role played by transnational actors – such as international organizations and private companies - in the coproduction of knowledge and in structuring “colonial circuits” (Stoler, Cooper, 1997).

Export event as iCal