This symposium takes as a point of departure, colonial cultures of Scottish entrepreneurship operating and building in the hemispheres of the Atlantic and the India-Pacific from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. It will explore Scottish traders, merchants, agents, missionaries and others influential in colonial arenas of the Atlantic and India-Pacific ‘worlds’, especially within the analytical frameworks of regional, oceanic, and World/Global historiography, methods of cultural and historical geography, as well as economic and business history.
The research presented will map diasporic networks—familial, professional, entrepreneurial, religious etc.—and their material presence with a view to better understanding the significance of Scottish modes of operation, particularly (but not exclusively) those that demonstrate their achievement as entrepreneurs in a networked, international environment. A range of disciplinary perspectives will be showcased on the spatial and material dimensions of Scottish entrepreneurship in the colonial arena.
Speakers include: Sydney Ayres, Eve Barsoum, G. A. Bremner, Harriet Edquist, Stuart King, Andrew Leach, Sarah Longair, John Lowrey, Bernard Mees, and Mark Stiles.