Liquid Energy: Brazilian Coffee, American Industrialization, and Antislavery Reform | Roberto Saba
The American Civil War shook the world. Brazil, the second largest slave society at the time, felt its impact immediately. Interestingly, the victory of the Union boosted slave-based coffee agriculture in Brazil. Union soldiers drank massive amounts of Brazilian coffee during the war. And as the industrial economy of the United States thrust forward after the conflict, the American working class began to consume coffee as a stimulant for their long and exhausting routines. But the coffee trade also fostered antislavery reform in Brazil. Growing rich thanks to American coffee consumption, a sector of the Brazilian planter class began to import American technology and expertise that would help them phase out slavery in a way that advanced the interests of capital.
Part of the Brazilian Studies Lunchtime Series.
Speakers
Roberto Saba is a historian of the nineteenth-century United States and its engagement with other parts of the world. He approaches his subjects from transnational and comparative perspectives. His research and teaching focus on capitalism, imperialism, and slavery. He is also interested in the histories of migration, popular culture, world's fairs, and exploration. He is Associate Professor of American Studies and History at Wesleyan University.
- Good Governance
- Humanity