From Imperial Markets to Postcolonial Networks: The Swedish Match Industry and the Reconfiguration of Global Trade in South Asia, c. 1920–1970

Eleonor Marcussen, Niladri Chatterjee and John Hennessey have received funding from The Swedish Research Council to conduct a three-year research project titled From Imperial Markets to Postcolonial Networks: The Swedish Match Industry and the Reconfiguration of Global Trade in South Asia, c. 1920–1970.

The purpose of the project is to explore the role of the Swedish match industry in India 1920‒1970, examining how businesses based in non-imperial countries operated within colonial and postcolonial economies. It aims to understand business strategies in adapting to British colonial policies, Indian nationalist resistance, and post-independence economic reforms. The study challenges traditional imperial-colonial perspectives by highlighting the complex role of non-imperial actors in global economic history.

The project has three main aims: (1) how the Swedish match navigated trade policies and competition from British and Japanese firms, (2) how Indian nationalist movements responded to Swedish business operations, and (3) the impact of Swedish investments on India’s labor market, industrial technology, and local economic development. The project involves a multilingual team of three historians specializing in South Asian, Nordic, and Japanese colonial histories who will be able to combine and analysis of archival material from Sweden, India, Japan, and Britain for the first time.

By providing new insights into colonial and postcolonial economic interactions, this research enhances our understanding of globalization, economic nationalism, and Nordic involvement in imperial markets. It contributes to debates on the historical role of non-imperial enterprises in shaping global trade and industry.