Studying history or other subjects in humanities is often a lonely pursuit. With this workshop we want to try out a new way of collaborating using online technology and crowdsourcing. We hope to open debates and to pool and generate knowledge on (in this case) late eighteenth century West Africa, the history of slavery and anti-slavery, travel writing, colonialism, West African History and other related topics.

The available digital version of Two Voyages to Sierra Leone, a collection published letters written by Anna Maria Falconbridge, allows participants to add to the text (see instructions below for details). We are welcoming a broad range of questions, comments, links, references, and reflections. Shortly before the seminar (on the 23rd of January) we will look over the comments with aim to identify themes we can discuss further at the seminar. The seminar will be chaired by Professor Deirdre Coleman, Institute for Advanced Studies Fellow, who has used Falconbridge’s letters extensively in her research.

Coleman’s instruction to Maiden Voyages and Infant Colonies, in which the whole of Falconbridge´s account is reprinted, provides an excellent introduction to the diaries (see Resource Page for a scanned copy of pp. 1-42). If you have any other resources you want to make accessible to all participants prior to the workshop you are very welcome to email them to David Lambert or Hanna Hodacs, and we will put them up on the resource page.

Instructions on how to use crocodoc

Since this is the first time we organised this type of event we are very open-minded about how to do it. We hope sharing a source and related resources will allow us to have a more in-depth but also interlinked discussion of different topics. Crocodoc, the software we are using, allows you to comment, draw and add text boxes, we encourage you to use only these functions (and not the highlight and the strikeout ones).

We encourage you think how others might understand your notes, you might want to add more details and explanations for the sake of clarity. Asking questions, even of a very simple kind, might be a very efficient way of promoting worthwhile discussions.

As an example, in Letter VIII page 52, Falconbridge mentions “the Botanist” and “mineralist” employed by the Sierra Leone Company. My question here is the following:

“The “Botanist” in question is Adam Afzelius, a Swedish student of Linnaeus. Him and the “mineralist” (August Nordenskiöld) were both members of the Swedenborg group in London. I am curious about the relation between the Sierra Leone Company and the Bullama Settlement, with it’s distinct Swedenborg connection. In which respect did it matter to the Sierra Leone Company that Nordenskiöld and Afzelius were followers of Swedenborg?

Note, the software Crocodoc, has a tendency to log you in as a new user every time. This means you are likely not to be able to erase old comments you made! At the moment we can do nothing about this. We recommend you to use the same username (preferably your surname and an initial) every time you comment or respond to comments, this way it will be easier to keep track of the discussions.