The Global History Seminar Series LAUGH presents Oscar Broughton, Humboldt University: Brazilian Beef: A National Cuisine in a Transimperial Setting 1880-1980 Abstract: Today, few foods are more central to Brazilian national cuisine than beef. However, the connections between beef and Brazil are anything but inevitable. Until the late nineteenth century, the Brazilian beef industry remained a relatively marginal part of the domestic and global economy. This situation changed dramatically in the century between 1880 and 1980, when beef became an increasingly core constituent of the national diet. This shift was not simply a matter of dietary change but the outcome of intersecting processes: internal projects of nation-building, which sought to define and standardise Brazilian food culture, and external pressures exerted by imperial powers, including the United States, Britain, Japan, and Portugal, that reshaped patterns of production, trade, and consumption.

Interest in broadening the historical perspective beyond national borders has grown since the early 1990s. Several researchers have spoken of a “world historical turn” or a “transnational trend”. The shift in perspective can be encompassed by concepts such as global history, world history, transnational history, comparative history, histoire croisée and entangled history. With this seminar we want to highlight ongoing research in the field and discuss the relationship between theory and empiricism and how these perspectives affect our view of the past.

We welcome all interested parties, students and researchers alike.

The seminars are typically held both in person and on Zoom. Contact Cecilia Lundström for Zoom link.

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