220118 Of Merchants, Mercenaries, and (Enslaved) Labourers: The Emergence of Global Work Migration in the Early Modern Period (S) (WiSe 2023/2024)

In historical research on early modern Europe, labour migration has been mainly addressed as a local and regional phenomenon. Interestingly, however, the transitions between intra- and transcontinental labour mobility were fluid. This seminar explores the beginnings of transcontinental work migration, which is connected to the European expansions in the early modern period. It focuses on different forms of voluntary and involuntary labour mobility (slavery, indentured labour, contract work) and relates them to economic and political developments, such as the foundation of monopolistic trading companies and the emergence of colonial empires. The seminar is linked to the contextualisation course ‘Processes of Proto-Globalization in the Early Modern Period’. Both courses are closely linked to each other. Regular participation in both courses is a prerequisite for the successful completion of the seminar. The seminar is open to participants of the Master’s programme ‘World Studies’ and will therefore in all probability be offered in English.

Literaturangaben

K. Weber, Germany and the Early Modern Atlantic World. Economic Involvement and Historiography, in: Rebekka von Mallinckrodt / Josef Köstlbauer / Sarah Lentz (eds.), Beyond Exceptionalism. Traces of Slavery and the Slave Trade in Early Modern Germany, 1650–1850, Berlin 2021, S. 27-55.
J. Lucassen / L. Lucassen, The Mobility Transition Revisited, 1500–1900. What the Case of Europe Can Offer to Global History, in: The Journal of Global History 4, 2009, 347–377.
L. Dubois / J. Scott (Eds.), Origins of the Black Atlantic, New York 2010.