Tobacco in Global Perspective, 1780–1960

“This is a far-reaching and novel approach to the histories of tobacco and empire, […]  providing fascinating and much-needed insights into modern tobacco cultures beyond the Anglosphere.”

—Michael Reeve , Lecturer in Modern British History, The Open University

This edited collection provides an in-depth analysis of the imperial, colonial, and postcolonial history of tobacco from 1780 to 1960, which was one of the major periods of change in the global tobacco economy. It brings together case studies from known and lesser-known tobacco regions of the world to interrogate tobacco’s ‘second globalisation’, a concept little employed by historians thus far, but one which encapsulates tobacco’s central role in Europe’s imperial expansion beyond the Atlantic and the social, political, and cultural transformations of global capitalism taking place during the period. It invites comparison across borders, and, with a particular emphasis on trade, knowledge, and labour, juxtaposes micro-histories with a macro-historical perspective. Together, the studies in the volume testify to the importance of tobacco in new places and among new players, challenging the confines of national and imperial historiographical frameworks. They demonstrate the rising dominance of new powerful forces, including transnational corporations, but also a wide range of actors in conflict and negotiation within territorial and imperial confines. By systematically exploring the agency in Europe’s apparent peripheries and the Global South, this book critiques a simple assumption of the dominance of the West. 

Alexander van Wickeren  is a Research Coordinator for the Faculty of Cultural Sciences at the University of Applied Sciences in Cologne, Germany.

Jean Stubbs  is an Associate Fellow of the Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at the University of London’s School of Advanced Study, in the UK, and Professor Emerita of London Metropolitan University.

William Gervase Clarence-Smith  is Emeritus Professor of History at SOAS University of London, in the UK, and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and the Royal Asiatic Society.