Shaping Workspaces with Religion in the Danish Atlantic, 1733-1807 (WORKSPACE)
Name of applicant
Bastian Felter Vaucanson
Title
Postdoctoral Fellow
Institution
Sorbonne Nouvelle
Amount
DKK 1,926,510
Year
2024
Type of grant
Reintegration Fellowships
What?
The project explores how religion shaped workspaces in the Danish Atlantic (1733-1807), focusing on a Caribbean sugar plantation and a Danish estate. It studies how religious practices influenced the organization of these spaces and how they were used by both the powerful and the oppressed to control or resist social structures.
Why?
Religion wasn’t just a spiritual practice but a tool of social control and resistance in historical work environments. By understanding its role in shaping workspaces, we can uncover how power, labor, and spiritual practices intertwined, giving us new insights into the lives of enslaved and enserfed individuals whose voices have been silenced in historical narratives.
How?
The project applies spatial analysis to study the Moravian plantation of Posaunenberg in St. Thomas and the Schimmelmann estate Hellebækgård in Northern Zealand. By comparing these spaces, the research will reveal how religion organized daily life, power relations, and subtle forms of resistance in these environments, shedding light on the complexity of religious influence on work.