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CFP: Traffic in the Global Eighteenth Century NEASECS 2020, September 25-27 Fordham University, Linc

Conference Description

It would be difficult to imagine New York City without traffic, but traffic should not be understood merely as the noisy polluting congestion of its highly frequented streets and waterways, an issue already present in New Amsterdam. Traffic also refers to broader patterns of circulation and commerce, describing, as the Encyclopédie’s “Trafiqué” underlines, the passage, both legal and illicit, of goods, bodies, books, artworks, monies, services, and ideas through multiple hands. Even its etymology cited above points to the linguistic convergence of many languages and cultures. Traffic in this sense is as central to New York City today as it was to the global eighteenth century.

For this 43 meeting of NEASECS, we invite panels, papers, and other interventions on the topic of traffic in the global eighteenth century: the circulation of goods and people; the traffic of ideas as well as objects of knowledge and aesthetic beauty (art objects, fashion, curiosities…); the smuggling of books, arms, drugs, commodities; the Atlantic slave trade and other forms of human trafficking; currency conversions and money traders; the effects and affects of traffic/trafficking including the sonic (noise, music, etc.) the infrastructure (or lack thereof) that shaped local, transnational and colonial circuits of exchange and, finally, modes of transport and the material forms of gridlock in congested urban areas. All disciplines from the history of science, history of the book, history of religion, architecture, art history, music history, and history, to literary studies, anthropology, and sociology are encouraged to participate. Roundtables are also highly encouraged.

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