13170b

SoSe 15: Global Labour History

Andreas Eckert, Julia Tischler

Comments

Work and workers have been in the focus of global history research in the past few years, resulting in, among others, revisions of ‘classical’ labor history narratives, a fresh interest in the inter-connectedness of different labour forms across the globe, and an ongoing debate around what should be defined as work. Work is a core constituent of individual life courses and broader socio-economic relations in different societies almost universally, making it a fruitful topic for comparative investigations. Moreover, labour relations have shaped and been shaped by economic connections between different areas of the world, such as trade with raw materials or cash crops, and are hence of key importance for the study of global entanglements. In the first sessions of this course participants will familiarize themselves with some of the main thematic and methodological debates in Global Labour History. We will then move on to discuss specific topics, including free and unfree labour, mobility and migration, as well as agrarian, industrial and service work. Our main time frame is the “industrial age” (c. 1870 to 1970). Participants will work in regional teams; one area of focus will be Africa, the other two will be decided upon in the first session on the basis of participants’ regional specialization. Some of the sessions will take place in the form of a block seminar, so participants must be available on Saturday 27 June 2015, from 9am to 7pm. close