Uploaded September 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Karl Marx has defined commodities as congealed labor-time. True enough, but where is nature and more specifically, the sardine in this equation? In this talk, Prof. Ulf Brunnbauer will explore the histories conserved in one of the most ubiquitous, mundane, and affordable food stuffs, the canned sardine. Starting from a case study in Istria (nowadays Croatia), he will discuss relations between labor, environment, and political change manifest in sardine cans since the late 19th century up until today. How did, for example, recurrent border changes affect a local industry that depended on transnational supply and marketing networks? As Prof. Brunnbauer will try to show, this small story is part of a bigger one: the significance of cheap labor, cheap nature, and cheap food for capitalism and globalization. He will conclude with comparative observations on the fate of this industry in other places, such as California and Portugal, showing that the “mala plava riba” (small blue fish) is a seismograph of what is happening in the world. In the Adriatic, its days are counted because of rising sea temperature levels and with them of a traditional industry, that has withstood regime changes but will unlikely survive climate change.
Karl Marx has defined commodities as congealed labor-time. True enough, but where is nature and more specifically, the sardine in this equation? In this talk, Prof. Ulf Brunnbauer will explore the histories conserved in one of the most ubiquitous, mundane, and affordable food stuffs, the canned sardine. Starting from a case study in Istria (nowadays Croatia), he will discuss relations between labor, environment, and political change manifest in sardine cans since the late 19th century up until today. How did, for example, recurrent border changes affect a local industry that depended on transnational supply and marketing networks? As Prof. Brunnbauer will try to show, this small story is part of a bigger one: the significance of cheap labor, cheap nature, and cheap food for capitalism and globalization. He will conclude with comparative observations on the fate of this industry in other places, such as California and Portugal, showing that the “mala plava riba” (small blue fish) is a seismograph of what is happening in the world. In the Adriatic, its days are counted because of rising sea temperature levels and with them of a traditional industry, that has withstood regime changes but will unlikely survive climate change.
