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Global 1776

12 - 14 March 2026
Hong Kong

​Thursday, March 12, 2026 
(all sessions at the University of Chicago Hong Kong Campus, 168 Victoria Rd, Pok Fu Lam)

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1:00pm: Buses depart from the Jen Hotel and the Courtyard by Marriott to the University of Chicago Campus 
 

1:30pm: Registration, University of Chicago Campus, Main Entrance 
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​​2:00-2:30pm:  Welcome and Introductions (Brendan McConville, Boston University and David Center; Steven Pincus, University of Chicago)
 

2:30-4:00pm: Session 1 

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Panel 1: Uprisings & Contestations A (The Hong Kong Jockey Club Executive Classroom)

  • “The Toorodo Muslim Revolution of Fuuta-Tooro in 1776: A Movement Against the Slave Economy?” Cheikh Sene, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles

  • “Entangled Revolutions: Anglo-Dutch Imperial Learning in the Moluccas, 1796–1817,” Philip Post, Utrecht University​
     

​Chair: Wenkai He, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

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Panel 2: Irish & Scottish Diasporas: Irish and Scottish Settler Colonial Networks in Virginia, Nova Scotia, and the Caribbean, 1760–1830 (The Merlin Lu Reading Room)

  • “Writing the transnational biography of a double revolutionary: the case of Pierce Butler, US Senator, signatory, enslaver and Irishman,” Finola O’Kane Crimmins, University College Dublin

  • “The Entangled Lifescapes of Empire: Jamaica, the Western Highlands of Scotland and Maritime Settlement in the late 18th century,” S. Karly Kehoe, Saint Mary’s University

  • “Transimperial Opportunism: Understanding Irish and Scottish Catholic Enslavers in the Danish and Dutch Atlantic c.1770 to 1830,” Ciaran O’Neill, Trinity College Dublin


Chair: Scott Veitch, University of Hong Kong

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Panel 3: Imperial Civil War (The Tandean Rustandy MBA Classroom)

  • “A Rule of Property for the Empire,” Sunit Singh, University of Chicago 

  • “The American War in India,” Tiraana Bains, Brown University

  • “Imperial Civil War?,” Steven Pincus, University of Chicago


Chair: Devika Shankar, University of Hong Kong

 

4:00-4:30pm: Coffee/Tea Break

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4:30-6:00pm: Session 2

 

Panel 4: Uprisings & Contestations B (The Tandean Rustandy MBA Classroom)

  • “Global 1763: Indigenous and Slave Revolts in the World’s First Global War,” Kristie Flannery, Australian Catholic University

  • “Savannah, Paris, Cap Français – Saint Domingue’s Free People of Color and the Fight for The Rights of Man,” Noah Shusterman, Chinese University of Hong Kong

  • “The Bourbon Reforms and Local Discontent in Northern Peru, 1780s-1810s,” Frederik Schulze, Cologne University

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Chair: Alastair McClure, University of Hong Kong

 

Panel 5: Commercial Disruptions & Expansion A  (The Hong Kong Jockey Club Executive Classroom)

  • “Turning Points and Power Struggles – Intra-imperial tensions and alliances in 1750s Canton,” Felicia Gottmann,Northumbria University, Newcastle

  • “Westbound for the Far East: North Americans joining the Asia trade, 1780s-1830s,” Alejandra Irigoin, London School of Economics

  • “’The Emperor will not Suffer Them to Bring War into his Dominions’: Implications of the Wars of American Revolutionary War on the Canton Trade,” C. Nathan Kwan, University of Macau

 

Chair: Otis Edwards, University of Hong Kong

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​Panel 6: Loyalism and Loyalty in the Age of Revolutions (The Merlin Lu Reading Room)​

  • “What did 1776 mean to New York Loyalists? Perceptions on Liberty and Authority, Presuppositions on Empire, and Historical Memories of New York Loyalists,” Cho-Chien Feng, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan

  • “Fealty and Homage: Counting Loyalty in British Quebec during the American Revolution, Riley Wallace, McGill University

  • “‘Making patriots loyal’: the role of the Irish Volunteers in containing the Global 1776,” Henry Swords, Trinity College Dublin


Chair: Brendan McConville, Boston University and David Center

 

6:00-9:00pm: Catered Cocktail Reception and Buffet Dinner (The Brady W. Dougan Grand Hall and Reception)


NOTE: Return bus will run a circuit from Chicago Campus to Kennedy Town MTR from 8:30 to 9 PM.

