British colonialism was above all the business of corporations. Corporations conceived, promoted, financed, and governed overseas expansion, making claims over territory and peoples while ensuring that British and colonial society were invested, quite literally, in their ventures.
In conversation with CES Resident Faculty Maya Jasanoff, Philip Stern will share the findings of his new book, Empire, Incorporated (Harvard University Press, 2023), an ambitious re-examination of the role of corporations in British imperialism. As his work makes clear, venture colonialism did not cease with the end of the empire. Its legacies continue to raise questions about corporate power that are just as relevant today as they were 400 years ago.
