Konferenz: ISECS 2015 - SIEDS 2015

The Fourteenth Congress of the International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ISECS)
www.isecs2015.com

Erasmus-University, Rotterdam

27.–31. Juli 2015

Panel: Migrant Merchant Cultures and the Transition to Modernity: Financial and Memorial Practices of Trade Communities from the 18th to the early 19th century

Maria A. Stassinopoulou (Chair)

Speakers:
Magnus Ressel (University of Frankfurt)
Anna Ransmayr (University of Vienna)
Stefano Saracino / Nathalie Soursos (University of Vienna)
Ikaros Mantouvalos (Democritus University of Thrace)

This panel focuses on the interdependence of financial and memorial practices of migrant tradesmen and commercial networks belonging to religious minorities in Vienna, Pest, and Venice in the 18th and early 19th century. Capital accumulation in one or two generations lead to both a diversification of investment and a series of charitable donations. Questions in the center of this panel are: How are peaks in the creation of endowments connected with the surrounding economy in the city? How do beneficiary practices reflect financial strategies to secure capital, without betraying memorial traditions of their own religious community, while coming in touch with those of the local majority? How do endowment choices relate to ideological debates inside the communities, in the host society and in the society of origin?

Two papers are based on the recently catalogued materials of both Greek-Orthodox communities of Vienna, while two other cities with important minority trade networks, Venice and Pest, are covered by one paper each. The panel seeks to connect parallel research traditions on migration, trade networks and the continuous process of secularization and to set up the premises for a discussion of central notions such as memorial practice, confession, and financial strategy among the members of migrant networks in the European 18th and 19th centuries across specific disciplines and fields.

Ressel, Magnus: Charitable Foundations Of Lutheran Merchants In 18th Century Venice
Ransmayr, Anna: “Speculation And Usury”: Financial Crisis And Profiteering
Saracino, Stefano / Soursos, Nathalie: Private Vs. Public Crises And The Foundations And Endowments Of The Greek-Orthodox In Vienna (18th/19th Century)
Mantouvalos, Ikaros: The Social Reproduction Of The Family Capital And The Redefinition Of The Family
Memory: Greek Testators In Pest And Their Endowment Strategies (18th Century - Early 19th Century)