Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ConfEuroSlaves (Natural law and confessional cultures of slavery in Tranquebar, 1706-1800)
Reporting period: 2021-10-01 to 2023-09-30
Natural law and confessional cultures of slavery in Tranquebar, 1706-1800.
To what extent were colonial experiences with slavery, specifically the experiences of a Christian mission community, articulated with reference to the European natural law tradition? In addressing this question, the project examines the discourses as well as the practices regarding colonial slavery and the slave trade in the Danish-English-Halle mission in Tranquebar in south-east India, from its beginning in 1706 until 1800.
Throughout the period, German missionaries as well as Tamil and European individuals who came into contact with the mission community, or were members, dealt with issues of slavery and the slave trade in Danish Tranquebar. The challenge of the project lies in studying these instances and examining the references to the theory of natural law that come up in the source material, including norms protagonists claimed to be self-evident in their view. Consideration of these two aspects, i.e. the practices of slavery and their theorisation, depends on a rigorous analysis of the agency of the German missionaries, the Tamil population and the members of the Danish colonial trading company in Tranquebar. The former aspect generally pertains to the field of cultural history, the latter to legal and intellectual history. By combining both approaches, the key insight to be gained by the project lies in revealing how colonial cultural practice – specifically, confessional cultures - took up the European intellectual debate on natural law. The impact lies in a deeper understanding of the cultural entrenchment of societal values by highlighting reflections on practices of slavery in the Tranquebar colony and its Danish-English-Halle mission.
To what extent were colonial experiences with slavery, specifically the experiences of a Christian mission community, articulated with reference to the European natural law tradition? In addressing this question, the project examines the discourses as well as the practices regarding colonial slavery and the slave trade in the Danish-English-Halle mission in Tranquebar in south-east India, from its beginning in 1706 until 1800.
Throughout the period, German missionaries as well as Tamil and European individuals who came into contact with the mission community, or were members, dealt with issues of slavery and the slave trade in Danish Tranquebar. The challenge of the project lies in studying these instances and examining the references to the theory of natural law that come up in the source material, including norms protagonists claimed to be self-evident in their view. Consideration of these two aspects, i.e. the practices of slavery and their theorisation, depends on a rigorous analysis of the agency of the German missionaries, the Tamil population and the members of the Danish colonial trading company in Tranquebar. The former aspect generally pertains to the field of cultural history, the latter to legal and intellectual history. By combining both approaches, the key insight to be gained by the project lies in revealing how colonial cultural practice – specifically, confessional cultures - took up the European intellectual debate on natural law. The impact lies in a deeper understanding of the cultural entrenchment of societal values by highlighting reflections on practices of slavery in the Tranquebar colony and its Danish-English-Halle mission.
Administration: all the relevant administrative tasks at UC Louvain, as stated in the project proposal (incl. setting up a Personal Career Development Plan in collaboration with the host).
Research: archival work on German, Danish and English source material.
Publications: The project currently does not have a scientific publication. However, the fellow is currently preparing two articles for publication on Open Research Europe. All future publications based on the MSCA-research will comply with the obligation to mention this in the acknowledgements.
Training courses: three training courses completed at UC Louvain.
Teaching: delivered as stated in the project proposal.
Project communication, exploitation and dissemination: The cutting short of the fellowship has delayed the fellow's planned contributions on social media.
Major conference organisation of the MSCA-project: The fellow organised a two-day conference for Junior Scholars at UC Louvain, including a keynote speech as well as 11 presentations by PhD students and early-stage post-docs from five countries.
Conference participations and presentations (four): two participations and two presentations at conferences in Belgium and Germany.
Conference and workshop organisation: The fellow co-hosted two workshops at UC Louvain.
Research: archival work on German, Danish and English source material.
Publications: The project currently does not have a scientific publication. However, the fellow is currently preparing two articles for publication on Open Research Europe. All future publications based on the MSCA-research will comply with the obligation to mention this in the acknowledgements.
Training courses: three training courses completed at UC Louvain.
Teaching: delivered as stated in the project proposal.
Project communication, exploitation and dissemination: The cutting short of the fellowship has delayed the fellow's planned contributions on social media.
Major conference organisation of the MSCA-project: The fellow organised a two-day conference for Junior Scholars at UC Louvain, including a keynote speech as well as 11 presentations by PhD students and early-stage post-docs from five countries.
Conference participations and presentations (four): two participations and two presentations at conferences in Belgium and Germany.
Conference and workshop organisation: The fellow co-hosted two workshops at UC Louvain.
Given that the fellowship had to be cut short after 10 months, the full range of targets set out in the 24-month plan have not yet been accomplished. The fellow's publications will demonstrate the progress beyond the state of the art, while the wider impact of the research undertaken in the project has been referred to above and will be enhanced further in the near future.