Edges of Transatlantic Commerce in the Long Eighteenth Century

Edges of Transatlantic Commerce in the Long Eighteenth Century examines and challenges the boundaries of the Atlantic in the eighteenth century, with a particular focus on commerce. Commerce as a keyword encompasses a wide range of documented and undocumented encounters that invoke topics such as shared or conflicting ideas of value, affective experiences of the emerging global system, and development of national economies, as well as their opponents. By investigating what gets exchanged, created, or obscured on the peripheries of transatlantic commercial relations and geography in the eighteenth century, the chapters in this collection reimagine the edge as a liminal space with a potential for an alternative historical and aesthetic knowledge. To ground this inquiry in a more material dimension, the chapters engage specifically with what is being exchanged, sold, or communicated across the Atlantic by exploring ideas that are being shaped, concealed, undermined, or exploited through intricate exchanges. With its contributions from multiple contexts and disciplinary perspectives, Edges of Transatlantic Commerce offers insights into relatively neglected aspects of the transatlantic world to cultivate the value that the edges allow us to conceive.

Seohyon Jung received her Ph.D. in English from Tufts University in 2020. She specializes in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British literature, with a particular interest in the ideas of motherhood, women's labor, and theories of colonial modernity. She currently teaches at Seoul National University.

Leah M. Thomas is Assistant Professor of English in the Department of Languages and Literature at Virginia State University.