Seminar Micro-Global Histories of Slavery: Sources and Approaches
River Baars (SOAS) – Sodomitical outlaws in the VOC colonial encounter
20 January 2026, 13:00 CET, Amsterdam (IISH)
We warmly invite you to join the monthly seminar series Micro-Global Histories of Slavery: Sources and Approaches. Each session brings together scholars working on diverse regions and source materials to explore new methods and insights in the study of slavery. All seminars take place in a hybrid format (in person and online). If you would like to attend an upcoming seminar or be added to the mailing list, please email Sanne Muurling for details and updates. You can find more information on upcoming seminars at our events page.
About the Seminar Series Micro-Global Histories of Slavery: Sources and Approaches
A global turn in slavery studies urges us to bring together the study of histories of slavery from across the globe, from Asia to the Atlantic, from local regimes of slavery to the impact of colonial slave trade and slavery.
Linked to the combined research team of slavery projects at the International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam) and Radboud University (Nijmegen), this seminar aims to further critical reflections of sources and approaches for the study micro-global histories of slavery. We invite scholars to share insights, questions and ideas that are grounded in research practice and experiences with colonial and other or vernacular sources. Discussing sources, research practices and methodologies thus serves as a way to further develop the practice of micro-global histories of slavery.
The seminar series is organized by a coalition of research and data projects at the IISH and the RU (1. Voices of Resistance: A Global Micro-Historical Approach to Enslavement across the Atlantic and Indian Ocean; 2. Resisting Enslavement: A Global Historical Approach to Slavery in the Dutch Atlantic and Asian Empire (1620-1815); 3. The Global Business of Slave Trade: Patterns, Actors and Gains in the Early Modern Dutch and Iberian Slave Trade and 4. Exploring Slave Trade in Asia).