English Long Distance Trade, 1550-1700

We invite papers for a collection on the discourses and practices of global or
international trade in early modern literature and culture. Individual papers
may investigate the pressure of trade on institutions, domestic space (at the
national and/or household level), various identities (national or
cosmopolitan, gendered, religious, colonial, racial), or political and/or
religious affiliations. They may consider trade's impact on the development
or deployment of particular literary genres, on discourses of excess or
moderation, or on notions of possession or dispossession. In addition to
papers addressing such broad impacts, we also invite papers that attend to the
particularities of text, context, commodity, and locale. For instance, what
issues arise out of attending to specific commodities or markets (cloth,
sugar, tobacco, various exotica, imports vs. exports), specific trading
organizations (joint stocks vs. regulation companies, organized companies vs.
privateers), specific financial technologies (Bills of Exchange, instruments
of risk, etc.), representations in specific genres (drama, poetry, prose
narratives, travelogues, epistles, etc.), or specific regions, both farther
abroad (Levant, Mediterranean, far east, New World) and closer to "home"
(Ireland, Northern trading ports)? Are the generalized notions of "global" or
"international" sufficient to represent the variety of discourses and
practices encompassing this project? What larger epistemological shifts attend
the expansion of trade over longer distances and more extended periods of
time? This collection would be attractive to scholars interested in
rethinking early modern notions of commerce and trade, cultural exchange, and
the rhetorical fashioning of international enterprise. While we are
primarily targeting overseas trade to and from England in the period
1550-1700, we welcome work that challenges an Anglo-centric perspective.

Please send proposals of 500 words or full papers of 5,000-9,000 words to
Barbara Sebek (barbara.sebek_at_colostate.edu) and Steve Deng
(sdeng_at_umail.ucsb.edu) by 15 July 2005. While we prefer full essays, we will
consider proposals as well. Please include complete contact information with
your submission.

Barbara Sebek, Associate Professor
Colorado State University
Department of English

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Received on Sun May 29 2005 - 10:03:38 EDT