Abstract

The 1860s was a decade of great political and social upheaval in Europe and the wider world, and the global prevalence of famine caused one newspaper in 1868 to bemoan the “terrible failure of nature”. Famine relief committees throughout Denmark worked to alleviate suffering abroad, and this paper examines the choices that were made in selecting the objects of this charitable relief, casting light on “imagined communities”, the discussion between “deserving and undeserving” poor, and the use of charity for social capital in nineteenth century Europe.  

Short bio

Andrew Newby is Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND Senior Research Fellow, Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies, and Docent in European Area and Cultural Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland. He has written and edited many works on different aspects of northern European history, society and culture. An Irishman, he was educated in Scotland at the Universities of St. Andrews (MA Hons. 1995) and Edinburgh (PhD 2001). He was formerly lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, senior lecturer at the University of Aberdeen, senior fellow of the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, and Senior Research Fellow of the Academy of Finland.

Andrew Newby's project at AIAS

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The AIAS Fellows' Seminar is a session of seminars held by the AIAS fellow or by other speakers proposed by the fellows. In each seminar, one fellow will present and discuss his/her current research and research project, closing off with a question and discussion session.

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