Globalising History

Globalising History

 The global turn has rapidly gained ground within the historical discipline since the turn of the twenty-first century. A globalising approach recognises that ‘global history’ is not so much about writing the history of the entire globe, but about seeking to understand how people, places, and societies are shaped through their connections and interactions with other regions of the world. Focusing on border-crossing processes and trans-regional patterns, global history has challenged the idea that the nation-state is the natural unit within which historical developments take place. There are many sub-fields that make use of global historical approaches, including economic history and the study of global commodities; the history of migration and slavery; the history of science and the environment; the history of empires and anti-imperialism; labour history; the history of ideas, and even (global) microhistory. This week focuses on the development of a global historical methodology over the last three decades, looks at different types of global history, and considers what global history as a field of research looks like in different parts of the world.

Essential readings

Stefanie Gänger and Jürgen Osterhammel (eds.), Rethinking Global History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024), ‘Introduction: Rethinking History, Globally’, pp. 1-19.

Sven Beckert and Dominic Sachsenmaier (eds.), Global History, Globally: Research and Practice around the World (London: Bloomsbury, 2018), ‘Introduction’, pp. 1-18.

Yin Cao, ‘What is Global History Now in China?’, Global Intellectual History (2025), firstview. https://doi.org/10.1080/23801883.2025.2591940

Further Reading

Adelman, Jeremy, 'What is Global History Now?’, Aeon (2017). Online at https://aeon.co/essays/is-global-history-still-possible-or-has-it-had-its-moment

Belich, James, John Darwin, Margret Frentz, and Chris Wickham (eds.), The Prospect of Global History (Oxford: 2016).

Berg, Maxine (ed.), Writing the History of the Global: Challenges for the 21st Century (Oxford: 2013).

Conrad, Sebastian, What is Global History? (Princeton: 2016).

David, Thomas, Anne-Isabelle Richard, and Pierre Singaravélou, ‘Is Global History Global? Convergences and Inequalities’, Itinerario 47, no. 3 (2023): 365-376.

Davis, Natalie Zemon, ‘Decentering History: Local Stories and Cultural Crossings in a Global World’, History and Theory 50, no. 2 (2011): 188-202.

De Lima Grecco, Gabriela, and Sven Schuster, ‘Decolonizing Global History? A Latin American Perspective’, Journal of World History 31, no. 2 (2020): 425-466.

Drayton, Richard, and David Motadel, ‘Discussion: The Future of Global History’, Journal of Global History 13.1 (2018), pp. 1-21.

EUI Global History Seminar Group, ‘For a Fair(er) Global History’, Cromohs (2021). Online at https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/cromohs/FairHist

Fan, Xin, Global History in China (Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 2024).

Gänger, Stefanie, ‘Come a Long Way: The Global Historian’s Craft, Twenty Years On’, Journal of Global History 21, no. 3 (2026, forthcoming)

Ghobrial, John-Paul, ‘Moving Stories and What They Can Tell Us: Early Modern Mobility Between Microhistory and Global History’, Past and Present 242, Supplement 14 (2019), pp. 243-280.

Hunt, Lynn, Writing History in the Global Era (New York: 2014).

Motadel, David (ed.), Globalizing Europe: A History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025).

O’Brien, Patrick, ‘Historiographical Traditions and Modern Imperatives for the Restoration of Global History’, The Journal of Global History 1.1 (2006), pp. 3-39.

Pomeranz, Kenneth, The Great Divergence: Europe, China, and the Making of the Modern World Economy (Princeton: 2000).

Riello, Giorgio, ‘The “Material Turn” in World and Global History’, Journal of World History 33.2 (2022), 193-232.

Trivellato, Francesca, ‘The Paradoxes of Global History’, CROMOHS (2024), https://doi.org/10.36253/cromohs-15297

Stanziani, Alessandro, Eurocentrism and the Politics of Global History (Cham: Palgrace Macmillan, 2018).

Wenzlhuemer, Roland, ‘Dis:connectivity in Global History’, in Manfred B. Steger, Roland Benedikter, Harald Pechlaner, and Ingrid Kofler (eds.), Globalization: Past, Present, Future (Oakland)

Seminar/Essay Questions

·Which methods and approaches are used in global historical research?

·How has global history influenced the wider historical discipline?

·What does it mean for your research to consider your topic in global perspective?

·What is the importance of place and positionality for the practice of global history?

Gobbets