Call for Papers: Agro-Food Sector in the History of the European Economy
RHN 189/2017 | Call
https://www.ruralhistory.eu/newsletter/2017/rhn-2017-189
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Organiser: Società Italiana degli Storici Economici (SISE)
21-22 September 2018, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy
Deadline for proposal submissions: 31 January 2018
Call for Papers for the International Scientific Conference
Agro-Food Sector in the History of the European Economy
The history of the agro-food sector lies at the crossroads of different fields of the economic history, particularly of rural history, industrial history and business history: it represents a scantly-studied field of the production system. With the exception of a few specific firms or branches, there are only a few analyses of the whole agro-food system both in Italy and in the international context. This gap is related to both the characteristics of the sector and to the undervaluation of its economic and social relevance.
The agro-food sector is a very heterogeneous and variable aggregation whose evolution over the time is linked to several factors, such as technological development, market evolution, growth/reduction in families’ actual incomes, consumption-related cultural trends, as well as the productive, technological and regulatory changes occurred in the primary sector. It is also evident that the analysis of the agro-food sector allows to understand the crucial dynamics of the economic growth in the various historical periods, starting from the often contrasted relationships with the modernization of agriculture and with the choices of political institutions (traditionally protectionist in favour of the primary sector).
Moreover, the agro-food sector shows undeniable reasons of interest, starting from its dimensional relevance. Both from the employment and from its added value point of view, it was one of the major sectors of the European economy, not only, as it is easy to imagine, in the pre-industrial age but also in the contemporary age.
Starting from these considerations, and on the basis of the interest gained by this subject matter over the past few years, Società Italiana degli Storici Economici (SISE) decided to dedicate its next national conference (Milan, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, 21-22 September 2018) to the evolution of the agro-food sector in Europe, from the modern age to the twenty-first century.
Possible topics for individual sessions or contributions will be the following (the list is not exhaustive):
* Entrepreneurship and business cases in the agro-food industry
* Branches, markets, institutions of the agro-food sector
* Technology, product and process innovations in the agro-food sector; imitation and counterfeiting
* Productive traditions, agro-food districts, typicality
* Creation of the agro-food chains (relations and synergies between agriculture and processing factories)
* Commercial distribution, marketing
* Cooperation among agro-food industry operators (consortia, cooperatives, protection consortia)
* Diversification, integration and complementariness (e.g. agro-food industry, territorial and cultural promotion, tourism; agro-food industry, landscape and environment).
* Agro-food sector and national and EU institutions.
Scholars interested in participating are invited to submit both session proposals and individual papers. Contributions can be either in Italian or English. Proceedings will be published.
Sessions will consist of 3 to a maximum of 5 interventions: each session will last up to a maximum of 2 hours. However, should the proposed theme draw particular interest, it will be possible to collect at least 8 contributions and double the length of the session. Session proposals must be submitted by 31th January 2018 with a short presentation of the subject matter (up to 2,000 characters) and the name of at least three participants and the chair-discussant (who may be one of the participants). Individual paper proposals must be submitted by 31th January 2018 with a brief abstract (up 1,500 characters) and will be included in thematic or general sessions by the Organizing Committee.
Session proposals or individual papers must be sent by 31th January 2018 to: segreteria.sisenet@gmail.com