Maxine Berg (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265321
- eISBN:
- 9780191760495
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265321.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
This book brings together a number of the major historians now entering the field, and rethinking the way they write their histories. The book includes the reflections of China experts, historians of ...
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This book brings together a number of the major historians now entering the field, and rethinking the way they write their histories. The book includes the reflections of China experts, historians of India and Japan, of Latin America, Africa, and Europe on their past writing, and the new directions in which global history is taking them. The book shows the rapid advances in the field from early and inspiring questions of encounters between East and West, of the wealth and poverty of nations — why are we so rich and they so poor? — and the crisis of empires to new thinking on global material cultures, on composite zones and East Asian development paths. It presents historians at a crossroads: enjoying the great excitement of moving out of national borders and reconnecting parts of the world once studied separately, but also facing the huge challenge of new methodologies of comparison, collaboration and interdisciplinarity, and the problems of the rapidly disappearing tools of foreign languages.Less
This book brings together a number of the major historians now entering the field, and rethinking the way they write their histories. The book includes the reflections of China experts, historians of India and Japan, of Latin America, Africa, and Europe on their past writing, and the new directions in which global history is taking them. The book shows the rapid advances in the field from early and inspiring questions of encounters between East and West, of the wealth and poverty of nations — why are we so rich and they so poor? — and the crisis of empires to new thinking on global material cultures, on composite zones and East Asian development paths. It presents historians at a crossroads: enjoying the great excitement of moving out of national borders and reconnecting parts of the world once studied separately, but also facing the huge challenge of new methodologies of comparison, collaboration and interdisciplinarity, and the problems of the rapidly disappearing tools of foreign languages.
Mike Rapport
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265383
- eISBN:
- 9780191760433
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265383.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
In recent years, historians have become increasingly drawn to consider what were once thought of as national problems in a global context. This chapter is inspired by that approach and seeks to ...
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In recent years, historians have become increasingly drawn to consider what were once thought of as national problems in a global context. This chapter is inspired by that approach and seeks to analyse the interaction between the crisis in mainland France and that being experienced by the French colonies in India. The crisis in India directly affected French imperial and commercial aspirations: the circumstances on the subcontinent show how the relationship between the crises around the world overlapped and affected each other, and not necessarily in a single direction emanating from Europe. India was one of the absolute monarchy's greatest lost opportunities for the triumphant assertion of imperial power and for the economic and fiscal rewards which empire and trade might have brought.Less
In recent years, historians have become increasingly drawn to consider what were once thought of as national problems in a global context. This chapter is inspired by that approach and seeks to analyse the interaction between the crisis in mainland France and that being experienced by the French colonies in India. The crisis in India directly affected French imperial and commercial aspirations: the circumstances on the subcontinent show how the relationship between the crises around the world overlapped and affected each other, and not necessarily in a single direction emanating from Europe. India was one of the absolute monarchy's greatest lost opportunities for the triumphant assertion of imperial power and for the economic and fiscal rewards which empire and trade might have brought.
Alan Mikhail (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199768677
- eISBN:
- 9780199979608
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199768677.003.0012
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This chapter introduces the field of Middle East environmental history. It begins by discussing an older geophysical and biological literature that has set the stage for this book. It then points to ...
