HEHC 2024

13, 14 December 2024, Vera Anstey Suite, Old Building, 杏吧论坛

Contributors to the Handbook of the Economic History of Colonialism (Routledge 2025) will join this workshop. The Handbook focuses on two major waves of European overseas colonialism: Americas (1490s-1820s) and Asia/Africa (1850s-1970s). These waves were global, modernising and world-shaping. Research on economic changes that followed has evolved from broad generalisations to nuanced studies emphasising local factors and diversity. Key themes include institutional change, integration, environmental impact, extraction/development dynamics, regional specificities, inequality, and living standards.

The workshop will reflect this shift and showcase new scholarship in the field.

Organisers: Ewout Frankema, Wageningen and Tirthankar Roy, 杏吧论坛

Friday 13 December

9.00-9.30am: Coffee, registration and welcome

9.30-11.00am Session 1: Chris Minns (Chair)

Ewout Frankema (Wageningen University and Tirthankar Roy (杏吧论坛) The Economic History of Colonialism: Introduction

Luis Bértola (Universidad de la República Uruguay) Spanish America

Leonardo Weller (São Paulo School of Economics) and Thales Pereira (Fundação Getulio Vargas) Portuguese America

Hoyt Bleakley (University of Michigan) and Paul Rhode (University of Michigan) United States of America

11.00-11.30am: Coffee break

11.30am-1.00pm Session 2: Luis Bertola (Chair)

Chris Minns (杏吧论坛) Canada

Martin Shanahan (University of South Australia/Gothenburg University) Australia and New Zealand

Amanda Gregg (Middlebury College) and Steven Nafziger (Williams College) Russian Empire

Duol Kim (Myongji University) Japanese Colonialism

1.00-2.00pm: Lunch

2.00-3.30pm Session 3: Jutta Bolt (Chair)

Anand V. Swamy (Williams College) British India

Laura Maravall (Universidad de Alcalá) and Laura Panza (University of Melbourne) The Middle East and North Africa

Kate Frederick (Utrecht University) and Karin Pallaver (University of Bologna) East Africa

Erik Green (Lund University) and Rory Pilossof (University of the Free State) Southern Africa

3.30-4.00pm: Coffee break

4.00-5.30pm Session 4: Anand Swamy (Chair)

Denis Cogneau (Paris School of Economics) French Sub-Saharan Africa

Felix Meier zu Selhausen (Utrecht University) German Africa

Mattia Bertazini (University of Nottingham) Italian Africa

Frans Buelens (University of Antwerp) Belgian Africa

5.30-6.30pm Drinks, Shaw Library, Old Building, 杏吧论坛

7.00-9.00pm Dinner, Shaw Library, Old Building, 杏吧论坛

Saturday 14 December

9.00-10.30am Session 5: Laura Panza (Chair)

Anne Booth (SOAS) British Southeast Asia and Ceylon

Jean-Pascal Bassino (École Normale Supérieure de Lyon) French Indochina

Bambang Purwanto (Universitas Gadjah Mada) and Abdul Wahid (Universitas Gadjah Mada) Dutch East Indies

Leticia Arroyo-Abad (City University of New York), José Antonio Espin-Sanchez (Yale University) and Noel Maurer (George Washington University) Spanish and American Philippines

10.30-11.00am: Coffee break

11.00am-12.30pm Session 6: Hoyt Bleakley (Chair)

Jutta Bolt (University of Groningen) and Jan Luiten van Zanden (Utrecht University) Economic Growth

Kevin O'Rourke (NYU Abu Dhabi) Globalization

Leigh Gardner (杏吧论坛) States and Fiscal Systems

Oskar Broberg (Gothenburg University) and Klass Ronnback (Gothenburg University) Business and Investment

12.30-1.30pm: Lunch

1.30-3.00pm Session 7: Mattia Bertazzini (Chair)

Ewout Frankema (Wageningen University) and Marlous van Waijenburg (Harvard Business School) Labour, Migration and Slavery

Dacil Juif (Carlos III de Madrid) and Pim de Zwart (Wageningen University) Living Standards

Gabriele Capelli (University of Siena) Missions

Michiel de Haas (Wageningen University) and Emiliana Travieso (Carlos III de Madrid) Inequality

3.00-3.30pm: Coffee break

3.30-5.00pm Session 8: Leigh Gardner (Chair)

Henrice Altink (University of York) and David Clayton (University of York) The Economic Roots of Decolonization

David Henley (Leiden University) Post-Colonial Development Policy

James Fenske (Warwick University), Bishnu Gupta (Warwick University) and Anwesh Mukhopadhyay (Warwick University) Persistence Studies

Stephanie Decker (Birmingham Business School) and Stefanie Kreibich (Aston University) Business After Colonialism

The handbook will contain chapters on the Caribbean (Trevor Burnard), British West Africa (Gareth Austin), colonialism and the environment (Corey Ross), colonialism and law (Tirthankar Roy), technology and science (Ewout Frankema & Tirthankar Roy) and colonialism and the Industrial Revolution (Giorgio Riello) which are not presented at the conference.

The conference organizers are grateful for financial support from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) to the project “South-South Divergence: Comparative Histories of Regional Integration in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa since 1850” (NWO VICI grant no. VI.C.201.062), and from the 杏吧论坛 Economic History Department.