Preliminary Programme

Tue 26 February
    14.15
    16.30

Wed 27 February
    8.30
    10.45
    14.15
    16.30

Thu 28 February
    8.30
    10.45
    14.15
    16.30

Fri 29 February
    8.30
    10.45
    14.15
    16.30

Sat 1 March
    8.30
    10.45
    14.15
    16.30

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Tuesday 26 February 2008 14.15
C-1 RUR01 Changing the rural in the Early Modern Period
Cave C
Network: Rural Chair: Anton Schuurman
Organizers: - Discussant: Anton Schuurman
Gareth Austin : Moneylending and Witchcraft: The Moral Economy of Accumulation in Colonial Asante (Ghana)
Some remarkable scholarship in and on various parts of the globe over the last thirty-five years or so has established ‘moral economy’ as one of the most fruitful concepts to emerge from the historiography, as a tool for analysing the interactions between economy, culture and politics. ‘Moral economies’ are defined ... (Show more)
Some remarkable scholarship in and on various parts of the globe over the last thirty-five years or so has established ‘moral economy’ as one of the most fruitful concepts to emerge from the historiography, as a tool for analysing the interactions between economy, culture and politics. ‘Moral economies’ are defined here as beliefs about what constitutes just economic behaviour: about the proper purposes, forms and boundaries of economic activity. A moral economy may be said to exist - or to exist in a form which makes a difference, culturally and socially and perhaps politically and economically - where violation of such a belief provokes disapproval which exceeds what can be accounted for by the material outcome itself. While the concept is potentially of very wide application, so far it has been used primarily to analyse a particular category of historical setting: those characterised by powerful pressure towards an extension of market relations in economic activity. This was true of the two prime exponents of the idea: its originator E. P. Thompson, writing on eighteenth-century England, and James Scott, who extended it in a much-cited study of colonial Southeast Asia. The specific ‘moral economies’ identified by Thompson and Scott were ‘countercapitalist’ (in Ralph Austen’s phrase) in the sense that they disapproved of, and legitimated resistance to, the primacy of market forces in the allocation of market resources. This characterisation of the setting, and of the content, of particular moral economies applies also to most subsequent historical applications of the notion, including in Africa.
This paper considers whether, and if so how, ‘moral economy’ can help us examine the history of colonial-period Asante (Ashanti), in what is now Ghana. Asante had been a major independent kingdom for 195 years before its occupation by Britain in 1896 (studied by Wilks, McCaskie, Arhin and others). Soon afterwards, Asante farmers began to adopt cocoa cultivation on an increasingly wide scale, making the region ultimately the largest contributor to Ghana’s status as the world’s largest producer of cocoa beans. The process of accumulation at the centre of this paper is this expansion of investment and output for export. In examining social attitudes to self-enrichment in this context, the paper focusses on Asante perceptions of money-lenders, and on witchcraft accusations. The primary sources include testimonies in court cases and early ethnographic surveys and reports. We will see that there is indeed evidence that a ‘moral economy’ existed; but also (and contrary to recent work by W. Olsen) that it was not a countercapitalist one. On the contrary, it supported certain forms of self-enrichment. The paper goes on to investigate the specific characteristics of the Asante moral economy of accumulation, and the particular historical path which produced it, and to discuss the implications of the findings for comparative history, theory, and methodology. It is concluded that the moral economy of accumulation in colonial Ghana had more in common with, for instance, that of early modern England (Thomas) than that of equatorial Africa (Geshiere). (Show less)

Isabelle Devos : Environment, health and rural welfare in Flanders, 1700-1850
Rural areas are generally associated with good health and urban areas with ill health. The data in this paper show that during the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century the population of the Flemish countryside was far from healthy. Especially the marshland parishes (the so-called Polders) ... (Show more)
Rural areas are generally associated with good health and urban areas with ill health. The data in this paper show that during the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century the population of the Flemish countryside was far from healthy. Especially the marshland parishes (the so-called Polders) witnessed very high death rates, moving beyond those of the large city of Ghent. Surprisingly, these were also very affluent economic areas. Contemporary medical reports suggest that the high mortality was largely the result of an endemic disease which can be identified as ‘malaria vivax’. Ecological circumstances, stagnant waters in particular, caused disease pathogens to multiply. Environmental efforts by local authorities inspired by the testimonies of medical practioners made this disease gradually disappear. This conclusion brings a different perspective to the debate on the mortality decline. While scholars have mainly emphasized the role of urban powers, this paper shows the importance of rural authorities even before the middle of the nineteenth century. (Show less)

