n 23–24 June 2021, the conference ‘Opium Wars – Opium Cultures’ explored the two Opium Wars (1839-42; 1856-60) in their 19th-century contexts, particularly with regard to the fraught intersection of capitalism and imperialism, and to extend this view by an interdisciplinary, intercultural and transnational approach in order to take into account the very different historiographies of the events from a British, Chinese and Indian perspective. In addition, the conference is to sketch the cultural, historical and political legacies as well as current political reverberations and cultural appropriations of the Opium Wars. The innovative potential of the conference lies in its orientation towards the concept of global history and, what is more, the transnational and comparative analysis of the respective memory cultures. What was and is their impact on routes of migration, drug trafficking and international relations? How can their cultural afterlife be described? In which cultural channels, in which forms and according to which generic conventions are they represented and remembered? And finally, which concepts, approaches, methods and theories are required to tackle the complex legacies of these conflicts? To answer these questions, the conference is to bring together scholars from disciplines such as literary and cultural studies, history, sociology, health sciences, political science, Chinese and Indian studies.
Conference Schedule
Welcome Address by Anika Haverig (Managing director of ZiF) Wednesday – 23 JUNE. Introduction by PD Dr. Nadine Böhm-Schnitker
The Opium Wars: History, Logistics, Discourse
- Kendall Johnson. “W. A. P. Martin's Glorious Taiping Revolution: The Figurative Economy of Opium and the Revisionist Diplomacies of American Christendom.” Respondent: Muren Zhang
- Muren Zhang. “Colonial Past, Emotive Politics and the Projection of Futurity in the Construction of the Bund of Shanghai.” Respondent: Kendall Johnson
- Plenary Discussion
- Yangwen Zheng. “The Political Redefinition of Opium Smoking.” Respondent: Susan Zieger
- Susan Zieger. “Clipper Ships and Container Ships: Logistics’ Drug Empires.” Respondent: Yangwen Zheng
- Plenary Discussion
- Martin Gieselmann. “Nation-Cinema: The Opium War in Popular Chinese Filmmaking.” Respondent: Oliver Pawlak
- Oliver Pawlak. “The Palliative Approach of the Opium-Eater: Entanglements of Bio-Medical and Economic Knowledge in Thomas De Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821/22; text. Respondent: Martin Gieselmann
The Opium Wars: Transnational Afterlives
- Martina Allen. “Unequal Siblings: Tea and Opium as Oriental Commodities in ‘In Search of a Tea-Cup’ and Sheridan Le Fanu’s ‘Green Tea.’” Respondent: Charlotte Boyce
- Charlotte Boyce
- “The Poor Child’s Nurse”: Infant Opium Consumption in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Britain. Respondent: Martina Allen
- Gary McCulloch
- “The Opium Wars, Imperial History and the English School Curriculum.” Respondent: Max Haiven
- Max Haiven. “Beyond the Sacklers: Deeper questions of responsibility and historical resonance in the American opioid crisis.” Respondent: Gary McCulloch
- Marie-Luise Kohlke.
- “Neo-Victorian Narcomania: Gender and the Soulless Trade.” Respondent: Gigi Adair
- Gigi Adair. “Opium and the Financialization of the World: Subject Formation and Global Relations in Amitav Ghosh and Timothy Mo.” Respondent: Marie-Luise Kohlke
Last modified 28 June 2021