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IN THE WAKE OF COLONIALISMNorwegian Commercial Interests in Colonial Africa and OceaniaNFR/UNIFOB GLOBAL 2005-2008A Norwegian? In Africa? Scandinavian, and perhaps particularly Norwegian, scholars have tended to view the history of overseas commercial activity and migration as a trans-Atlantic affair – geared particularly toward the USA. However, in the colonial period, Norwegian-based entrepreneurs saw the potential also of the new colonies and played an active part in the expansion of the colonial trade system. Norwegians were traders, shipping agents, freighters, whalers, fishing managers and landowners – in Africa as well as in the Pacific region. The project “In the Wake of Colonialism” aims to produce new knowledge about Norwegian economic enterprise in the colonial world between ca. 1880-1950. Through historical analysis of a number of different enterprises, the project seeks to fill lacunas in our empirical knowledge about Norwegian trade and investment in the colonies. Here, the projects contributes both to an underresearched field within Norwegian economic history, as well as colonial history in the respective regions. By focusing on enterprises in the non-European/North American world, the project also seeks to challenge the well-established thesis that Norway was a country lacking a financial aristocracy. The combined knowledge deriving from these studies will clear the path for future studies of long-term development by providing a basis for comparison of entrepreneurs in the eras before and after modern trade and state aid. Such a comparative aspect is vital for an increased awareness of European mentality concerning the countries formerly known as colonies – then as aid recipients. By expanding our knowledge of both periods, issues of continuity and breaks in the relationship between colonizer/colonized may be discussed and potentially resolved. In this context, a broad dissemination of the knowledge produced is vital. In addition to five research monographs, results from this project will also be presented as one, possibly two films and an exhibition to be called “In the wake of Colonialism”. Furthermore, the project will result in a teaching programme. The projects and the people in the programme.
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