The Past Speaks

The Centre for Economic and Business History and the Institute for the Study of Slavery at the University of Nottingham are co-hosting a conference entitled ‘The Business of Slavery’. It will run 17th – 19th September 2014. Confirmed speakers include Marcus Joaquim Maciel de Carvalho (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco), Roderick McDonald (Rider) and Ulrike Roth (Edinburgh).

Formally enslaved persons and others forced to provide their labour have always made, and continue to make, an invaluable contribution to the economies of various societies; whether that be collectively through their labour efforts in a slave society, through the state, merchants, and others buying and selling their bodies, through contributions to households or small businesses, or through their independent efforts to sell their labour with the aim of freeing themselves.

The event aims to bring together assessments of the contributions of enslaved people to the economy of different eras and societies and from various perspectives, including the wider economy, the slave traders, the slave holders and the slaves themselves. It will compare these assessments over chronological eras and in societies around the globe, and from a wide variety of disciplines.

We are pleased to have the support of the Economic History Society which has enabled us to offer some postgraduate awards to cover registration and some travel costs. This will only be available to those presenting at the conference and will be spread over two European, three national UK, and two local postgraduates. More information about how to apply for these will follow.

For more details and registration please see our conference website at http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/cebh/research/conferences/business-of-slavery/conferences.aspx