Commodity histories have proven to be particularly productive to develop fresh perspectives on the global history of capitalism. While scholars in this field have repeatedly reflected on their subject’s environmental dimension, recent interdisciplinary discussions about the Anthropocene raise the question whether new models need to be developed to avoid replicating the “logic of frictionless production” (Dara Orenstein) inherent in dominant imaginaries of global capitalism. In this workshop, we will probe whether the thinking of the anthropologist Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, the philosopher Gilles Deleuze and the psychoanalyst Félix Guattari could help historians in this endeavour.

The workshop is aimed at PhD students and PostDocs. Preparatory readings will be shared on ADAM. The workshop is followed by a light lunch. Participation is rewarded with 1 ECTS.

Participants are also warmly invited to the Working Lunch Water and Stone: Hamburg, its Port, and the River Elbe in the Age of Global Empires, on Wednesday, 11 March 2026, 12.16–14.00, at the Institute of European Global Studies.

Registration via paul.blickle@clutterunibas.ch.

Organised by Laura Rischbieter, Corey Ross, Paul Blickle.