New Orleans, Global City (1718 – 2018): The Long Shadow of John Law and the Mississippi Company

Catherine Labio Announcement
Location
Colorado, United States
Subject Fields
American History / Studies, Economic History / Studies, French History / Studies, Native American History / Studies

It has been almost three hundred since the first international stock market crash took place in France, Britain, and the Netherlands. A spate of cross-disciplinary conferences and publications have added greatly to our understanding of the impact of the Mississipi and South Sea Bubbles and the Dutch windhandel (trade in wind) on European economies and cultures. The colonial, global, and oceanic dimensions of these events have not been studied as closely.

Meant to coincide with the foundation of New Orleans in 1718 by the Compagnie des Indes (aka the Mississipi Company), this interdisciplinary conference will focus on the immediate to long-term impact of Law’s System and the Mississipi Company on the cultures, economies, and environments of New Orleans and surrounding areas. The focus will be on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but we shall also consider proposals that deal with earlier or later developments so long as they take into account their broader historical context.

We particularly welcome proposals that

a) consider the direct and indirect impact of French (and other) joint-stock companies and state-sponsored monopolies on the economies, cultures, ecologies, soundscapes, and sensescapes of New Orleans and the Mississippi River Delta

b) bring into dialogue indigenous, European, and American economic and cultural studies; and/or

c) approach the history of New Orleans and the Mississippi River Delta from a global or oceanic perspective. 

The deadline for individual submissions is September 17, 2017.

The complete CFP is available on the conference website: http://clabi4.wixsite.com/1819network/2018-conference.

Contact Email
catherine.labio@colorado.edu