Since the 1850s, the opium trade has been conveniently interpreted in both Chinese and British history as the economic foundation through which the British achieved imperial dominance over China and India. However, Hagar Gal argues that the very phenomena which are thought of as products of British opium-hegemony were instead the outcome of the limits of British imperial power: firstly, the vast scale of the nineteenth century opium trade between India and the Qing Empire; secondly, the First Opium War; and finally, the historiography of British power itself. Gal will focus on the first, contending that the opium trade expanded through competition rather than monopoly.
The Graduate Student Research Workshop is a seminar for graduate students at Harvard University and MIT to present their research to peers and faculty with an interest in European studies. This student-run, student-centered workshop welcomes presenters at any stage of their research from any social science discipline.
To join the seminar mailing list, please contact the seminar chairs. Papers will be distributed to participants via email in advance, and the schedule of upcoming workshops will be updated here throughout the academic year.
