Session: #58

Content:

The old saying goes that “All roads lead to Rome”, if so, it would imply that all roads start somewhere else. It is becoming increasingly clear that the beginnings of these roads are to be found far out into the peripheral outlands beyond the agrarian regions and central places – such as boreal forests of northern Scandinavia, far-distance oceans and islands or tropical mountain-regions of the Far East. This session addresses social and economic patterns opposed to the hegemonic view of agriculture as the main human activity in the pre-industrial world and seek to explore common denominators for how life was shaped for people involved in a non-agrarian resource extraction.
Thus, this session aims to follow the multiscalar interactions underlying the large-scale exploitation and extraction of non-agricultural resources in a given place and time. Specifically, the aim is to bring together researchers interested in questions related to the exploitation of non-agricultural lands and non-cultivated products, and how these were integrated into long-distance networks of production and exchange. Considered peripheral areas and/or practices, there is enough evidence to believe and demonstrate that they were fundamental driving forces in societal developments in the past. It is precisely in this direction that this session search to provide empirical evidence.
While any related topic is welcome for the session, we encourage papers that address issues associated to, and derived from, large-scale economic activities concerning for example forest exploitation, fishing, livestock and handicrafts. Papers should consider long-distance commercialisation, but also the consequences of these practices on local societies and in relation to the actors involved.

Session: #58

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