Recapping the World History Seminar “Monsieur Colbert Builds a Market: The Origins of Modern Capitalism, France 1654-1720” Conducted by Prof. Jacob SOLL on 18 September 2023

Prof. Jacob SOLL from the Department of Philosophy, History and Accounting, the University of Southern California, was invited by the Centre for Comparative and Public History to deliver a lecture entitled “Monsieur Colbert Builds a Market: The Origins of Modern Capitalism, France 1654-1720” on 18 September 2023. The speaker began by unpacking the term “capitalism,” placing a special emphasis on the role of credit. He then explained how Colbert’s system of expertise and verification put France at the center of the scientific trust system, particularly within the Republic of Letters and the early industrial world. Drawing parallels between Colbert’s strategies and Adam Smith’s free-market ideas from the Wealth of Nations, he highlighted Smith’s great dichotomy between mercantilism and laissez faire. Moving away from the conventional belief that that Colbert’s project was to hoard wealth and create state industries, he rectified the misunderstanding of mercantilism and Colbert per se. Touching upon the symbiotic economic relationship between France and England, he concluded that Colbert’s legacy lay in setting up a long-term culture of commercial measurement, verification, publication, and trust that became the basis of other economic movements in France and Europe.

 

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Recapping the World History Seminar “Mapping and Countermapping the War Zone: English Perspectives on the Volga Frontier in Mid-16th Century” Conducted by Prof. Ladan NIAYESH on 20 September 2023

Prof. Ladan NIAYESH from the Department of English and American Studies, the Université Paris Cité, was invited by the Centre for Comparative and Public History to deliver a lecture entitled “Mapping and Countermapping the War Zone: English Perspectives on the Volga Frontier in Mid-16th Century” on 20 September 2023. The talk commenced by introducing alternative perspectives on territorial shifts in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The speaker then delved into various ways in which maps of conquest could be analyzed to glean information about the intersection of commercial and territorial endeavors. Specifically, she employed a refugee’s map of Europe to illustrate the concept of “radical cartography.” As she articulated, by navigating down the Volga for diplomatic and trade ventures towards the Caspian Sea and Central Asia, the agents of the English Muscovy Company found themselves entangled in the Tsar’s empire-building projects. In the end, she posited that the geographical and historical fringes of Muscovite-Tatar interactions, the English agents’ travel narratives, and their accompanying maps of the Volga area served as a case study of resistance to obliteration.

 

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World History Seminar (2023-24)

Organisers: Centre for Comparative and Public History, Department of History, CUHK
Enquiry: 3943 8541

 

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Academic Writing Workshop 2023-24

 

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Interdisciplinary Reading Group on Changsha Wuyi Square Documents

Thanks for the generous sponsorship from the Research Institute for the Humanities at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, a group of doctoral and master’s students from the Departments of History, and Chinese Language and Literature have formed the “Interdisciplinary Reading Group on Changsha Wuyi Square Documents”. They will organise a series of reading sessions throughout the 2023-24 academic year. Each session will invite scholars from around the world who are engaged in the study of excavated documents to share their research insights, aiming to broaden the research perspectives of the reading group members.

The second session will be hosted by Mr. TANG Ling Hei. His sharing is titled “Moving Letters of Oxrhynchus: A Comparative Case Study on Seasonal Communication and Mobility”. The details are as follows:

For any inquiries, please contact the organisers, Mr. CHAN Wai (wchan@link.cuhk.edu.hk) or Mr. HO Kwok Shing (hokwokshing@link.cuhk.edu.hk).
For more information on the reading group and its schedule, please visit http://bit.ly/44D1TXM.

 

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Yu Ying-shih Lecture in History 2023/24

To enhance academic and cultural exchange, Chung Chi College, New Asia College and the Department of History of the University joined hands in 2007 to establish the “Yu Ying-shih Lecture in History”. This year, Professor Michael PUETT, Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History and Anthropology, Harvard University, has been invited as the guest speaker of the following two public lectures:

All lectures will be conducted in English. Participation in person or online via ZOOM is welcome.
For registration, please complete the online registration form on or before 27 October 2023.
For enquiries, please call at 3943 1585.

 

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For teachers and students who have information to share with the Department, please email your articles in both Chinese and English to chanfiona@cuhk.edu.hk by 4:00pm every Monday.