The Unit encourages the understanding of cross-cultural connections through the analysis of artefacts. It connects new research in the field of global history with curatorial practices in museum displays and exhibitions that in recent years have fostered a greater dialogue between Western and non-Western scholarship. It reflects critically on the meaning of art and collecting in the early modern period and the role played by the exchange of traded commodities in linkindg different areas of the world. It also considers the role of consumption and consumers in Asia, Europe and the Americas and the geography of the manufacturing of commodities destined to global markets.