Recent years have seen the proliferation of projects dealing with topics that broadly fit the category of business history of slavery and colonialism. Not only well-established scholars, but many young researchers are picking up projects in this field. Yet because of the broad demarcations of, and interest in, the topic remains divided along disciplinary and geographical lines. We intend to organize a workshop for early-career researchers to explore new perspectives on business history in relation to the histories of slavery and colonialism. This workshop will provide extensive peer discussion and feedback from senior experts in the field. The workshop aims to encourage and strengthen ties among early-career researchers in the field of business history.

The event will be hosted by the International Institute for Social History in Amsterdam on Thursday and Friday 20-21 November, 2025.

The focus of the two-day workshop will be on the current state of the field of business history. Emerging research is broadening the scope, integrating methods and insights from social, economic, and business histories. Considering this, the aim of the workshop is to focus on how these new developments, combining various perspectives, can be employed to further enhance our understanding of colonialism and slavery. We widely define business histories -(families, merchants, trading houses, firms, financial institutions, e.g. insurance companies).

Contributions are encouraged from anyone working on a related topic, even if you do not consider yourself formally to be a business historian. The point is exactly to cross pre-conceptualized sub-disciplinary lines.

The workshop will focus on several key theoretical, empirical, and methodological questions:

• Which tools and strategies did businesses use to shape slavery and slave trading? • How did businesses navigate financial challenges? What were the aims of business beyond the wish to produce profit (political and social)? • How can we employ business archives to integrate the experience of enslaved people in such studies? • How were activities shaped not only by boards and executives, but workers, lower officials and colonial populations? • How can we systematically research or measure the impact of business practices on the lives and labor conditions of colonial subjects? • What challenges exist in using business records as sources of colonial history and how can we attempt to resolve these?

This workshop is especially aimed at early-career researchers – PhD candidates and postdocs. Anyone working on these topics, regardless of time period and geographical focus, is welcome to apply. We encourage especially those in intermediate or later stages of their research, meaning we expect you to be able to present an early or later draft of an article or book chapter (max. 10,000 words), rather than a wider project overview.

If you are interested in participating in the workshop, please send an abstract (max. 500 words) to the organizers (eva.seuntjens@iisg.nl and bart.van.holsteijn@gu.se) before 29 April, 2025. Limited travel support might be available for those without institutional backing.