Theme
What is global history and what purpose does it serve? How does the interaction between scales of analysis and engagement impact the way we do history? Does global history literally cover the globe? This course will address these and other questions from a cultural history perspective. Students will gain a toolkit for understanding and critically assessing the turn away from nation-centered ways of seeing history and think about how their own sources, which may seem very locally grounded, can nonetheless help address global questions by situating them in a broader framework. Global history is concerned with understanding how these broader frameworks as well as cross-border connections and movements of people, goods, and ideas have determined and shaped historical change at the local, regional, national, transnational, and global level.
Each session will last three hours: in the first part we will critically discuss the texts and the second part of the class will be devoted to exploring how students can work with these approaches in their own research.
Dates & times TBA – the course takes place in April/May 2025.
