Floris at the ENIUGH conference in Växjö

In September Floris travelled to Sweden for the second time to present at the eighth conference of the European Network of Universal and Global History in Växjö. This year’s theme ‘Critical Global Histories: Methodological Reflections and Thematic Expansions’ sought to provide a stage on which to critically assess the ways in which global history is conducted and open the floor for diverse voices and methodologies. As a result, the conference was host to numerous panels on a host of topics; some very broad through a focus on methodology, whilst other took a more detailed case-study approach. Therefore, the conference promoted highly interdisciplinary discussions between experts of all parts of the world, and proved a perfect place to discuss our project with a wide range of specialists.

Floris’s talk was part of a panel chaired by Kristoffer Edelgaard Christensen (University of Lund) entitled ‘(Forced) Migration and the Agency of Individuals,’ which sought to adopt a critical approach to individual agency in global history by highlighting individuals as the embodiment of the process of change involved in human mobility. The panel brought together scholars with a range of specialties. Emma Lundin (University of Malmö) discussed the transnational lives and entangled histories of ANC members who lived abroad, Hugo Ribeiro da Silva (University of Porto) delved into the history of a global African beyond the focus on slavery, and Yasuko Hassell Kobayashi (Musashi University) discussed the legal understandings of the migration of comfort women. Floris’s talk discussed the agency of Koreans in Japan after the East Asian War of 1592-98, through a focus on Tosa domain. This talk highlighted the differing modalities of skill and knowledge in relation to a particular Korean family and their relation to the production of tofu.

Due to the nature of the conference and its popularity, many panels took place at the same time, sadly making it so that difficult choices had to be made about what to attend. However, all panels offered insightful and thought-provoking ideas that we will think about in going forward with the project.

The conference was a wonderful opportunity to talk about our project with a variety of scholars and discuss our findings with specialists with a wide variety of backgrounds.