One of the 19th century’s largest coffee plantations, located in northeastern Brazil (Bahia), was squarely in Swiss hands. Today’s quilombo 'Helvécia' bears almost no traces of the forms of life and community it once gave rise to, while the encounter between Swiss settler colonialists, African slaves and indigenous community has yet to be properly understood and digested.

This research aims to shed light on a key chapter in the history of Swiss settler colonialism and its global inter-connections by comparing two time-frames, the 19th century and the contemporary condition (21th century). Coming from and returning to the territory of research (Helvécia), I thereby follow trajectories of social and material exchanges – visible and invisible – towards writing a global history of Helvécia (Brazil).

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Programm Kolloquium Kulturwissenschaften FS19