Global History
The Göttingen Platform for Global and Transregional Studies has a research emphasis on global historical scholarship. It particularly seeks to bring global historical approaches from different branches of historiography into constructive conversations with one another. It also encourages dialogues between historians and representatives of other fields across the humanities and social sciences. The platform seeks to foster active exchanges, and collaboration, between practitioners of global history from all over the world.
Thus far, two third party-funded projects have been affiliated with the Göttingen Platform of Global and Transregional Studies:
Modern Chinese History and its Global Entanglements
The platform research emphasis explores the encounter zone between the study of modern Chinese history on one side and transregional/ global history on the other side. This implies a complex spectrum of questions and a wealth of case studies which need to be conducted in the future. For instance, historians do not sufficiently understand the complex dynamics between shifting regional orders and global orders (whether they were political, ideological, economical or cultural) within which China and its provinces were engaged in. Comparatively little work has also thus far been done on the study of transfers, exchanges and entanglements between modern China and many world regions outside of the Global North. Part of the exlorations of such entanglements was the conference “Conceptions of the World in Twentieth-Centrury Chinese Historiography” which was held in 2017.
One strong aspect of this research emphasis is an Anneliese Maier Research Award granted to Prof. Wang Hui by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Prof. Wang (Tsinghua University) is an internationally renowned scholar in the fields of literature and history; in recent years he has become increasingly interested in global historical perspectives. The grant will sponsor a collaboration between the Götttingen Global and Transregional Studies Platform and Wang Hui, from 2018 until 2022. On the Göttingen side, the main collaborator is Prof. Dominic Sachsenmaier.
A Global Network for Global History
“A Global Network for Global History”, which is headed by Prof. Ravi Ahuja and funded by the Volkswagen Foundation (2015-2018), in cooperation with the International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam) and the Weatherhead Initiative on Global History (Harvard).
With a member on every continent, the Network embeds the study of global history in a collaboration of like-minded institutions around the globe. Global history, or the analysis of the interconnections—cultural, economic, ecological and demographic—among world societies, is a one of the most important developments in the field of historiography today. Global history is in fact a global activity, and the network hopes to play a key role in helping to shape this cooperative endeavor.
For more information, see here.
