The Global Bourgeoisie: The Rise of the Middle Classes in the Age of Empire

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The Global Bourgeoisie: The Rise of the Middle Classes in the Age of Empire

Organizer
Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge; PD Dr. Christof Dejung, Dr. David Motadel, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Osterhammel
Venue
Location
Cambridge
Country
United Kingdom
From - Until
27.08.2015 - 29.08.2015
Website
By
Christof Dejung

This conference provides a new approach to the emerging research field of global social history by examining the emergence of ‘middle classes’ and ‘bourgeois cultures’ across the globe in the long nineteenth century, as well as their encounters, both in imperial and non-imperial contexts. It aims to demonstrate that the nineteenth century saw the formation of similar social groups all over the world that can be described as ‘middle classes’. The conference examines the extent to which the making of these middle classes around the globe can be explained by considering the rising exchange of ideas and goods between the Western and non-Western worlds. Instead of understanding the establishment of middle class society as a distinctly Western phenomenon, which became diffused throughout the rest of the world, the conference papers seek to explore the extent to which it was, from its start, the result of global interactions and entanglements in the age of empire.

The conference will be supported by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, the Economic History Society, the German History Society, the Leibnizpreis Programme ‘Global Processes’ of the German Research Foundation, and the Smuts Memorial Fund of the University of Cambridge.

The conference is open to everybody interested. There will be no conference fee. Registration is not required; however, we would appreciate a short message to Christof Dejung (cd513-at-cam.ac.uk) if you would like to attend.

Programm

Thursday, 27 August

14:00 INTRODUCTION

14:30: Session 1: CLASS AND POLITICS
Chair: David Motadel (Edinburgh/Cambridge)

Houchang Chehabi (Boston University): The Rise of the Iranian Middle Class and the State

Murat Siviloglu (Istanbul): The Emergence of an Ottoman Middle Class: A State Endeavour?

Coffee break

Adam Mestyan (Harvard): Charity and patriotism: The Religious Culture of the Ottoman Arab Middling Classes in the Nineteenth Century

Christof Dejung (Cambridge/Konstanz): Global Civilizing Missions and Class Politics in Europe

18:30: KEYNOTE
Richard Drayton (London): The Emergence of a Global Bourgeoisie and the Question of Social Order in the Long Nineteenth Century

Friday, 28 August

9:30: INTRODUCTORY DISCUSSION
Jürgen Osterhammel (Konstanz): Chair and Comment to the Keynote and the Discussions of Day 1

10:30 Session 2: CLASS AND CAPITALISM
Chair: Christof Dejung (Cambridge/Konstanz)

Janet Hunter (LSE): Modern Business and the Rise of the Japanese Middle Classes

Coffee break

Rebecca E. Karl (New York University): Compradores: The Mediating Middle of Capitalism in China’s early Twentieth Century

Chambi Chachage (Harvard): Alcohol Consumption and the Cultural Rise of Capitalism in Colonial Tanzania

13:00 Lunch break

14:30: Continuation of Session 2:
Sven Beckert (Harvard): The American Bourgeoisie and the World in the Age of Empire

15:15: Session 3: CLASS AND COLONIALISM
Chair: Jürgen Osterhammel (Konstanz)

Tithi Bhattacharya (Purdue): Rereading Gramsci in Colonial Calcutta: Class location, Class Formation and Ideology

Coffee break

Emma Hunter (Edinburgh): Modernity, Print Media and the ‘Middle Class’ in Colonial East Africa

Bernhard C. Schär (Zürich): Science and Supremacy: The Nature-Nurture Controversy and Imperial Protestantism, c. 1870-1880

Saturday, 29 August

9:30 Session 4: FAILURES AND FRINGES
Chair: David Motadel (Edinburgh/Cambridge)

Alison K. Smith (Toronto): The ‘Missing’ or ‘Forgotten’ Middle of Imperial Russia

David S. Parker (Queen’s): Latin American Middle Classes Confront the Paradigm of the Failed Bourgeoisie

Kris Manjapra (Tufts): Studying the Global Bourgeoisie by Fraction: Difference and Entanglement in the Making of Radical Modernism

12:30 CONCLUDING DISCUSSION

Contact (announcement)

Christof Dejung

Wolfson College, University of Cambridge

cd513@cam.ac.uk

Editors Information
Published on
30.06.2015
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