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This chapter introduces the field of Middle East environmental history. It begins by discussing an older geophysical and biological literature that has set the stage for this book. It then points to what global environmental historians stand to gain from a consideration of the Middle East and North Africa's ecological past: knowledge of how one of the central regions of Eurasian history fits into global patterns of trade and commerce, the ability to test out theories of environmental change in a region that affords one of the longest documentary records of any on earth, and an understanding of how the cultural traditions of the Middle East and North Africa engaged with nature and environmental processes. This chapter then takes the opposite perspective to explain how Middle East Studies can benefit from adopting some of the methodologies of environmental history. The benefits include breaking out of traditional understandings of periodization and geographic demarcation; including new actors in the historiography of the field; and thinking in new ways about major debates in Middle East Studies, such as imperial decline in the early modern period or the politics of oil in the twentieth century.Less
This chapter introduces the field of Middle East environmental history. It begins by discussing an older geophysical and biological literature that has set the stage for this book. It then points to what global environmental historians stand to gain from a consideration of the Middle East and North Africa's ecological past: knowledge of how one of the central regions of Eurasian history fits into global patterns of trade and commerce, the ability to test out theories of environmental change in a region that affords one of the longest documentary records of any on earth, and an understanding of how the cultural traditions of the Middle East and North Africa engaged with nature and environmental processes. This chapter then takes the opposite perspective to explain how Middle East Studies can benefit from adopting some of the methodologies of environmental history. The benefits include breaking out of traditional understandings of periodization and geographic demarcation; including new actors in the historiography of the field; and thinking in new ways about major debates in Middle East Studies, such as imperial decline in the early modern period or the politics of oil in the twentieth century.
D. R. M. Irving
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195378269
- eISBN:
- 9780199864614
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195378269.003.0010
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music
This chapter emphasizes the importance of looking beyond the geocultural boundaries of Europe in the writing of music history. It calls for a neostructuralist approach to global music histories, one ...
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This chapter emphasizes the importance of looking beyond the geocultural boundaries of Europe in the writing of music history. It calls for a neostructuralist approach to global music histories, one that seeks to transcend the incommensurabilities of distinct (and seemingly irreconcilable) musical cultures within colonial contexts by reading sources contrapuntally and analyzing them with reference to macro‐historical frameworks. The conclusion goes on to summarize the main arguments of the book, and reiterates the proposal that European musical counterpoint mirrored many of the objectives of early modern imperialism, in terms of attempting to rationalize sound and society. Yet it also acknowledges that the thesis, antithesis, and synthesis embodied in colonial counterpoint can be subjected to more nuanced interpretations, and that contrapuntal structures could be inverted and subverted by subaltern societies.Less
This chapter emphasizes the importance of looking beyond the geocultural boundaries of Europe in the writing of music history. It calls for a neostructuralist approach to global music histories, one that seeks to transcend the incommensurabilities of distinct (and seemingly irreconcilable) musical cultures within colonial contexts by reading sources contrapuntally and analyzing them with reference to macro‐historical frameworks. The conclusion goes on to summarize the main arguments of the book, and reiterates the proposal that European musical counterpoint mirrored many of the objectives of early modern imperialism, in terms of attempting to rationalize sound and society. Yet it also acknowledges that the thesis, antithesis, and synthesis embodied in colonial counterpoint can be subjected to more nuanced interpretations, and that contrapuntal structures could be inverted and subverted by subaltern societies.
Charles Bright and Michael Geyer
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520230576
- eISBN:
- 9780520936034
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520230576.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter speculates the global context and tries to locate the history of the United States within it. It explains that one should be careful not to absorb national history into global history, ...
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This chapter speculates the global context and tries to locate the history of the United States within it. It explains that one should be careful not to absorb national history into global history, which is not universal, totalizing, and complete. The discussion focuses on three historical organizations of American sovereignty. It studies the centrality of the production of a sovereign territory during the nineteenth century, the partial deterritorialization of civil society since the Second World War, and the extension of production territory in the industrial area.Less
This chapter speculates the global context and tries to locate the history of the United States within it. It explains that one should be careful not to absorb national history into global history, which is not universal, totalizing, and complete. The discussion focuses on three historical organizations of American sovereignty. It studies the centrality of the production of a sovereign territory during the nineteenth century, the partial deterritorialization of civil society since the Second World War, and the extension of production territory in the industrial area.
J. R. McNeill
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199768677
- eISBN:
- 9780199979608
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199768677.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This chapter is a global and comparative analysis of the Middle East and North Africa's environmental history. It argues that three distinct features—termed “eccentricities"—help to explain the ...
