Project description
Rediscovering North Africa’s role in early global trade
North Africa’s role in early modern global trade has long been overlooked, with most attention focused on Europe and Asia. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the MOMAT project explores how goods from the Spanish Americas, such as food, dyes, medicines, and intoxicants, reached the Maghrib between the late 15th and mid-17th centuries. These products were more than just imports; they were adapted through local expertise. To study this rich history of exchange, the project combines archival research, data analysis, and museum studies. MOMAT aims to reposition North Africa as a vital hub of innovation and a key player in the early modern consumer revolution.
Objective
The MOMAT project restores the place of the Maghrib in the early modern material exchange across the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Covering the period from the late fifteenth century, with the inception of the Spanish conquest of the Americas, to the mid-seventeenth century and the fall of the Saadī Empire, MOMAT investigates how materials and knowledge stemming from the Spanish Americas were disseminated into North Africa. Specifically, the project traces the introduction of American foodstuffs, materia medica, intoxicants, and dyes, as well as the creation of local expertise about their use. Drawing on archival sources and surviving artefacts, MOMAT employs an innovative methodology which combines archival research, quantitative analysis, and research in museum collections. Connecting Iberian and Maghribi empires, the project aims to show that the influx of American goods transformed the economic, social, and intellectual life of the Ottoman and non-Ottoman Maghrib more profoundly than previously acknowledged. Moreover, MOMAT goes beyond the state of the art by reorienting the history of global material exchanges and consumption through the repositioning of the early modern Maghrib as a pivotal region in the early modern consumer revolution. Challenging a historiography typically centred on Asia and Western Europe, MOMAT aims to demonstrate that, as the meeting point of three different processes of imperial expansion (Iberian, Ottoman, and Saadī), North Africa emerged as a key but overlooked space of material innovation, where commodities proceeding from these three imperial spaces were used in conjunction. Through research, dissemination, and communication activities in the UK, North Africa, and continental Europe, the MOMAT project will enhance the Fellow’s research skills and expertise in the study of global material circulations and the history of the Maghrib.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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.
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.
- engineering and technology other engineering and technologies food technology
- humanities history and archaeology history
- social sciences political sciences political transitions revolutions
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Keywords
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)
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.
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
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
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.
CV4 8UW COVENTRY
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.