Storage and starvation: public granaries as agents of "food security" in early modern Europe

"The development of the 'food security' concept in the 1990s marked a significant change away from state-centered strategies that focused on food availability, towards policies aimed at food access and strengthening individual 'entitlements' (A. Sen) to food. This essay applies the food security approach to early modern food regimes, drawing on the example of the state-granary system in 18th century Prussia to investigate their agents, zones of conflict, and limits. The evident failure of technology-centered approaches raises questions about established periodizations, and modernization narratives on the 'great escape' from hunger. The granary as a 'technology of risk' illustrates the social construction of 'security' through the labeling of security providers and security takers as well as the performance of exclusion and inclusion." (author's abstract)"Das 'Food Security' Konzept markiert seit den 1990er Jahren eine Neuorientierung der Hungerprävention weg von technologiezentrierten Ansätzen der Angebotssicherung auf staatlicher Ebene hin zur Stärkung individueller Nachfragerechte und 'entitlements' (A. Sen) auf Zugang zu Nahrung. Der Artikel überträgt dieses Konzept auf frühneuzeitliche Nahrungsregimes und prüft am Beispiel der preußischen Getreidemagazine des 18. Jh. deren Konfliktzonen, Brüche und Grenzen. Die zu beobachtende Ineffizienz technologischer Maßnahmen der Nahrungssicherung hinterfragt bestehende Epochenzäsuren und Modernisierungsnarrative. Die Risikotechnologie des Getreidespeichers verweist so auf die soziale Konstruktion von 'Sicherheit', die über die Performanz von Inklusion und Exklusion und die Aushandlung von Sicherheitsgebern und Sicherheitsnehmern hergestellt wird." (Autorenreferat

The “Academic Museum” – Göttingen’s University Collection as a space of knowledge production and cultural heritage

„Akademickie Muzeum”. Kolekcja uniwersytetu w Getyndze jako miejsce powstawania nauki i dziedzictwa kulturowego Uniwersytet w Getyndze, posiadający kluczowe znaczenie w niemieckim Oświeceniu, może się poszczycić bogatą kolekcją eksponatów z zakresu historii naturalnej i antropologii, technologii oraz szeroko pojętego dziedzictwa akademickiego. Kolekcje te związane są z rozwojem nowych obszarów wiedzy, a co za tym idzie – prowadzeniem nowoczesnych badań naukowych od czasu założenia uniwersytetu w XVIII wieku. Instrumenty naukowe są świadectwem powstałych wówczas dyscyplin naukowych. Wyznaczały one także zawodową odrębność uczonych. Kolekcje uniwersytetu w Getyndze ilustrują historyczną koncepcję obiektywizmu i świadectwa. Współczesne techniki wystawiennicze, skupione na najbardziej spektakularnych dziełach, raczej zaciemniają niż podkreślają zasadniczą rolę kolekcji uniwersyteckich, którą jest ukazanie rozwoju nauki

Transforming Knowledge Orders: Museums, Collections and Exhibitions

The history of museums is closely connected not only with the history of collecting and collections, but also with the history of science and humanities. Collections and exhibitions reflect scientific theory and scholarly practice, and in turn shape them. Hence, museums transmit and disseminate, yet also produce knowledge. On the one hand, they visualise and stabilise orders of knowledge through assembling, classifying and fixing objects in exhibitions; on the other hand, new academic paradigms and political changes lead to rearrangements of facts and artefacts in museum storerooms and displays. This volume brings together case studies from various historical and cultural contexts that illuminate such dynamics. Its point of departure is transcultural collections and exhibitions such as cabinets of curiosities and ethnographic collections, whose attempts to inventorise and display the world testify to the desire for, but also the difficulties in establishing and maintaining orders of knowledge. A particular focus is on transformative moments in the history of museums, in particular on the early 1900s, when science and technology museums were established, and on more recent times, which have seen the refurbishment of numerous art and ethnographic museums

Storage and Starvation: Public Granaries as Agents of Food Security in Early Modern Europe

"Horten und Hungern: Offentliche Getreidespeicher als Agenten fruhneuzeitlicher Food Security. The development of the 'food security' concept in the 1990s marked a significant change away from state-centred strategies that focused on food availability, towards policies aimed at food access and strengthening individual 'entitlements' (A. Sen) to food. This essay applies the food security approach to early modern food regimes, drawing on the example of the state-granary system in 18th century Prussia to investigate their agents, zones of conflict, and limits. The evident failure of technology-centred approaches raises questions about established periodisations, and modernisation narratives on the 'great escape' from hunger. The granary as a 'technology of risk' illustrates the social construction of 'security' through the labelling of security providers and security takers as well as the performance of exclusion and inclusion