Program (see details below)
14:00 - 14:30: Pietro Daniel Omodeo
14:30 - 15:00: Göran Rydén
15:00 - 15:30: Discussion
15:30 - 16:00: Coffee break
16:00 - 16:30: Jaco Zuijderduijn
16:30 - 17:00: Veronique Pouillard
17:00 – 17:30: Discussion
17.30 – 18.15: Kristin Ranestad
Presenters
The Socio-Economic Roots of Venice’s Historical Hydrosociology
Pietro Daniel Omodeo, Ca' Foscari University of Venice
This presentation has a two-fold aim. First, it introduces the theme of water heritage in connection with the material and epistemic history of Venice water culture. This topic is connected with the Anthropocene question about the historical nexus between culture and nature, in which human activity has emerged as a major geological force. Second, the communication introduces crucial aspects of the longue-durée history of the lagoon of Venice and the anthropic transformations of its hydrogeological settings, with a special focus on early modernity. Beginning in the sixteenth century, a massive reengineering of the water flows and landscapes began in order to preserve the lagoon of Venice and the aquatic nature of the city. All these socio-environmental interventions should be understood against the background of the historical developments of labour and economy that took place in a crucial center of early capitalism.
A Swedish Plantation, or how Early-Modern Swedish Ironmaking fitted into the Emergence of Global Capitalism
Göran Rydén, Institute of Housing and Urban Research (IBF), Uppsala University
In my talk, I will present some findings from a dense micro study of a few ironworks, in Swedish bruk, in the eighteenth century, centred on work and labour; the preliminary title is Hushållningens praktiker. Arbete och hushåll i Dannemora bergslag under Charles de Geers tid (forthcoming 2024). The key narrative spins around “househoding”, a concept integrated in ideas of cameralism, which was used as an organising principle in the Swedish society. At the bottom, there was the individual householding based on the everyday life of the population. At the level of the entire realm, there was the general householding, subordinated to the ruler, and at the top, there was the Oeconomia Divina where the Creator ruled supreme. With these layers as a background, I will deal with brukshushållning, the householding of ironmaking estates, divided as it was between an internal side, on work and the organisation of labour, and an external side, on aspects of the market and profit making.
Impairments and Incomes: Careers of Impaired Miners at Røros Copper Works, 17th-20th centuries
Kristin Ranestad, University of Oslo
Jaco Zuijderduijn, Lund University
Premodern labour markets consisted of large numbers of early-life and elderly impaired. Young workers suffered accidents and debilitating diseases, and elderly workers experienced wear and tear after many years of hard labour. Even though impairments must have had a severe impact on labour input, economic historians have often disregarded ‘unfit’ workers. To study the development of the labour position, incomes, and living standards of those who suffered accident or disease would require a systematic analysis of career trajectories. Such a quantitative approach would also allow for testing theories from critical disability studies, such as Finkelstein’s industrialization hypothesis which states that the work environment worsened with the rise of industrial capitalism and caused the impaired to be increasingly discriminated against. We intend to use the unique salary administration of Røros copper works in Central Norway, covering 1690-1933 for a systematic analysis of early-life and elderly impairment to compare career trajectories of early-life and elderly impaired to those of healthy workers to study employment discrimination. In addition, we will also study how impairments and gender intersected in labour markets.
An anti-trust case in the diamond industry: the United States against the De Beers cartel (1945–1948)
Véronique Pouillard, University of Oslo
This paper examines an anti-trust case filed in 1945 by the United States Department of Justice against the diamond cartel led by the South African firm De Beers. By the end of the interwar period, the Belgian Congo firms in the cartel were the largest producers of industrial diamonds in the world. Demand for this product had stagnated during the interwar period, but increased during World War II as industrial diamonds were needed by the arms industry. This resulted in a partial shift of De Beers’ production away from jewelry diamonds to support the allied war effort.
This article focuses on the background of the case and engages with historical debates about why the United States Department of Justice filed the complaint. It examines the production of De Beers historically, before investigating the arguments used in the lawsuit. The strategic importance of United States’ diamond stockpile appears to have been the central issue, but De Beers’ advertising on the United States market, which enhanced the cartel’s monopoly, was also important in the proceedings. The paper considers the historiography of the diamond industry and discusses historians’ hypotheses surrounding the case. Although the case was dismissed in 1948, it resulted in changes in the cartel’s organization and in greater scrutiny of De Beers’ activities. The case marks a turning point in the history of the cartel, which then entered a new phase of adaptation that ensured its survival until nearly the end of the century.
Scandinavian Metals in the Asian Century Danish Trade on Asia and in the Atlantic, 1730-1755
Kristin Ranestad, University of Oslo
Göran Rydén, Uppsala University
Research on global trade has developed significantly in recent decades, and scholars have been busy trying to unravel the complicated structures and histories of global commodities being shipped to Europe from far away regions in different continents. The story of the so called colonial goods, such as tea, coffee, sugar, cotton, silk, etc. has been the staple in this endeavours. Recent decades have also improved our knowledge about the trans-Atlantic slave trade. At the same time there are other aspects of the early modern global trade that we know significantly less about. One neglected area is how Europeans paid for the goods they received. The silver trade to Asia, with Latin American silver, is well-known, but there were other goods from other places involved in European shipments to other parts of the world, and the composition of goods might have changed over time. There has been resurgent research about the trade to Africa, but there is still much to do. Another overlocked aspect is the connection between the different segments of the early modern global trade. Indian textiles is crucial in this, imported to Europe, but re-exported to other parts of the world. On the one hand we contribute to the discussion on how Europeans paid for their imports of colonial goods, from ‘overseas’, as we aim to analyse cargoes shipped out of Europe. On the other hand, we aim to highlight the connections that existed between the trade to Asia with Atlantic shipping. In doing so we also want to change the spatial outlook. In the recent surge of early modern global history most studies have dealt with the major powers, such as Britain, France, the Dutch, Spain, etc., but our analysis takes a ‘peripheral’ angle, as we study the Danish Asia Company and the Danish West India and Guinea Company. The crucial connection in our paper is the one linking India to West Africa, but we also bring China and the Caribbean into the frame.