Per Hallén : Standard of living of farmers and rural workers in Sweden 1750-1900.
The paper will address the issue of the standard of living of farmers and rural workers in Sweden 1750-1900. New methods to use post mortal inventories will be used to compare Swedish farmers to others in Europe and North America. In some aspects farmers in Sweden possessed les then other ... (Show more)
The paper will address the issue of the standard of living of farmers and rural workers in Sweden 1750-1900. New methods to use post mortal inventories will be used to compare Swedish farmers to others in Europe and North America. In some aspects farmers in Sweden possessed les then other farmers in western Europe in the year 1750. In the following 50 years farmers in Sweden increased their material standard in a high pace. The material standard of living then increased even more to the year 1850. This important change will be analysed by using three different methods.
In Sweden I have been using post mortal inventories from four different districts. Two of them are on the countryside, far from any city. The tow others are close to Uppsala city and Göteborg city. This to see if the city had any effect on the rural economy and the standard of living. The effect of towns on rural life have been of little interest in Swedish agrarian history.
My paper will present the results of this investigation and make comparison with other countries in Europe and North America.

The paper will also have a section presenting the database I have been using. In this database al occupations have been coded into the HISCO system (Show less)

Clif Hubby : Violence and Local Society in Late Medieval Bavaria: A Look at the Evidence
In this paper I intend to explore the nature of interpersonal violence in villages and small towns in Bavaria during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. One question that must be addressed is the extent to which sources generated in the interests of elites offer a reliable window for understanding violence ... (Show more)
In this paper I intend to explore the nature of interpersonal violence in villages and small towns in Bavaria during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. One question that must be addressed is the extent to which sources generated in the interests of elites offer a reliable window for understanding violence at the local level. Despite the difficulties of the evidence it is my contention that verbal and physical assaults—which ranged from name calling to beatings and stabbings—were accepted as an everyday form of communication and ritual interaction in villages and small towns in late medieval Bavaria. Such actions were apparently acceptable as a means for individuals in local communities to criticize the behavior of their neighbors and others. One of the themes that needs to be explored is whether violence was used to assert positions within social hierarchies, if not to establish such hierarchies in the first place (through striking alleged inferiors, etc). The final and related issue I will examine concerns the way violence was tied to the assertion of a person’s individual and social identity. The main sources used are law codes and local court records. (Show less)

Reinoud Vermoesen : Rural commercialisation of Inner Flanders (17th-18th century)
The use of a distinct discourse and strong polarization characterise the ongoing debate on rural commercialisation in early modern Western Europe. Neoclassical and Marxist historians are each at the broad end of the spectrum, emphasizing both different socio-economic and institutional reasons for market orientation. From 1970 onwards, when Franklin Mendels ... (Show more)
The use of a distinct discourse and strong polarization characterise the ongoing debate on rural commercialisation in early modern Western Europe. Neoclassical and Marxist historians are each at the broad end of the spectrum, emphasizing both different socio-economic and institutional reasons for market orientation. From 1970 onwards, when Franklin Mendels launched his thesis on the proto-industrialization of the Flemish countryside, studies on survival strategies, self-exploitation on the one hand and on specialization and commercialisation on the other (neoclassical) hand, dominated socio-economic research, especially of the production side.
In this research, based on a region of inner Flanders (town and country) and from a household perspective, both production and consumption are linked together. For the 17th and 18th century Aalst region, research on probate inventories, household manuals and tax lists sketch the production and consumption profiles of rural households and the commercial networks attached. The main questions cover the problems of the relation between production and consumption, and the kind of commercial circuits, which entitle rural households access to the market in period of proto-industrialization and long-term deterioration of living standards. (Show less)



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