This conference will examine the nineteenth century as the first age of traffic: the intensification of empire, increased trade, communication, migration, travel, and mobility that irrevocably torqued local places into global spaces. Flows of goods, information, and people covered the surface of the earth, as “stately roads, easy and old” swallowed up Wordsworth’s footpaths and horse tracks, and “the wonderful city” supplanted Esther Summerson’s preferred “windmills, rick-yards, milestones, and farmers’ wagons.” Traffic connected villages, cities, regions, nations, and colonies in new-spun webs. At the same time, when traffic overflowed its channels, such enmeshment could lead to congestion, paralysis, and the sense of being stuck. We invite consideration of such movement, exchange, interaction, and transmission within the long nineteenth century.
For more information, please contact traffic2026ucr@gmail.com.