A workshop-style research seminar on Swiss global history and related themes

The ColLab Seminar (Spring 2026) is a workshop-format seminar organised by the SNSF Project Group “Moral and Economic Entrepreneurship: A Collaborative History of Global Switzerland”, convened at UniDistance (Brig) and online. Sessions take place from 14:00–16:00 and are devoted to discussion of ongoing research in Swiss global history, colonialism and adjacent themes; the format prioritises pre-circulated texts and collegial, research-focused exchange.

To obtain the link for remote participation, please contact: Caroline Montebello.

Spring 2026 Programme

18 February

Michael Schmitz (UniDistance)
Title: Trading in Intermediary Spaces: A Swiss Trading Firm in Bahia’s Global Cacao Economy, 1914–1945

3 March

Bernhard Schär & Caroline Montebello (UniDistance)
Title: Draft SNSF proposal “Ancestral Remains in Switzerland”

10 March

Amal Shahid (UNIL) & Soni (IIT Jodhpur)
Title: Draft SNSF/ICSSR Proposal “Swiss-India Economic Transformations c.1900-1990”

17 March

Izabel Barros (UNIL)
Title: Free people in an enslaved land: Free workers and their labour on a Swiss-owned plantation in Ilhéus, Bahia (1836–1860)

15 April

Elena Simonato (UNIL)
Book Talk: Les Suisse de la Mer Noire

26 May

Amal Shahid (UNIL)
Title: Draft article: The Basel Mission Trading Company in India during the First World War

PDF Programme

Project duration

18.02.2026 - 26.05.2026

Persons

Prof. Dr Bernhard C. Schär
Prof. Dr Bernhard C. Schär
Dr Caroline Montebello
Dr Caroline Montebello
lic. phil. Michael Schmitz
lic. phil. Michael Schmitz