The Global History of Capitalism

Convergence/Divergence: New Approaches to the Global History of Capitalism Conference The Global History of Capitalism project, housed within the Oxford Centre for Global History, is a focal point for ongoing scholarship on the history of capitalism. The project promotes an explicitly global perspective that contextualises the history of capitalism beyond the West and investigates the deep institutional roots of capitalist systems. The Global History of Capitalism project hosted the conference ‘Convergence/Divergence: New Approaches to the Global History of Capitalism’ on September 28-29 2019. The conference brought together cultural, economic, and political historians of global capitalism with the aim of starting a new conversation about the relationship between capitalism and global history. The conference organisers took the broad theme of global divergences and convergences (from the 1500s to the present) as the starting point for discussion. Global historians and historians of capitalism continue to debate whether there was a “Great Divergence” between the West and Asia in the nineteenth-century. Presenters discussed the timing and causality of the Great Divergence, tales of convergence between Europe and Asia, and new frameworks of discussion for global economic history. The conference received funding from the Global History of Capitalism Project and Brasenose College, Oxford.

Wrap up and reflection part 2

Patricia Clavin (Professor of International History, Oxford) gives a lecture on history and public policy. Part of Panel 6 (wrap up reflection): History and Public Policy Chair: Andrew Thompson (Oxford)

09-29
10:46

Wrap up reflection part 1

Jeremy Adelman (Henry Charles Lea Professor of History, Princeton) gives a lecture on history and public policy. Part of Panel 6 (wrap up reflection): History and Public Policy Chair: Andrew Thompson (Oxford)

09-29
20:01

Strange Legacies of Divergence:  The Chinese Gold Mining Diaspora 1850-1910

Mae Ngai (Lung Family Professor of Asian American Studies and Professor of History, Columbia) gives a lecture on ‘Strange Legacies of Divergence:  The Chinese Gold Mining Diaspora 1850-1910’. Part of Panel 5: Labour and the Household, a Global History Chair: Rowena Olegario (Oxford)

09-29
23:23

Divisions of Labour: the Household and the Economy

Peter Hill (Northumbria) gives a lecture on ‘Divisions of Labour: the Household and the Economy’.

09-29
20:59

Household, Wage Labour and Capitalist Transformations in 20th Century Africa

Andreas Eckert (Professor of African History, Humboldt-University Berlin) gives a lecture on ‘Household, Wage Labour and Capitalist Transformations in 20th Century Africa’. Part of Panel 5: Labour and the Household, a Global History Chair: Rowena Olegario (Oxford)

09-29
20:58

China and the West: Many Great Divergences

Joel Mokyr (Robert H. Strotz Professor of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern) gives a lecture on ‘China and the West: Many Great Divergences’. Part of Panel 4: Technology, Institutions and Divergence: Arguments and Counterarguments About Rise and Fall, Success and Failure Chair: Christopher McKenna (Oxford)

09-29
25:11

Silk and Innovation in Pre-modern China and Europe

Dagmar Schafer (Director, Max Planck Institute) and Giorgio Riello (Professor of Early Modern Global History, EUI) give a lecture on ‘Silk and Innovation in Pre-modern China and Europe’. Part of Panel 4: Technology, Institutions and Divergence: Arguments and Counterarguments About Rise and Fall, Success and Failure Chair: Christopher McKenna (Oxford)

09-29
23:26

Cosmographical Foundations for the Promotion of Embryo Sciences and Proto- technologies in Pre-industrial Europe and Late Imperial China

Patrick O’Brien (Professor of Economic History in the Department of Economic History, LSE) gives a lecture on ‘Cosmographical Foundations for the Promotion of Embryo Sciences and Proto- technologies in Pre-industrial Europe and Late Imperial China’. Part of Panel 4: Technology, Institutions and Divergence: Arguments and Counterarguments About Rise and Fall, Success and Failure Chair: Christopher McKenna (Oxford)

09-29
17:12

The Great Intellectual Divergence: Alexander Hamilton and the Global Origins of Environmental Investmentality

Eli Cook (Assistant Professor of American History, Haifa) gives a lecture on ‘The Great Intellectual Divergence: Alexander Hamilton and the Global Origins of Environmental Investmentality’. Part of Panel 3: Catastrophe or Liberation? Capitalism or Environment? Anthropocene, Energy, and Global Capitalism Chair: Gareth Austin (Cambridge)

09-28
18:45

The Great Acceleration in Asia: Beyond 'Coal and North America'

Kaoru Sugihara (Specially Appointed Professor at the Research Institute for Humanities and Nature, Kyoto) gives a lecture on ‘The Great Acceleration in Asia: Beyond 'Coal and North America'’. Part of Panel 2: The Great Divergence: Timing and Causality 20 years later Chair: Sebastian Conrad (Free University, Berlin)

09-28
21:22

Asia and the Great Divergence

Bishnu Gupta (Professor of Economics, Warwick) gives a lecture on ‘Asia and the Great Divergence’. Part of Panel 2: The Great Divergence: Timing and Causality 20 years later Chair: Sebastian Conrad (Free University, Berlin)

09-28
18:03

Water and the Economic History of India

Tirthankar Roy (Professor in Economic History, Department of Economic History, LSE) gives a lecture on ‘Water and the Economic History of India’. Part of Panel 3: Catastrophe or Liberation? Capitalism or Environment? Anthropocene, Energy, and Global Capitalism Chair: Gareth Austin (Cambridge)

09-28
20:21

Industry in the Global South, 1840s-1940s: Unfinished Business

William Clarence-Smith (Emeritus Professor of History, SOAS) gives a lecture on ‘Industry in the Global South, 1840s-1940s: Unfinished Business’. Part of Panel 3: Catastrophe or Liberation? Capitalism or Environment? Anthropocene, Energy, and Global Capitalism Chair: Gareth Austin (Cambridge)

09-28
18:42

Did the Little Divergence within Europe and America contribute to the Great Divergence?

Leandro Prados de la Escosura (Professor of Economic History, Carlos III University, Madrid) gives a lecture on ‘Did the Little Divergence within Europe and America contribute to the Great Divergence?’ Part of panel 2: The Great Divergence: Timing and Causality 20 years later Chair: Sebastian Conrad (Free University, Berlin)

09-28
19:00

The Limits of Reciprocal Comparisons: Money and Trade Finance in the Early Modern Period

Alejandra Irigoin (Associate Professor in the Department of Economic History, LSE) gives a lecture on ‘The Limits of Reciprocal Comparisons: Money and The Early Modern Period’. Part of Panel 1: The European Miracle or Pre-Orient? Early Modern Convergence Tales as Rival Narratives Chair: James Belich (Oxford)

09-28
23:38

The World Historical in China’s Twentieth Century: Perspectives on Modernity, Globalization and Globality

Rebecca Karl (Professor of History, NYU) gives a lecture on ‘The World Historical in China’s Twentieth Century: Perspectives on Modernity, Globalization and Globality’. Part of Panel 1: The European Miracle or Pre-Orient? Early Modern Convergence Tales as Rival Narratives Chair: James Belich (Oxford)

09-28
21:34

The Spaces In Between: What is Global about the History of Capitalism?

Andrew Edwards (Career Development Fellow for the Global History of Capitalism project, Oxford) gives a lecture on ‘The Spaces in Between: What is Global about the History of Capitalism?’ Part of Panel 1: The European Miracle or Pre-Orient? Early Modern Convergence Tales as Rival Narratives Chair: James Belich (Oxford)

09-28
20:31

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