A potato shows signs of the disease called blight. Nigel Cattin slash Alamy. Padraic X. Scanlan Associate Professor, History and Center for Industrial Relations, University of Toronto presents backslash backslash backslash backslash backslash backslash backslash “Rot: Appetite and Political Economy in Ireland before the Famine backslash backslash backslash backslash backslash backslash backslash “ Abstract: On the eve of the Great Famine ( 1845-1851 ) , British commentators speculated about the apparently limitless, even freakish appetites of the poorest Irish rural laborers for potatoes. Potatoes were more than a staple for the Irish poor; millions subsisted on potatoes, and virtually nothing else. To many officials and political economists, this total dependence on potatoes symbolized Ireland backslash backslash backslash backslash backslash backslash backslash ’s antiquity. The Irish, by these lights, were an atavism in the modern United Kingdom, a people from another time who needed to be brought into the economic present, through land reform, labor discipline, and the dynamic energy of English capital. In reality, the potato made possible an endless squeeze on Irish laborers to produce crops for export, mostly to England and Scotland. Rather than insulating Ireland from the risks of nineteenth-century global capitalism, the potato economy left the very poorest workers in the United Kingdom exquisitely vulnerable to the perils of the market. Banner for Material plus Visual Worlds TAE features guest Padraic X. Scanlan - Lecture 6 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 9, Workshop Friday, Oct. 10

Material+Visual Worlds TAE features guest Padraic X. Scanlan - Lecture 6 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 9, Workshop Friday, Oct. 10

by Transdisciplinary Areas of Excellence

Speaker / Lecture Academic BU Scholars*- Diversity & Cultur... BU Scholars*- Intellectual Curio... Diversity/Cultural International Literature Political Research

Wed, Oct 8, 2025 11:55 PM –

Fri, Oct 10, 2025 2:00 PM EDT (GMT-4)

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6 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 9, in AA 340; noon on Friday, Oct. 10 in FA 218

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A potato shows signs of the disease called blight. Nigel Cattin slash Alamy. Padraic X. Scanlan Associate Professor, History and Center for Industrial Relations, University of Toronto presents backslash backslash backslash backslash backslash backslash backslash “Rot: Appetite and Political Economy in Ireland before the Famine backslash backslash backslash backslash backslash backslash backslash “ Abstract: On the eve of the Great Famine ( 1845-1851 ) , British commentators speculated about the apparently limitless, even freakish appetites of the poorest Irish rural laborers for potatoes. Potatoes were more than a staple for the Irish poor; millions subsisted on potatoes, and virtually nothing else. To many officials and political economists, this total dependence on potatoes symbolized Ireland backslash backslash backslash backslash backslash backslash backslash ’s antiquity. The Irish, by these lights, were an atavism in the modern United Kingdom, a people from another time who needed to be brought into the economic present, through land reform, labor discipline, and the dynamic energy of English capital. In reality, the potato made possible an endless squeeze on Irish laborers to produce crops for export, mostly to England and Scotland. Rather than insulating Ireland from the risks of nineteenth-century global capitalism, the potato economy left the very poorest workers in the United Kingdom exquisitely vulnerable to the perils of the market. Flyer for Material plus Visual Worlds TAE features guest Padraic X. Scanlan - Lecture 6 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 9, Workshop Friday, Oct. 10
The Material+Visual Worlds Transdisciplinary Area of Excellence welcomes Padraic X. Scanlan, of the University of Toronto, at 6 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 9, in AA 340. Scanlan's lecture, "Rot: Appetite and Political Economy in Ireland before the Famine," addresses the role of the potato economy in the Great Famine of the mid-nineteenth century.

At noon on Friday, Oct. 10, Scanlan will participate in a lunchtime workshop in FA 218. The group will be discussing a draft chapter from his forthcoming book, "Steam", a cultural and social history of industrial and imperial Britain in the first half of the 19th century.

For More Information:
Contact Tom McDonough tmcdonou@binghamton.edu, chair of M+VW-TAE or visit https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jjj0QzkJFutAlLsrYjaa8BpbGCYDUPun/view?usp=sharing

File Attachments: PadraicScanlanlecture_Rotpotatofamine_09OCT2025AA340

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Tom McDonough

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