Project description
Smuggling ceramics in colonial societies
Rich scientific literature exists that documents the impact maritime trade had in the Colonial Caribbean. However, there is still much to learn about specific long-term processes and changes in the life of different communities in south-eastern Caribbean in the 17th and 18th centuries, especially since people interacted informally, independently of the policy of colonisers. The EU-funded ArCarib project will answer this question by studying the informal maritime commerce of ceramics. It will implement innovative methodology using archaeological, historical and documentary data. Specifically, ArCarib will explain the impact of smuggling on everyday life in communities on the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao).
Objective
Informal commerce thrived for more than two centuries between the Dutch islands of Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire (ABC islands) and Spanish colonial Venezuela, seducing a diversity of regional trans-imperial seafarers and mobilizing vital commodities. Indispensable European ceramics were traded to the mainland chronically neglected by Spanish provisioning fleets, while local Venezuelan ceramics itinerated to the ABC islands to satisfy everyday domestic needs. While much is known about the socioeconomic and political history and impacts of this longstanding commerce, nothing is known of its material dimensions and how the indispensable smuggled ceramics changed or maintained the identities and gender relations of peoples in the colonial societies on the islands and the continent. The central research question of this project is: how did the informal maritime commerce of ceramics in the 17th- and 18th-century South-eastern Caribbean impact the everyday life of communities on the ABC islands and on the Venezuelan coast, particularly their identity formation processes and gender relations? This interdisciplinary historical archaeological project employs my innovative theoretical and methodological framework of assemblages of practice to critically contrast new and existing archaeological, archaeometric, and documentary evidence and answer this central research question. In this first cross-border archaeological study between the ABC islands and Venezuela, I will break new ground revealing how through informal commerce the colonized agentially contributed to the dynamics of continuation and/or change in their communities’ identities and gender relations beyond the restrictive, acculturating, and engendering policies imposed by the colonizer. Through this project I will, therefore, generate completely new knowledge that will advance interdisciplinary understandings of contraband and informal commerce in early-modern colonial contexts and its material dimensions and impacts.
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.
- humanities history and archaeology history
- humanities arts modern and contemporary art cinematography
- humanities history and archaeology archaeology
- engineering and technology materials engineering ceramics
- social sciences economics and business business and management commerce
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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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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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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.
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF
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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) H2020-MSCA-IF-2018
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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.
08002 Barcelona
Spain
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.