Course Summer School in Global History

Description:

Global History today forms a vibrant field of research. It explores how societies in different parts of the world were shaped by global entanglements and reveals that globalization is by no means a new phenomenon but has a history that goes well back until the Early Modern period. It involves historical processes such as European expansion and imperialism on the one hand, but also the ways European societies have been influenced by influx of ideas, raw materials, plants, animals and peoples from other continents. Theoretically, the field has been recently enriched by conceptualizations of for example the Anthropocene or the planetary perspective. To put it short, global history argues that we cannot understand the birth of our contemporary world without historically examining transregional interaction. 

PhD sudents face several challenges though when they wish to undertake a research project with a global historical trajectory. For instance, they are confronted with the fact that global history overlaps with different fields of research such as imperial and transnational history, postcolonial studies and area studies, each of which aims at overcoming methodological nationalism and Eurocentric notions of progress but involves a specific historiography and research paradigms that often contradict each other. What is more, global entanglements have a different significance depending on the historical period that is examined and depending on the positionality from which global entanglements are explored. Last but not least, students in global history are confronted with very specific challenges such as the accessibility of sources in overseas archives, language problems and the question how many different parts of the world they have to integrate into their research in order to make a global historical argument. 

The 2022 Summer School in Global History is organized by a network of established scholars from the fields of global, imperial and transnational history as well as area studies coming from six leading European research universities (Aarhus, Bern, King's College London, Oslo, Paris and Tübingen). It will focus on the theme of Transforamtive Connectivity, i.e. on the transformations that global entanglements provoked in different societies across the globe on the one hand and the ways actors and institutions which established these entanglements were in turn shaped by such processes of globalization.

Aim:

The Summer School will give Phd students give the opportunity to present their projects and to discuss them with peers and senior scholars. It will provide them with a general overview on  global history and make them familiar with recent developments in the field. The fact that lecturers and peers come from six different European countries provides a unique possibility for students to get to know different historical approaches and historiographic traditions. Participants can begin to establish international networks with both established scholars and peers, which will be an important help in their future career, both within academia and in non-academic professions.

Literature:

The senior scholars holding the course will compile a list of fundamental historiography of the field of global history addressing a) theories of the global and history, b) methodology, c) challenges. 

Target group:

Primarily, this course is designed for PhD candidates in Denmark and Europe, but young researchers from other parts of the world are just as welcome. The course is relevant for all levels of the PhD process. Early stage projects profit from the breadth of literature and the general overview of the field. More mature projects profit from the expertise of the senior scholars and the discussion with international peers. 

Form:

The course takes the shape of working groups and panel discussions in which participants are asked to present and discuss their research. Each participant acts also as discussant of another paper. Senior scholars give feedback on every paper submitted as well. Each paper is thus discussed by a junior and a senior scholar. 
Senior participants also act as panelists. 
All participating senior scholars will be present and active throughout the whole course. This constant presence of senior researchers from six leading research universities is a special feature of the course. 
PhD candidates are asked to prepare a significant amount of reading, an 8-10 pages long paper, a presentation of their research and the discussion of another project. 

Lecturers:

Coeuré, Sophie (sophie.coeure@u-paris.fr)
Dejung, Christof (christof.dejung@unibe.ch)
Grewe, Bernd (bernd.grewe@uni-tuebingen.de)
Maul, Daniel (daniel.maul@iakh.uio.no)
Schulz-Forberg, Hagen (hishsf@cas.au.dk)
Stockwell, Sarah (Sarah.stockwell@kcl.ac.uk)

Venue:

Sandbjerg Gods, Sandbjergvej 102, 6400 Sønderborg

This Summer School is an initiative of global historians, whose universities are related via The Guild and Circle U associations. They come from: 
- Aarhus University
- Berne University
- King's College London
- University of Oslo
- Université Paris Cité
- University of Tübingen

Course dates:

• 08 June 2022 08:30 - 18:00
• 09 June 2022 09:30 - 18:00
• 10 June 2022 09:30 - 18:00
• 11 June 2022 09:30 - 15:00