Hutchins Center: Comparative Abolition in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans: A Research Conference

The newly formed Leeds Baines Group for the Comparative Study of Unfree Labour together with the Working Group on Comparative Slavery (founded at Harvard in 2015) aim to bring together scholars working on slavery and indenture for a two-day conference focusing on the comparative aspects of abolition in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Conference participants will explore research synergies and collaborative opportunities, promote a new cycle of comparative studies of slavery and indentured labour, and help define new trans-regional doctoral fields in historical research. Taking the theme of ‘abolition’ as its point of departure, the event will build on the significant growth of scholarship on unfree labour in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds during the past two decades. It will revisit some of persistent problems posed by the traditional comparative literature on slavery and indenture and identify new and exciting areas for future research.

Those interested in presenting a paper or organizing a panel should write to Manuel Barcia (M.Barcia@leeds.ac.uk) and James Almeida (jamesalmeida@g.harvard.edu) by July 15, 2017.