Consumer Boycotts as Female Ethics, 1800-1990

• Applicant: Privatdozentin Dr. Kerstin von Lingen
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2018 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 397563763

Consumer boycotts, especially of food and supported by mass movements, are perceived to be a powerful ethical tool to achieve goals to change behavior by destabilizing existing moral orders and practices. The anti-apartheid movement which banned fruit from South Africa since 1959 until the collapse of the regime is a powerful example, the late 19th century campaign to boycott feathers from Paradise birds from Indonesia used for decorating hats another. It is less known that the method of boycotting certain consumer goods has been successfully applied already in the early 19th century in Britain, for example on sugar and coffee. What is even more striking is the fact that both protest movements emerged with radical-protestant groups, and to be more precise, from their female branches.This project, drawing from global history, anthropological as well as gender studies perspectives, focuses in particular on analyzing female modes of protest, and asks how they triggered the boycott to destabilize the existing global economic order linking Asia and Europe. It argues that women’s activism played a crucial role in inaugurating new forms of ethical politics in the 19th century by developing consumer boycott as a powerful tool.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants