Torsten Feys

Master in History  (UGent, 2003); Ph.D. (EUI, Florence 2008)

Postdoctoral researcher (UGent, 2010-2011)

Postdoctoral fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (2011-)

UGent Vakgroep Geschiedenis

UFO, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 35, 9000 Gent
lokaal 130.012 (3e verdiep)
tel: 093310285

torsten.feys@ugent.be

 

Research interests:

-       Migration history 

-       Maritime and transport history 

-       Business history

-       Environmental history 

-       World history

Post-doc Research: 

The global rise of modern borders and irregular maritime migration networks (1882-1938): a comparative research project on Atlantic and Pacific migration systems.

Project Summary

The project analyzes the establishment of global racial barriers on migration, the formation of irregular migration networks, the attempts by states to regulate migration transnationally and the central role of shipping companies in this process during the first period of accelerated globalization (1882-1938). The US pioneered these barriers in the Pacific and later in the Atlantic relying on the carriers transporting migrants. The goal was to refuse undesired migrants, who for their part used the existing transport networks to circumvent restrictive immigration laws. To improve the efficiency of their borders, US authorities exported the control system globally. By comparing Atlantic and Pacific migratory flows the research will highlight one of the main paradoxes within globalization theories: the fact that globalization encouraged rather than destroyed cultural diversity. The research design consists of three levels. First, isis testimonies of migrants and judicial proceedings will give a bottom-up view on irregular migration networks and their connections with maritime networks. Second, consular correspondence, government reports and international conferences provide a top-down view of how authorities tried to control migratory flows. Third, the records of steam shipping companies will connect the bottom up and top down perspectives at the meso-level.

 

Publications: 

Books as an author

   * The battle for the Migrants: The Introduction of Steamships on the North-Atlantic and its Impact on the European Exodus, Research in Maritime History, vol. 50, St. John’s: International Maritime Economic History Association, 2013.

   * 30 jaar OVAM de openbare Vlaamse afvalstoffenmaatschappij in historisch perspectief.  Gent, Academia Press, 2011.

Forthcoming:

   * Per Kristian Sebak and Torsten Feys, Travelling in Perilous  Water: Transatlantic passenger traffic under the neutral flag during World War I

Articles in international scientific journals with peer review:

   * Torsten Feys and Frank Caestecker, “East European Jewish Migrants and Settlers in Belgium, 1880-1914: A Transatlantic Perspective” East European Jewish Affairs, 2010, 40:3, pp. 261-284.

   * “The visible hand of shipping interests in American immigration laws”, Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis, 2010, 7:1, 38-62.

   * “Prepaid tickets to ride to the New World: The New York Continental Conference and transatlantic steerage fares 1885-1895” Revista de Historia Economica Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, 2008, 26:2, pp. 173-204.

   * “Where all passenger liners meet: The port of New York as a nodal point for the transatlantic migrant trade 1885-1895.” The International Journal of Maritime History, 2007, 19:2, pp. 245-272.

   * "Radeloosheid in crisistijd: pogingen van de Belgische autoriteiten om een deel van de arme bevolking naar de Verenigde Staten te sturen (1847-1856)" in Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Nieuwste Geschiedenis. 34(2). p.195-230.

Forthcoming:

   * “Between the public and the State: the shipping lobby’s use of the public opinion against US immigration restrictions 1882-1917”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2014.

Articles in books, Apps and encyclopedia entries:

   * Frank Caestecker and Torsten Feys “Bleef de Belg in de schaduw van zijn kerktoren? De Belgen en de Europese massamigratie  van de 19de eeuw” in: E. Borghs et all (eds) Verapaz -  de eerste Belgische kolonie, januari 2014, Inter-View vzw for sale in de App Store en op Google Play. 

   * Torsten Feys and Frank Caestecker “Een kortstondige Belgische emigratiepolitiek naar overzeese gebieden (1830-1850)” in: E. Borghs et all (eds) Verapaz -  de eerste Belgische kolonie, januari 2014, Inter-View vzw for sale in de App Store en op Google Play. 

