Call for papers
The globalization of the waves: shipping and its role in promoting global markets for goods, services, capital, labor, and ideas, c. 1800—2000
For the accepted session in the 18th WEHC in Boston, 29 July – 3 August, 2018
By definition, international seaborne transport is an activity that crosses borders, where the factors of production have always been extremely mobile. Ships and seamen are employed all over the world, so the link to the “home country” is often very limited. Consequently, shipping has sometimes been referred to as “the world’s first globalized industry”. Moreover, shipping is an activity that promotes globalization of other markets, by integrating agents that are geographically dispersed. The aim of our sessions is to analyze these two dimensions – both the globalized and the globalizing aspects of shipping – and how they have developed across time. Improvements in shipping tied the continents together and facilitated the establishment and growth of the international economy.
We invite papers analyzing the pioneering role of the shipping industry in establishing global markets – for goods, services, capital, labor, and ideas – and also evaluate the manner in which the global dimension has affected seafaring cultures and communities.
Please send your proposal (abstract and CV) to before February 1st, 2018. Notice of acceptance will be sent before the end of March 2018.
For more info, see:
Session organizers:
Stig Tenold, Norwegian School of Economics
Jari Ojala, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
Pirita Frigren, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland
Jelle van Lottum, Huygens Institute for the history of the Netherlands