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This chapter is a global and comparative analysis of the Middle East and North Africa's environmental history. It argues that three distinct features—termed “eccentricities"—help to explain the particular environmental history of the region. These eccentricities are in the realms of water, grass, and energy. The eccentricities of the Middle East and North Africa with respect to water include both the obvious shortage of fresh water in much of the region, and the less-noticed distinct and beneficial geography of saltwater seas, gulfs, and bays. The eccentricity of grass in the region derives mainly from the fact that grasslands exist in a complex quilt pattern rather than in huge expanses. Finally, the eccentricities of energy in the Middle East and North Africa reside in the region's long reliance on biomass and animals, its minimal resort to coal, and its near-total refashioning in the age of cheap oil.Less
This chapter is a global and comparative analysis of the Middle East and North Africa's environmental history. It argues that three distinct features—termed “eccentricities"—help to explain the particular environmental history of the region. These eccentricities are in the realms of water, grass, and energy. The eccentricities of the Middle East and North Africa with respect to water include both the obvious shortage of fresh water in much of the region, and the less-noticed distinct and beneficial geography of saltwater seas, gulfs, and bays. The eccentricity of grass in the region derives mainly from the fact that grasslands exist in a complex quilt pattern rather than in huge expanses. Finally, the eccentricities of energy in the Middle East and North Africa reside in the region's long reliance on biomass and animals, its minimal resort to coal, and its near-total refashioning in the age of cheap oil.
Alan Mikhail (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199768677
- eISBN:
- 9780199979608
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199768677.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This book is a holistic environmental history of the Middle East and North Africa over the last half millennium. It shows how the intimate connections between peoples and environments shaped ...
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This book is a holistic environmental history of the Middle East and North Africa over the last half millennium. It shows how the intimate connections between peoples and environments shaped political, economic, and social history in startling and often unforeseen ways. Nearly all political powers in the region based their rule on the management and control of natural resources, and nearly all individuals were in constant communion with the natural world. To grasp how these multiple histories were central to the pasts of the Middle East and North Africa, the chapters in this book demonstrate the power of environmental history to open up new avenues of historical research and understanding. The book furthermore traces how the Middle East and North Africa deeply affected the global histories of climate, disease, trade, energy, environmental politics, ecological manipulation, and much more. At the intersection of three continents and as many seas, the Middle East and North Africa have been central to world history for millennia. Studying the ecological implications of these global connections, both for the region itself and for the rest of the world, helps bring the Middle East and North Africa into global history and shows how the region must be an essential part of any understanding of the environments of Eurasia over the last five hundred years.Less
This book is a holistic environmental history of the Middle East and North Africa over the last half millennium. It shows how the intimate connections between peoples and environments shaped political, economic, and social history in startling and often unforeseen ways. Nearly all political powers in the region based their rule on the management and control of natural resources, and nearly all individuals were in constant communion with the natural world. To grasp how these multiple histories were central to the pasts of the Middle East and North Africa, the chapters in this book demonstrate the power of environmental history to open up new avenues of historical research and understanding. The book furthermore traces how the Middle East and North Africa deeply affected the global histories of climate, disease, trade, energy, environmental politics, ecological manipulation, and much more. At the intersection of three continents and as many seas, the Middle East and North Africa have been central to world history for millennia. Studying the ecological implications of these global connections, both for the region itself and for the rest of the world, helps bring the Middle East and North Africa into global history and shows how the region must be an essential part of any understanding of the environments of Eurasia over the last five hundred years.
Deirdre de la Cruz
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226314884
- eISBN:
- 9780226315072
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226315072.003.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Religion
In addition to providing an overview of the book’s chapters, the Introduction discusses what is signaled by the adoption and circulation of the generic terms “Marian” and “Marianism” in the modern ...
