The Early Modern Encounter between European Slavery and Asian Bondage

The story of early modern slavery in Asia was one of encounters between different people, ideas and practices. This remains an underappreciated fact, and the debate frequently devolves into sociological discussions and comparative studies of ill-defined forms of labour, eventually masking the messier historical reality. The presenters at this workshop will discuss clashes between local and imported practices and ideas of dependency, labour, subalternity and coercion in early modern Asia, both inside and beyond the formal limits of European colonial empires.

The speakers include Matthias van Rossum (International Institute of Social History), Alexander Geelen (International Institute of Social History/Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam), Vinil Paul (Jawaharlal Nehru University), Cláudio Costa Pinheiro (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro), Don J. Wyatt (Middlebury College), and James Fujitani (Azusa Pacific University).