Friday, March 13, 2026 
(all sessions at the University of Hong Kong Campus, Run Run Shaw Tower, 4th Floor)

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9:30-10:00am: Registration, Run Run Shaw Tower, 4th Floor / Coffee and Tea in Room 4.30

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10:00-10:30am: Welcome and Introductions, University of Hong Kong (David Pomfret, University of Hong Kong) in Room 4.30

10:30am-12:00pm: Session 3 

 

Panel 7: Shifting Legal Regimes (Room 4.36)

  • “Colonial Legitimacy and Revolution in the Dutch East Indies: Citizenship, Slavery and Legal Pluralism,” Bart Verheijen, Leiden University

  • “William Smith, Jr.’s Unfinished Legal Reforms: Governing Low Law in the British Settler Colonies and (Counter)Revolutionary America,” Kim Sung Yup, Seoul National University

  • “‘Africans’ into Anglo-Saxons: Granville Sharp and Legal Ordering in Early Sierra Leone, 1787-1789” Timothy Soriano, University of Illinois, Chicago
     

Chair: Tamar Herzog, Harvard University

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​Panel 8: Global Print Culture (Room 4.27)

  • “Ink, Identity, and Insurgency: Print Culture as the Alchemy of Modernity and Social Resistance in Colonial Orissa,” Bebina Majhee, University of Hyderabad

  • “The Print Revolution in the Indian Ocean World,” Joshua Ehrlich, University of Macau

  • “Print, Pamphlets, and Parallel Revolts: American Revolutionary Influence on Colonial Indian Resistance,” J. Suresh, University College Thiruvanathapuram

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Chair: Jill Gage, Newberry Library

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Panel 9: Mobility & Displacement​ (Room 4.35)

  • “American Revolutionary Refugees,” Kit Candlin, University of Newcastle 

  • "Indigenous Travelers in the Revolutionary Atlantic,” Lori Daggar, Ursinus College

  • “The Age of Exile: Rethinking the Age of Revolution as a Refugee Crisis,” Michael McDonnell, University of Sydney​​

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Chair: Elizabeth Sinn, University of Hong Kong​

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12:00-2:00pm: Lunch: Ming Pavilion, Senior Common Room, University of Hong Kong

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2:00-3:30pm: Session 4

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Panel 10: Law, Enlightenment & Governance (Room 4.35)

  • “Vattel’s ‘Law of Nations’ in British and Spanish America,” Theodore Christov, George Washington University

  • “Ireland, America, and the Eighteenth-Century Re-set,” Coleman Dennehy, Dundalk Institute of Technology

  • “The Meaning of Filadelfia: Views of America’s Republic and Revolution in the Kingdom of Naples,” Anna Vincenzi, Hillsdale College

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Chair: Eric Slauter, University of Chicago

 

Panel 11: Commercial Disruptions & Expansion B (Room 4.27)

  • “The Rise of ‘Commercial Society’: The Debates about Business Corporations in the Early Republic Period of America,” Dong Yu, Nankai University

  • “American Revolutions and Plantation Patriotism in the Indo-Pacific, 1780-1807,” Xu Guanmian, Peking University

  • “The American Revolution, the British Slave Trade, and Indian Cotton Textiles,” Kazuo Kobayashi, Waseda University

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Chair: Mark Hampton, Lingnan University

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Panel 12: Perspectives on the Age of Revolutions (Room 4.36)

  • “The Global Fourth: Internationalizing the Revolution, ca. 1777-1876,” Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, University of Southern California

  • “The American independence From an Iberian Perspective”? Tamar Herzog, Harvard University

  • “Trans-Pacific Absolutisms: Russia, Spain, and Latin America in a Revolutionary Age,” Marcos G. Pérez Cañizares, Cornell University

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Chair: Peter Sorensen, Hong Kong Baptist University

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3:30-4:00pm: Coffee/Tea Break (Room 4.30)

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4:00-5:30pm: Session 5

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Panel 13: Imperial Governance & Endurance (Room 4.36)

  • “In the Aftermath of the American Revolution: The Collapse of the Old Order and the Risk of a Generalized War in Europe (1787-1790),” Gabriel Leanca, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Romania

  • “Wolfe Tone’s Case and Imperial Governance,” Donal Coffey, Maynooth University, Ireland

  • “1784: A Turning-Point in Sino-British History,” Jessica Hanser, University of Copenhagen

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Chair: Hongzhe Sun, Peking University

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Panel 14: Religion: Conformity & Contestation (Room 4.35)

  • “Understanding the Differences between Adams' and Burke's Conservative Political Thought: An Interpretation Based on the Dimension of Religion,” Li Haimo, Fudan University, Shanghai

  • “Britain’s Popish Turn, c. 1755-1774: Imperial Tolerance and the origins of the American Revolution,” Evan Haefeli, Texas A&M

  • “American Echoes in Colonial Calvinism: Ecclesiastical Ties and Reform in Batavia, 1775–1795,” Alexander van der Meer, Leiden University

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Chair: Bertrand Van Ruymbeke, University of Paris VIII

 

Panel 15: Enlightenment Ideas (Room 4.27)

  • "Du Pont’s Equinoctial Republics: The View from Monticello," Graham Clure, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

  • “‘Scientia in Bello Pax:’ Rethinking Military Power in the American Revolution,” Sveinn M. Jóhannesson, University of Iceland

  • “The American Revolution and Global Abolitionism: A Scottish Enlightenment Perspective.” Gideon Mailer, University of Minnesota, Duluth

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Chair: Joshua Derman, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

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6:00pm: Bus departs for dinner from the University of Hong Kong. Guests may also depart by MTR/Taxi.

