Project description

This research project explores the diverse connections between Neuchâtel and the Atlantic world during the colonial period. It seeks to understand how various actors, involved in commercial, military, scientific, and religious activities and linked through family, professional, activist, and Protestant networks, interacted with spaces marked by the European colonial system, a complex network of political, economic, and social structures established by European powers to exploit and control their colonies. Starting from a provincial town yet connected to European colonial empires through its geopolitical position, Protestant networks, and the circulation of scholars, this project examines the different resources mobilized to benefit from colonization and how wealth accumulated through slavery and imperialism, in turn, contributed to the prosperity of individuals, families, and the town itself. This research combines studies on the economic and social history of the colonial past with analyses of artistic and activist practices that question it.

The project’s approach aligns with debates on racism and the colonial past, resonating with broader social movements such as Black Lives Matter. In Neuchâtel, several public calls have reignited questions about links with colonialism. The project will thus contribute to a better understanding of Neuchâtel's involvement in Swiss and European colonial history, while also analyzing contemporary memory issues. By focusing on the circulation of goods, capital, people, and ideas, this project will illuminate how these connections have helped shape a collective imagination where modernity exists here, and the past, over there. 

The sub-projects

The initiative is organized around several sub-projects, each focusing on different questions to be explored.