The conference we are organizing in Rio de Janeiro urges scholars to rethink capitalism’s history from the vantage point of this new historical moment and to consider what are the most promising theoretical formulations, methodological approaches, and historical framings to define capitalism, identify its drivers, shed light on its mechanisms, periodize its cycles, incorporate previously neglected spaces or processes, and offer a prognosis of its current reconfiguring. While traditional analyses of capitalism’s history were centered on Europe, the United States, or the North Atlantic, new strands of scholarship recognize that such a narrow lens fails to capture the complexity of the global economy and its history.

The British Commission for Maritime History (BCMH) invites contributions to its twenty-ninth conference for new researchers. This year it will be held at the University of Strathclyde in the heart of Glasgow, a city transformed through maritime trade and shipbuilding from the early modern period onwards. This is an ideal location to hold this annual conference and provides a unique opportunity for new scholars to present their work in a historic setting.

Oil was the most important commodity of the twentieth century. It fundamentally changed societies, markets, and the relationship between states and companies. Oil is a business with high fixed costs, encouraging companies to seek economies of scale and market domination. From the start of the modern industry in the 1860s, the international oil markets within a few decades came to be dominated by a few large vertically integrated global companies. The oil majors at times competed vigorously but mostly colluded in international cartels. This meant that a few large companies tightly controlled the market for the product that societies became increasingly dependent on. All over the world, states had to find a way to deal with the market power of the dominant oil companies. The question of whether and how the authorities should regulate the oil markets became a burning political issue that brought about a diverse array of national strategies.

Young Scholars Initiative and Figuerola Institute invite you to the Economic History Workshop of Developing Regions at Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M). There has been recent growth in the economic history literature on developing countries, backed by quantified evidence. However, this expansion lags significantly behind the well-established corpus of literature centered on the core European and North American contexts. Bridging this gap in the literature is crucial to comprehensively addressing the major questions in economic history. Indeed, we still lack comparable historical datasets of markets, land ownership, human capital, and tax records in developing regions due to limited access to primary sources and insufficient funding opportunities.

We invite your participation in “Climate and Business/The Business Climate,” a conference sponsored by the Canadian Business History Association – l’association Canadienne pour l’histoire des affaires, to be held in Banff, Alberta, 19-21 September, 2024 at the Banff Centre. The planning committee welcomes proposals for papers and roundtables relating to business history within a Canadian or international context.  

L’objet précieux, et plus particulièrement le bijou, suscitent, au fil des siècles et des espaces, des réactions qui se réitèrent et se répondent, malgré la variation des contextes, des époques et des lieux. En effet, si la réprobation pour les notions de dissipation et de luxe – souvent ostentatoires – est récurrente depuis l’Antiquité déjà (Pline l’Ancien), l’action bénéfique de l’objet précieux est également revendiquée, sur la base de plusieurs raisons : esthétiques, symboliques, religieuses et économiques. L’objet précieux est à la fois un agalma resplendissant et digne d’admiration ; une offrande pour les dieux ou pour les morts, dont la valeur doit être proportionnelle à la dignité des destinataires ; un symbole de statut, de pouvoir, d’alliance et de fidélité, dans lequel des valeurs culturelles sont condensées ; un héritage social ou familial, à la fois véhicule et gage de la transmission et de la tradition ; un inspirateur de la création artistique et du développement des techniques ; enfin l’un des éléments d’échange privilégiés dans l'économie du don, voire un moteur de l’économie, comme il est souligné par plusieurs auteurs tout au long de la réflexion occidentale sur le luxe, de Bernard de Mandeville à Jean-Baptiste Say, à Werner Sombart et bien d’autres.

The 20th World Economic History Congress will convene from 28 July to 1 August 2025 in Lund, Sweden. The theme for the Congress is Equality and Sustainability Challenges, which highlights some of the central issues facing humanity today and also connects to a broad and diverse range of historical problems. To address both the challenges and to find insights from the historical record for that endeavor, a range of perspectives will be necessary.

The Centre of Maritime History in the Institute for Mediterranean Studies in Rethymnon announces the Sixth International Conference of the Mediterranean Maritime History Network (MMHN), which will take place at the Institute for Mediterranean Studies in Rethymno from the 27th to the 31st of May 2024.