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7:00pm: Dinner at The Grand Buffet (Wan Chai, Queen's Rd E, 183 Hopewell Center, 62/F)

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Saturday, March 14, 2026 
(all sessions at the University of Hong Kong Campus, Run Run Shaw Tower, 4th Floor)
 

9:00-10:30am: Session 6

 

Panel 16: Ending and Continuing Slavery (Room 4.36)

  • “Western Indian Ocean Experience: Another Story of Abolition of Slavery and Slave Trade in the Age of Revolutions,” Hideaki Suzuki, National Museum of Ethnology, Japan

  • “Slave Catchers and Portraits,” Zara Anishanslin, University of Delaware

  • “Rice and Cotton in the Atlantic Amazon: Portuguese Reformism and the American Revolution in Northern Brazil,” Manoel Domingos Farias Rendeiro Neto, UC Davis

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Chair: Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, University of Southern California

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Panel 17: Material Cultures (Room 4.27)

  • “A Taste for Mahogany: French Decorative Arts and the Haitian Independence,” Emma Schwak, European University Institute, Florence

  • “Dressing the Diaspora Militant: Loyalist Uniforms and Loyalist Identity in the Revolutionary Atlantic,” Matthew Keagle, Fort Ticonderoga Museum

  • “Community and Material Objects: Philadelphia and the War at Home,” Kimberly Nath, San Juan College

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Chair: Evander Price, CUHK-Shenzhen

 

Panel 18: Global Microhistories (Room 4.35)

  • “Our Woman in Rotterdam: A Dutch Spy for the British Empire in 1776,” Kate Fullagar, Australian Catholic University

  • “Fugitive Slave, Loyalist Refugee, and Founding Father?: A Case for Expanding the Pantheon,” Gregory E. O’Malley, University of California Santa Cruz

  • “Kinship, Ethnicity and Scottish Merchants in Revolutionary Atlantic: The Case of Tunno Brothers,” Tao Wei, Soochow University

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Chair: Noah Shusterman, Chinese University of Hong Kong

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10:30-11:00am: Coffee/Tea Break (Room 4.30)

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11:00am-12:30pm: Session 7

 

Panel 19: Slave Trading & War (Room 4.36)

  • “Privateering as Human Trafficking: Slave Trading during the American Revolutionary War,” James Fichter, University of Hong Kong

  • “Sailing through the Age of Revolutions: The Portuguese and Brazilian Slave Trades between the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries,” Daniel B. Domingues da Silva, Rice University

  • “Imperial Crises and Indian Ocean Slaving,” Jane Hooper, George Mason University

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Chair: Steven Pincus, University of Chicago

 

Panel 20: Revolutionary Women (Room 4.35)

  • “Imperial Body Politics: Women and the Earliest Smallpox Vaccinations in the Spanish Empire (1803-1808),” Allyson M. Poska, University of Mary Washington

  • “On the Alert? Mary Wollstonecraft’s Other ‘Missing Silver Ship,’ [1794--2026]” Wayne Bodle, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

  • “Muted Acts in an Unshaken Asian Empire: Japanese Women and the Microhistories of Imperial Crisis, 1750–1850,” Wang Liyi, University of Amsterdam

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Chair: Staci Ford, University of Hong Kong

 

Panel 21: Porous Boundaries & Shifting Allegiances (Room 4.27)

  • “Appealing to Mariners and Islanders: Shared Grievances and Sympathies for Independence in the British Atlantic World,” Ross Michael Nedervelt, Massachusetts Historical Society

  • “A Yellow Fever Pandemic and the Politics of Permeable Borders,” Julia P. R. Mansfield, Villanova University

  • “Leaving an Empire to Foster Imperialism? The United States and the French Antilles, 1763-1800,” Éric Schnakenbourg, Nantes Université

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Chair: Malika Zehni, University of Hong Kong

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12:30-2:00pm Lunch at Bijas Restaurant, University of Hong Kong

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2:00- 5:00pm: Rest period​​

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5:00-6:00pm: Junk boat trip to Lamma Island. Meet at Pier 10 at Central Pier

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6:15-9:00pm: Dinner at Lamma Rainbow Seafood Restaurant, Lamma Island
 

9:00pm-10:00pm: Junk boat trip back to Central Pier.

Global 1776

501 Run Run Shaw Tower
Centennial Campus
University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam
Hong Kong, China

Tel: + 852 3917 2000
Fax: + 852 2548 0487
global76@hku.hk

© 2025 by the University of Hong Kong.

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