Call for Papers: Historical demography of colonial societies

In the framework of the HiDo working group III (Colonial Societies) we aim to organize a first session at the conference of the European Society for Historical Demography (ESHD) in March 2021 in Madrid, Spain.  (March 2-5, 2022)

Little is known about the fertility, marriage and mortality patterns of colonial populations before 1960. The absence of historical perspectives is a problem for demographers trying to understand and explain current population changes in developing countries, but also for historians who want to comprehend population developments in the long run. Studying the historical demography of colonial societies seems impossible to many demographers, because most of the data required by the formal methods of demography do not exist. Yet, in recent years some scholars have shown the way forward by using non-conventional sources, alternative methods or new technologies for English, Dutch and French colonies. The classical assumption is that colonial societies in the past exhibited a single demographic regime of high fertility and high mortality, but quite possibly, the lack of historical depth has led to such oversimplification. From recent anthropological, ethnological and demographic research, we know that most developing countries are characterized today by varied socio-demographic regimes. However, we do not know whether these are new patterns, continuations of older trajectories, or a combination of both. We welcome papers on all types of demographic behaviours (marriage, fertility, mortality, and health) in colonial societies since the early modern period.

Organizers: Hilde Bras, Groningen University, h.a.j.bras@rug.nl  and Sarah Walters, London School of Tropical Medicine, sarah.walters@lshtm.ac.uk

Deadline for paper submissions: September 22, 2021