Globalizing the History of Capitalism: A Roundtable

Date: 

Wednesday, April 20, 2022, 12:00pm to 2:00pm

Location: 

Zoom (registration required)

"Slavery’s Capitalism beyond the Nation-State: Trans-imperial business operations and the plantation complex"
Pepijn BrandonAssociate Professor of History, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
How can we write the history of capitalism beyond the framework of the nation-state? This contribution will take the trans-imperial business operation of eighteenth-century merchants and financiers involved in slavery in the Dutch Caribbean as a starting point to discuss the complicated and always shifting relationship between internationally operating capital, states and empires.

"Global Southern Companies as Central to a Globalized History of Capitalism"
Kristen AlffAssistant Professor of History and International Studies, North Carolina State University
Globalizing the history of capitalism encourages us to rethink its major players. Drawing on the history of companies in the Levant, I argue the techniques for capital accumulation of these businesses in the Mediterranean, India, Argentina, Cyprus, Germany, and Russia, made them highly competitive on the global market and helped shape global capitalism.

"Haiti, Sovereign Debt Obligations, and the Globalization of Capitalism After Slavery"
Westenley Alcenat, Assistant Professor of History, Fordham University
Nineteenth-century Haiti is sui generis in the globalization of capitalism. French imposed sovereign debt obligations transformed the island-nation. after its revolution into a modern entrepôt for transatlantic market speculators. A view from Haiti and the Caribbean allows new insights into global capitalism after slavery

Chair: Sven Beckert, Laird Bell Professor of History, Harvard University

Details and registration on our website.

Do note that this event is not hosted by the history department. Zoom access and event question should be directed to the Weatherhead Center. you can find their contact info by clicking here.