Panel 06: Reassessing the Formation and Function of Institutions in an Era of Global Mobility, 1450-1650 (EN)

Chairs:

Edmond Smith, University of Manchester

Mariana Boscariol, University of Manchester

The study of institutions, whether formal like corporations or informal like diaspora, has been a defining feature in the study of cross-cultural exchange in the early modern period. Building on the seminal work of scholars like Philip Curtin and Avner Greif, works on early modern trade and exchange have highlighted the role of institutions as key features for understanding how early modern exchange was achieved: typically, through the imposition of rules and regulations over particular groups to reduce transaction costs, standardise outcomes, and increase security for people working “inside” particular institutional structures. Whether built by states or diaspora, such institutions are often understood as common features that were applied across multiple geographies, easing the operations of personnel who moved and worked across them. Yet, much of the traditional literature on institutions has presented them as largely static, even when generated by highly mobile grounds operating in transcultural spaces like diaspora. This session will challenge this perspective by assessing how institutions could be mobile and adaptive, arguing that their value often stems from their flexibility rather than stasis. Reassessing institutions as potentially mobile in and of themselves opens avenues for a methodological approach that is more suited for examining the highly mobile and deeply transcultural world of early modern exchange and presents opportunities for shifting perspective towards the agents and networks that shaped institutions from the outside. In this session, papers will be encouraged that examine institutional mobility through case studies from across the Americas, Africa and Eurasia. Together, they will interrogate these dynamics by centring the notion of mobility in our conceptualisation of institutions and offer a new perspective on their structure and function in the rapidly changing early modern world.

Keywords: Global; Institutions; Empire; Trade; Transcultural