Purpose of the lecture series
The DEPE lectures introduce novel ways of thinking about the history of political and economic thought. They situate political and economic thought in broader cultural, political and intellectual settings, hence going beyond standard canonical histories that have dominated these fields for too long. In addition, the DEPE lectures explore the possibilities of combining the study of history of political thought and the history of economic thought.
If you can't attend in person but want to follow the lecture remotely, please contact Ere Nokkala (ere.p.nokkala@jyu.fi).
About the lecture
Dr. Vincent Roy-Di Piazza presents his latest research on the links between transatlantic slavery and the medical cadaver trade in eighteenth century Europe. The talk will discuss these issues through the case-study of the Swedish anatomist Abraham Bäck (1713–1795), better known as Carl Linnaeus’ best friend. During his medical training across Europe, Bäck developed a little-known interest in the origins of human skin-color, which culminated in February 1744 in a series of experiments on the cadaver of an unknown sub-Saharan African man in Paris. Bäck’s research was well-received, and later became published in the transactions of the Swedish royal academy of sciences, in a broader context where Sweden hoped to resume its overseas colonial expansion. Bäck’s case not only illustrates the rise of an empiricist subculture of anatomists working on ‘Ethiopian’ skin-color during the early Enlightenment: it also shows that Sweden was part of this culture, despite the country’s lack of colonial possessions. More broadly, the talk will explore how the slave trade economy contributed to the material rise of early eighteenth-century racial anatomy.
About the Lecturer
Vincent Roy-Di Piazza is a historian of science, political economy, and colonialism. He obtained his PhD from the University of Oxford in 2022, where he then worked as a British Research Council postdoctoral fellow in the humanities. He then worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at Karolinska Institutet, and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Ģֱ, where he is part of the ERC-Consolidator project ‘De-centring eighteenth century political economy: rethinking growth, wealth, and welfare in the Swedish Empire’ led by Ere Nokkala. Within the ERC’s team, Vincent researches the links between political economy and colonialism in eighteenth century Sweden. His most recent publications include research articles in the Revue de Synthèse (2024) and the Intellectual History Review (2024), the latter of which won the Senior Kirkaldy Prize at Oxford for best essay. Follow his research on his website:
Funded by the European Union (ERC, DEPE, 101088549). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
