Wednesday, September 8th, 2010
Peter A. Coclanis
Distinguished Professor of History
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
Prof. Coclanis works primarily in economic and business history. His earlier research focused on the American South in the 18th and 19th century; In recent years he has been working on other areas and time periods as well, particularly on Southeast Asia in the 19th and 20th century. His current project is on the creation of integrated world markets for tropical and semi-tropical commodities, with a special emphasis on rice. This project has taken him to archives all over the world.
Scholarship by Peter A. Coclanis
The South, the Nation, and the World: Perspectives on Southern Economic Development
Like the rest of British North America, the American South was “born capitalist.” The slave plantation, then, was essentially a form of business enterprise like any other—indeed, one quite modern and sophisticated for its time.