Agricultural Service Reports Compared with Colonial Economic Bulletins (1890–1960)

Maison Suger is pleased to host the fourth session of the seminar "Counting and Deciphering Empires, 18th–21st Centuries", entitled "Activity reports from agricultural services versus economic bulletins from the colonies (1890-1960): comparison of two sources of information", with Dominique Lasserre, Head of Heritage Documentation Resources, CIRAD Historical Library.

The seminar will take place in French.

Econometric interpretations of the effects of modern colonial domination, based on colonial statistics, and research examining interactions between colonial empires, colonised populations, and international institutions, have renewed interest in imperial statistical production. Yet this production remains poorly known.

This seminar, consisting of five online sessions and a hybrid study day, aims to deepen reflections and knowledge on these links, drawing on ongoing research. Among the questions addressed:

• What were the statistical practices of 19th- and 20th-century colonial empires?
• How were their statisticians trained?
• Who participated in data collection, and what were the preferred objects of study?
• In what ways did statistical production create connections, or conversely, marginalise certain groups?
• What role did it play in colonised territories?
• How did these practices contribute to the global generalisation of statistics over the past two centuries?
• How can these data be reappropriated retrospectively, often used to produce definitive assessments of colonisation and contemporary empires?

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