The ELHN Labour and Family Economy Working Group invites papers for the session:
Elsewhere. The Migration of Families in the Past from a Labour History and Family Economy Perspective (18th-19th Century)

Organizers:

• Mario Grassi (Yale University & University of Padua) mariograssi992[at]gmail.com
• Céline Mutos-Xicola (University of Girona) celine.mutos[at]udg.edu

Discussant:

• Beatrice Zucca Micheletto (University of Padua)

Deadline to receive papers: 10 September 2023

The ELHN Labour and Family Economy Working Group invites papers for the session "Labour, gender and social mobility during the industrialization"

Organizers: Llorenç FERRER ALOS (Universitat de Barcelona), llferrer[at]ub.edu and Cinzia LORANDINI (Università di Trento), cinzia.lorandini[at]unitn.it

Discussant: Manuela MARTINI (Université de Lyon)

Deadline to receive proposals: 10 September 2023

The Programme Committee appointed by the International Maritime History Association (IMHA) invites proposals for panels, papers and roundtables to be presented at IMHA’s 9th International Congress of Maritime History in Busan, Korea. The congress will be hosted by the IMA (Institute of International Maritime Affairs), affiliated with the  Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries and the Korea Maritime & Ocean University, on August 19 – 24, 2024, in cooperation with the Korean Association of Maritime History, KASPS (Korean Association of Shipping and Ports Studies) and WCMCI (World Committee of Maritime Culture Institutes).

The main theme is Oceans: Local Mobility, Global Connectivity, and the aim is to address multiple aspects of the relationship between humans and the oceans. Oceans were regarded by humans as barriers in ancient times, although, in modern times, they became routes for exploring, travelling and connecting peoples and worlds separated by spatial and cultural distance. 

Tα πιο πρόσφατα πορίσματα της ελληνικής ιστοριογραφίας, προκάλεσαν τα τελευταία χρόνια έντονο ενδιαφέρον για την ύπαιθρο, καθώς εστιάζουν σε συγκεκριμένες περιοχές με επίκεντρο μια επαρχία ή ένα δήμο. Οι νεότερες αυτές μελέτες περίπτωσης επιχείρησαν να διεισδύσουν σε πολλαπλά θεματικά επίπεδα όπως, το καθεστώς γαιοκτησίας, η σχέση πόλης-υπαίθρου, η αγροτική εργασία, οι μετακινήσεις των χωρικών, η εισροή προσφύγων, η διανομή των γαιών, τα αγροληπτικά και ζωοληπτικά συστήματα, η φορολογία, οι αγροτικές κινητοποιήσεις, οι πολιτικές σχέσεις, ο τραπεζικός δανεισμός,  η εμπορευματοποίηση των αγροτικών προϊόντων, κ.ά. Ταυτόχρονα, οι αρχειακές πηγές που συνεχώς έρχονται στο προσκήνιο τις τελευταίες δεκαετίες, αποτελούν σύμμαχο σε αυτή την προσπάθεια κι ενισχύουν συστηματικά με τεκμηριωτικό υλικό τα νεότερα ιστοριογραφικά ερωτήματα.

Σε αυτή τη σύγχρονη ιστοριογραφική τάση που διεκδικεί την αποκρυπτογράφηση των διεργασιών σε επιμέρους παραδείγματα και στη συνέχεια τη σύνδεσή τους με ευρύτερες  συνθετικές και ερμηνευτικές προσπάθειες, εγγράφεται και η σχεδιαζόμενη ημερίδα.    

Μας ενδιαφέρει ειδικότερα να διερευνήσουμε πως προσδιορίστηκαν τα κοινωνικά, πολιτικά και οικονομικά χαρακτηριστικά των αγροτικών κοινοτήτων και, εν γένει, της ελληνικής υπαίθρου στο πλαίσιο των μεγάλων μετασχηματισμών με δυναμικά χρονολογικά ορόσημα, τις διαδικασίες κυριαρχίας και κατάρρευσης της σταφιδικής αγοράς στο 19ο αιώνα και την αστικοποίηση των αγροτικών πληθυσμών έπειτα από τη λήξη του Β΄ Παγκοσμίου Πολέμου.