Project description
Unpacking the material culture of colonial journeys
The history of colonial empires is often told through written sources, but what about the material objects that accompanied travellers? Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the MATIC project delves into the personal belongings of passengers aboard steamships in the British and French colonial empires (1850-1950). MATIC uncovers the untold stories of colonial mobility. As such, it shapes our understanding of the lived experiences of travellers, particularly those often absent from written records: colonised individuals, women, and children. Using innovative methods from material culture, gender studies, and oral history, MATIC offers insights into imperial histories and challenges the traditional narratives of empire, illuminating how materiality shaped the lived experiences of colonial empires.
Objective
The MATIC (Materiality of Imperial Crossings during the age of steam, c. 1850-1950) project aims to deepen our understanding of modern colonial empires by exploring the material culture of maritime crossings within the British and French colonial empires during the age of steam (c. 1850-1950). This project focuses on the personal belongings of steamship travelers to explore the trade of items relevant to journeys at sea, the lived experiences of imperial maritime crossings, the ‘colonial situations’ that arose on board ships, as well as the material circulations that empires facilitated. Bridging colonial history, material culture studies, and maritime history, MATIC will go beyond the state of the art by demonstrating that materiality was a crucial dimension of imperial ‘lives in transit’, whose study illuminates the social, cultural, and political ramifications of imperial mobility, and fosters new insights into the role of materiality in the imperial archive. This project further sheds new light on how actors largely absent from written sources – colonized passengers, women, and children – intimately experienced colonial empires. To accurately capture this global and intimate history, MATIC employs an innovative and interdisciplinary methodology, integrating quantitative methods as well as theoretical perspectives from material and visual culture studies, gender studies, oral history, new mobility studies, and sociology. In addition to printed sources, it draws on a variety of archival materials from numerous repositories in England and France, surviving artefacts from museum collections, and oral history interviews. This project will significantly enhance the ER’s professional experience by further diversifying his research methodologies, enhancing his ability to work in a international environment, and enabling him to build a long-lasting international network that includes researchers, curators, and archivists.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
WC2R 2LS London
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.