- University of Bremen, History, Department MemberUniversity of Vienna, Geschichte, Post-DocUniversity of Vienna, History, Post-Docadd
- Kulturgeschichte, Geschichte, History, Simulation, History of Science, Online Learning, and 19 moreGame studies, Gamification, Power and authority in the Early Modern period, European identity, Habsburg Monarchy, Ottoman Empire, Visual History, Digital Humanities, Video Games, American History, Mexico, Atlantic history, Video Games and Learning, Experimental games, Ottoman-Habsburg relations, Colonial Atlantic History, Borders and Frontiers, Frontier Studies, and Atlantic Worldedit
This WORCK data story presents preliminary results of research on practices of coercion faced by enslaved or formerly enslaved individuals in Moravian church settlements in Europe and North America. It analyses one of the few known... more
This WORCK data story presents preliminary results of research on practices of coercion faced by enslaved or formerly enslaved individuals in Moravian church settlements in Europe and North America. It analyses one of the few known runaway slave cases in 18th century Germany and one of a very small number in which Moravians explicitly claimed authority over a person as a slave within a German principality. It is essentially an experiment, asking what a semantic analysis of sources relating to this case may reveal about forms of coercion at the intersections of Central European German estate-based society, Indian Ocean slavery, and Moravian missionary endeavors—intersections that produced liquid and overlapping forms of coercion and dependency, and therefore present quite daunting challenges to historical analysis.
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Moravian sources seldom discuss the status of Africans or West Indian Creoles living as slaves in eighteenth century Germany. These converts and captives provided edifying images of the Brethren’s missionary achievements and their... more
Moravian sources seldom discuss the status of Africans or West Indian Creoles living as slaves in eighteenth century Germany. These converts and captives provided edifying images of the Brethren’s missionary achievements and their eschatological visions, and the rhetoric of spirituality and communal equality pervading Moravian discourse served to obscure slavery. The result was an ambiguous position: On the one hand, such individuals were accorded a highly visible role of considerable symbolic value. On the other hand, close reading of the sources and semantic analysis of the terminology employed shows that although slavery may have been concealed by church discipline or servitude, it was by no means revoked. Indeed, scattered evidence shows that depending on circumstance, Moravians were ready to claim authority over individuals based on their slave status.
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Krieg und Spiel stehen in einem besonderen Verhältnis zueinander, und das nicht erst, seitdem Computerspiele Nachbildungen fiktiver und realer Schlachten von der Antike bis in die Gegenwart in unsere Wohnzimmer holen. Heute stellt sich... more
Krieg und Spiel stehen in einem besonderen Verhältnis zueinander, und das nicht erst, seitdem Computerspiele Nachbildungen fiktiver und realer Schlachten von der Antike bis in die Gegenwart in unsere Wohnzimmer holen. Heute stellt sich vielmehr die Frage, ob diese Kriegsspiele, insbesondere solche, die im engeren Sinne als Simulationsspiele zu verstehen sind, nicht bereits solch einen Grad an Realitätsnähe erreicht haben, dass sie der Realität vorgreifen, statt sie ab-und nachbildend zu begleiten?
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Published in ÖGL 58, 2014/3, "Innovationen"
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City of Refuge is a book about protestant utopias and separatist places of refuge. The author’s well-written prose and his willingness to formulate strong hypotheses make this a very accessible and engaging book, not only for historians,... more
City of Refuge is a book about protestant utopias and separatist places of refuge. The author’s well-written prose and his willingness to formulate strong hypotheses make this a very accessible and engaging book, not only for historians, art historians, or church historians, but for anyone interested in the cultural history of conceptualizing urban space from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. Also, this is a beautifully made book. The dust jacket beckons the reader with bold architectural drawings and once one starts to leaf through the pages one encounters numerous evocative illustrations: plans of towns, houses, fortifications, architectural sections, photographs of buildings and sites. Such is the richness of the material that the reader constantly feels enticed to learn more, delve deeper, or actually visit these intriguing places for real.
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Ein Schiffswrack steht am Anfang dieses Buches: die Bom Jesus, gesunken 1533 vor der Küste des heutigen Namibia. Geladen hatte sie unter anderem Metallwaren aus Mitteleuropa, geprägt mit der Handelsmarke der Fugger. Mark Häberlein nimmt... more
Ein Schiffswrack steht am Anfang dieses Buches: die Bom Jesus, gesunken 1533 vor der Küste des heutigen Namibia. Geladen hatte sie unter anderem Metallwaren aus Mitteleuropa, geprägt mit der Handelsmarke der Fugger. Mark Häberlein nimmt diesen Wrackfund zum Ausgangspunkt für eine pointierte Geschichtsdarstellung, in deren Zentrum die Frage nach der Rolle der oberdeutschen Handelshäuser in der frühen Globalisierung des 16. Jahrhunderts steht.
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When Moravians encountered colonial slaveries – first in the West indies and later elsewhere in North America, South Africa or East Asia – they brought with them German or Central European perceptions of dependency, slavery, social... more
When Moravians encountered colonial slaveries – first in the West indies and later elsewhere in North America, South Africa or East Asia – they brought with them German or Central European perceptions of dependency, slavery, social hierarchy, and coercion, as well as the concomitant terminologies. The language of colonial slavery had yet to colonize (and eventually to monopolize) discussions of institutional subjection. Older institutional models of subjection, like various forms of serfdom, continued to shape perceptions and were employed to make sense of situations encountered in colonial slaving environments.
Moravian sources bear witness of these encounters and discursive transformations. Taking a close look at the historic semantics of selected Moravian sources allows to “de- center” existing histories of slavery and arrive at a more detailed understanding of the “strong asymmetrical dependencies” permeating early modern societies.
Moravian sources bear witness of these encounters and discursive transformations. Taking a close look at the historic semantics of selected Moravian sources allows to “de- center” existing histories of slavery and arrive at a more detailed understanding of the “strong asymmetrical dependencies” permeating early modern societies.
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Herrnhut and the emergent Moravian community grew in a society shaped and divided by intersecting forms of hierarchy, dependence, and servitude. This societal environment has often been contrasted with the egalitarian ideals that seemed... more
Herrnhut and the emergent Moravian community grew in a society shaped and divided by intersecting forms of hierarchy, dependence, and servitude. This societal environment has often been contrasted with the egalitarian ideals that seemed to permeate Moravian communal and spiritual life as well as Moravian rhetoric. Documents like the “Herrschaftlichen Gebote und Verbote” of 1727 have been cited as evidence, because they freed the inhabitants of Herrnhut from servitude and serfdom. This paper proposes a micro-historical analysis of the continuing acceptance of serfdom by Zinzendorf and his contemporaries. A discussion of the related semantics of Leibeigenschaft, Untertänigkeit, and slavery reveals the multilayered complexity of discourses and practices involved. Equating slavery with serfdom was quite common in eighteenth-century German discourse. This holds true for Moravian sources as well. And yet, there were significant differences between slavery and the various tenurial relations generally designated as Leibeigenschaft in eighteenth century Central Europe– and since serfdom was common in regions like Upper Lusatia, Bohemia, or Moravia, it seems likely that these differences were well known to Moravians. This leads to the argument that the actual meaning of the term and its wider connotations heavily depended on context.



