International Trade and Cultural Exchange from the Renaissance to Today

What do we learn when we exchange goods and ideas with other cultures? How does engagement with the wider world help us understand ourselves? This seminar explores connections among commerce, art and culture in three eras. We’ll travel to early modern Venice to learn about that city-state’s ascendance as a commercial power in Europe and understand how business with the East helped usher in the modern age. Next, we’ll be introduced to American artists of the 19th-century era of imperial sail and steam to learn how art communities responded to cultural artifacts and ideas from abroad.The seminar will conclude with a review of international commerce in the contemporary world as we explore the meaning of “globalization” and the state of trade today, including the threat posed by tariffs.

Topics and speakers include ‘Venice: A Crossroad of Cultures and Commerce in the Making of the Modern World,’ John Jeffries Martin, professor of history, Duke University; ‘The Makings of Empire: Painting the World in Nineteenth-century America,’ Maggie Cao, David G. Frey Assistant Professor of Art and Art History; ‘America and Modern Global Trade: From Bretton Woods to the Age of Trump,’ Patrick Conway, professor of economics; and ‘Creating New Cultures with Commerce,’ a panel discussion with the speakers.

Visit the Carolina Public Humanities website for information about cost. Register online or call +1.919.962.1544.

This event is co-sponsored by the General Alumni Association. View information about GAA discounts and other scholarships available to Humanities Program participants,.

Registrants will receive a packet containing background readings, a map to the seminar location and more about two to three weeks before the program date.