Project information
Project title
From imperial markets to postcolonial networks: the Swedish match industry and the reconfiguration of global trade in South Asia, c. 1920–1970
Project manager
Eleonor Marcussen
Other project members
Niladri Chatterjee, Linnaeus University, John Hennessey, Örebro University
Participating organizations
Linnaeus University, Örebro University
Financier
The Swedish Research Council
Timetable
1 January 2026 – 31 December 2029
Subject
History (Department of Cultural Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Humanities)
Research group
The Research Cluster for Colonial Connections and Comparisons
Linnaeus University Centre (Lnuc)
Linnaeus University Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies
More about the project
The project will 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.
The project is carried out as part of the research in Linnaeus University Centre for Concurrences in Colonial and Postcolonial Studies and The Research Cluster for Colonial Connections and Comparisons
Current
Project team