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In addition to providing an overview of the book’s chapters, the Introduction discusses what is signaled by the adoption and circulation of the generic terms “Marian” and “Marianism” in the modern Philippines. It asks: What are the underlying philosophical and theological presuppositions of these terms that prioritize the universal over the local and particular? What are the implications of these terms for religious subjectivity? What is suggested by the act that the term is in English, in contrast to the many titles of Mary that have historically linked her to a specific place whose name is often in the local vernacular and whose sacredness is understood to be geographically bound? To answer these questions points to transformations in ideas about divine presence, community, representation, and potency among Filipino Catholics who espouse these terms. It also draws the history of Filipino Marianism into the global history known in Catholic circles as the “Age of Mary.”Less
In addition to providing an overview of the book’s chapters, the Introduction discusses what is signaled by the adoption and circulation of the generic terms “Marian” and “Marianism” in the modern Philippines. It asks: What are the underlying philosophical and theological presuppositions of these terms that prioritize the universal over the local and particular? What are the implications of these terms for religious subjectivity? What is suggested by the act that the term is in English, in contrast to the many titles of Mary that have historically linked her to a specific place whose name is often in the local vernacular and whose sacredness is understood to be geographically bound? To answer these questions points to transformations in ideas about divine presence, community, representation, and potency among Filipino Catholics who espouse these terms. It also draws the history of Filipino Marianism into the global history known in Catholic circles as the “Age of Mary.”
Jürgen Osterhammel
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198732259
- eISBN:
- 9780191796562
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198732259.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
This chapter argues that global history is not a self-contained field but one in need of theoretical and terminological support from various parts of the systematic social sciences. A strong ...
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This chapter argues that global history is not a self-contained field but one in need of theoretical and terminological support from various parts of the systematic social sciences. A strong candidate for conceptual inputs is historical sociology—an old discourse that originated with the founding fathers of sociology and can in turn profit from a close attachment to global history. Different kinds of global history require their respective conceptual tools many of which can be provided by a historical sociology that keeps a balance between the richness of anthropological description and the formalism of network analysis. A particularly fruitful topic of mutual interest is that of time and temporalities.Less
This chapter argues that global history is not a self-contained field but one in need of theoretical and terminological support from various parts of the systematic social sciences. A strong candidate for conceptual inputs is historical sociology—an old discourse that originated with the founding fathers of sociology and can in turn profit from a close attachment to global history. Different kinds of global history require their respective conceptual tools many of which can be provided by a historical sociology that keeps a balance between the richness of anthropological description and the formalism of network analysis. A particularly fruitful topic of mutual interest is that of time and temporalities.
Shruti Kapila
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199769230
- eISBN:
- 9780199388875
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199769230.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas, European Modern History
In specifying the global as a historical and philosophical condition of the twentieth century, this essay situates India as methodologically instructive for the study of major political concepts ...
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In specifying the global as a historical and philosophical condition of the twentieth century, this essay situates India as methodologically instructive for the study of major political concepts ranging from liberalism to democracy. The centrality of conflict and rupture as productive for political projects of the twentieth century is emphasized in relation to current metaphors and methods of global history, be they circulation and exchange or dialogue and dissent. The primacy of the political, in the Indian context, is elaborated in relation to the ethical and the social encompassing issues of violence and nonviolence. The parting with history conditioned the ideological innovation of twentieth-century India that radically reappraised, as it rejected, inherited political vocabularies of liberty, equality, and fraternity. Precisely because it was without precedent, this essay argues, agonism appeared as the enduring form of the world’s largest democracy.Less
In specifying the global as a historical and philosophical condition of the twentieth century, this essay situates India as methodologically instructive for the study of major political concepts ranging from liberalism to democracy. The centrality of conflict and rupture as productive for political projects of the twentieth century is emphasized in relation to current metaphors and methods of global history, be they circulation and exchange or dialogue and dissent. The primacy of the political, in the Indian context, is elaborated in relation to the ethical and the social encompassing issues of violence and nonviolence. The parting with history conditioned the ideological innovation of twentieth-century India that radically reappraised, as it rejected, inherited political vocabularies of liberty, equality, and fraternity. Precisely because it was without precedent, this essay argues, agonism appeared as the enduring form of the world’s largest democracy.
