Robrecht Declercq

Profile pic robrecht

Department of History and Civilization

Via Boccaccio 121

50133 Firenze (ITALY)

Email:

(0032)485/985.178
(0039)3313082882


Research Interests

  • Migration History
  • Social History
  • Global History
  • Transnational history


Phd project

“The Fur Worlds” : a history of the transformation of the fur industry in a global perspective (1880-1950)
Drawing on the recent developments in historical analysis of commodity cultures this research project examines the market expansion and transformation of the fur trade and industry between 1880-1950. This will be done by examining the historical role of trade centers (Leipzig) and companies (Hudson’s Bay Company). These actors were nodes in the commodity chain, connecting the trappers, farmers and hunters of fur bearing-animals to fur shops in European cities. The strategies and innovations of these actors, shaping the transformation of this industry, will be focused up on to gain insight in the nexus between material culture, expansion of trade and international networks.  This projects hopes to add to the debate on globalization of markets.


Publications

Declercq Robrecht and Caestecker Frank, “De opmerkelijke concentratie van Duitsers in de bontsector tijdens het ‘fin de siècle’ in België”, Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Nieuwste Geschiedenis, 2011, 1-2, 101-133.*

 

Education


On 7 oktober I will present the paper: The Fur Trade and German Entrepreneurship in Brussels (1870-1914) on the conference “Unternehmer und Migration” , Gesellschaft für Unternehmensgeschichte e.V. in Frankfurt-am-Main, Börsenplatz 4, 60313 Frankfurt a.M.