Problematizing Circulations: Categories at Work in Global History

Thanks to long-term funding from the JSPS Fund for the Promotion of Joint International Research (Fostering Joint International Research (B)19KK0015), the Global History and Culture Centre have collaborated with Professor Miki Sugiura of Hosei University (currently University of Antwerp) and a team of global historians based in Japan from 2019 to 2026.

The project successfully yielded a series of conferences, workshops and seminars, as well as co-written and individual publications, under three sub-projects:

A. Conference & Workshop Series: Categories at work in Global History

B. Co-writing Book Initiative: Japan in British East Africa, c.1919-1939

C. JSPS Japan-Warwick GHCC Seminars

The collaboration began with the overarching theme of ‘Problematizing Circulations’, aiming to reconsider dominant concepts in global history – such as ‘circulation’ or ‘entanglement’ – by linking them more effectively to the discussions of environment, culture and materiality. Thanks to support of the Global History Collaborative (GHC) led by Professor Haneda Masashi (The University of Tokyo), a preparatory conference, ‘Global Cultural Histories of Knowledge, Technological Transfers and Environment: An Initial Conversation’ was held in Warwick Venice in December 2018.

The collaboration progressed in 2019 to focus on Source Discussion, engaging directly with these research questions through case studies based on the historical sources used by individual members. This led to two concrete projects: First, a forum Categories at work in Global history, which hosted a series of workshops and lectures. Second, co-writing initiatives, in which several scholars work together to analyse the same source materials to produce joint publications. One such outcome, Japan in British East Africa, 1919-1939, is due to be submitted to a publisher in 2025. In addition, with the support of GHCC, individual Japanese members have been invited individually to present at JSPS Japan-Warwick seminars since 2020, fostering scholarly exchange.

At a glance

• Dates: 2019-2026
• Partner institutions:
  • JSPS (Japan Society for Promotion of Science) 19KK0015, Hosei University
  • Global History and Culture Centre, University of Warwick

• Participants: Maxine Berg, Michael Bycroft, Rebecca Earle, Robert Fletcher, Anne Gerritsen, Mariko Iijima, Kazuo Kobayashi, Fuyuko Matsukata, Guido van Meersbergen, Tomoko Morikawa, Shohei Okubo, Giorgio Riello, Ryuto Shimada, Miki Sugiura, Hideaki Suzuki, Koji Yamamoto and many others.