Aula Gambi - Department of History and Cultures, University of Bologna, Piazza San Giovanni in Monte 2
Jan-Bart Gives a lecture at the Arms, beads and Cloth conference

Day 1 – 18 September at 14:30
Jan-Bart Gewald gives a lecture:
“Arms and the Men: Firearms and Labour in the Context of the Diamond Fields of South Africa, 1865–1879”

Full Programme

Day 1 – 18 September

09:30 — Welcome & Introduction
Giacomo Macola, Karin Pallaver, Massimo Zaccaria

Session I: Consumers, Crafts, and Global Connections in the 18th Century
Chair: Karin Pallaver

10:00 — “A Changeable Color: African Consumer Demand and the Trade in Venetian Beads”
Anne Ruderman, London School of Economics

10:45 — Coffee Break

11:15 — “‘Not by Choice, but by Necessity’. African Demand and the Shaping of the Venetian Glass Bead Industry in the 18th Century”
Pierre Niccolò Sofia, University of Padua

12:00 — “An Umbrella Model: South Asian Textiles and Cowries in the Early Modern Atlantic Trade”
Kazuo Kobayashi, Waseda University

13:00 — Lunch

Session II: Markets, Labour and Encounters in the 19th Century
Chair: Massimo Zaccaria

14:30 — “Arms and the Men: Firearms and Labour in the Context of the Diamond Fields of South Africa, 1865–1879”
Jan-Bart Gewald, University of Leiden

15:15 — “Dutch Traders in the Lower Congo. A History of Failures and Successes in the Late Precolonial Period”
John Kegel, African Studies Center, Leiden, and Mariella Terzoli, Sciences Po, Paris

16:00 — Coffee Break

16:30 — “Production, Logistics, and Demand of Venetian Glass Beads in the 19th Century: A Focus on Northeast Africa”
Alessandro De Cola, University of Bologna and University of Vienna

17:15 — “Encountering Local Markets: Italian Expeditions and Afro-Asian Trade Networks in the Horn of Africa and Yemen in the 1870s”
Sara Zanotta, University of Torino

18:00 — Conclusion

20:00 — Dinner
Location: Ristorante La Traviata, via Urbana 5/c

Day 2 – 19 September

Session III: Textiles, Markets and Consumer Cultures across East Africa and the Indian Ocean
Chair: Alessandro De Cola

10:00 — “Italian Textiles in Eritrea: Meeting the Demands of a Challenging Market (19th–20th Centuries)”
Massimo Zaccaria, University of Pavia

10:45 — “Italy and the Textile Market of the Horn of Africa, 1880s–1920s”
Giorgio Tosco, Trier University

11:30 — Coffee Break

12:00 — “Merekani Markets: Indian Ocean Africa, Consumer Culture, and the Fabric of Global Commerce, 1840–1940”
Jeremy Prestholdt, University of California

13:00 — Lunch

Session IV: From Precolonial Trade to Colonial Economies
Chair: Giacomo Macola

14:30 — “The Arms Trade in (Pre-)Colonial Tanzania: Power, Privilege, and Dependency (1850–1919)”
Felix Brahm, Universität Münster

15:15 — “The History of Firearms among the Acholi of Uganda, 1850–2000”
Patrick Otim, Bates College (online)

16:00 — Coffee Break

16:45 — Concluding Remarks
Gareth Austin, University of Cambridge

17:30 — Conclusion & Wrap-up

19:30 — Dinner
Location: Trattoria Trebbi, via Solferino 40

‍

DATE
From
September 18, 2025
Until
September 19, 2025

Media

Contact us

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form. Please try again.