   * “Trans-Atlantic Migration at Full Steam Ahead: a flourishing and well-oiled multinational enterprise” in: B. Beelart (ed) Red Star Line Antwerp 1873-1934 (Leuven: Davidsfonds: 2013).

   * “The Norwegian American Line: A small part of a bigger puzzle”, in: P-K. Sebak and H. Bjorntvedt En Reise Mellom to Verdener (Bergen: Bergens Sjøfartsmuseum, 2013)

   * "Maritime Migration” in: The Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration D. Hoerder, I. Ness and S. Sarfitri (eds.). New York: Wiley Publishers, 2012.

   * “The Norwegian American Line: A small part of a bigger puzzle”, in: P-K. Sebak and H. Bjorntvedt En Reise Mellom to Verdener, Bergen: Bergens Sjøfartsmuseum, 2013.

   * “Immigrant Banking and the sale of shipping tickets at the turn of the Twentieth Century” in: D. Konstadakopulos (ed.) 100 years in America, Bristol: University of West England Press, 2010.

   * “Making money off migration: Red Star Line and its floating bridges to the New World” in: One Foot in America, Antwerp: BAI, 2009

   * “Red Star Line as transport Company” in: Red Star Line People on the move, Antwerp: BAI, 2008.

   * “The battle for the migrants: The evolution from port to company competition 1840-1914” in Feys T, Fischer L. Hoste S. en Vanfraechem S. (eds.) Maritime Transport and Migration: The connections between maritime and migration networks, Research in International Maritime History, vol. XXXIII, St John’s: International Maritime Economic History Association, 2007.

   * “De Poorten naar de Nieuwe Wereld: de hevige concurentietsrijd voor de migrantiehandel” in: Antwerp=America, Red Star Line Een Nieuwe Toekomst Tegemoet, Antwerpen: Pandora, 2005.

Forthcoming:

   * “The impact of the foreland on the transatlantic migrant trade: the port of New York as ‘the’ nodal point between foreland and hinterland” in: R. Lee (ed.) Port-Cities and their Hinterlands: Migration, trade and cultural exchange from early seventeenth century to 1939, Oxford, Routledge, 2014.

   * "Shipping companies’ agency in transoceanic migrations to the United States: Comparing the Atlantic with the Pacific" in G. Bouedec et C. Cerino (eds), La Recherche en Histoire Maritime: Enjeux Objects et Methodes (Paris: Presses Universitaires de Paris Sorbonne, 2014).

   * “The ‘Smuggling of Contraband Chinese and European Chinese’: Comparing Transpacific with Transatlantic Illegal Migration to the US 1875–1917.” in: A. Schottenhammer (ed.) Trade, Tribute and Smuggling. Research in East Asian Maritime History, vol 15, (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2014).

   * “De grote oversteek tussen Twee Werelden: van het Meetjesland tot het Beloofde Land” in: Andreas Stijnen (ed.) Transatlantische emigratie uit het Meetjesland, (Antwerpen: ADVN 2014).

Books as a scientific editor:

   * Feys T, Fischer L. Hoste S. en Vanfraechem S. (eds.) Maritime Transport and Migration: The connections between maritime and migration networks, Research in International Maritime History, vol.33, St. John’s, : International Maritime Economic History Association, 2007.

Book & Museum Review:

   * Herman Obdeijn en Marlou Schrover, Komen en gaan. Immigratie en emigratie in Nederland vanaf 1550 (Amsterdam: Bert Bakker, 2008) in: Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis, 2011, 8:4, 141-142.

   * Ton de Graaf, Voor Handel en Maatschappij: Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse Handelsmaatschappij 1824-1964. (Amsterdam: Boom, 2012) in: Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis, 2013, 10:1 p. 125-127.

Forthcoming:

   * Drew Keeling, The business of Transatlantic Migration between Europe and teh United States, (Zurich: Chronos, 2012) in: Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische Geschiedenis, 2014 11:1.

   * Kevin Brown Passage tot eh World: The emigrant experience 1807-1940 (Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing, 2013) in: Journal of International Maritime History.

   * Red Star Line Museum, in: Transfers, 2014, Summer Issue, 4:2, 2014.