From: umtoewsr@cc.UManitoba.CA (umtoewsr@merak.cc.umanitoba.ca [130.179.16.10]) by ; Fri, 13 Nov 1998 13:06:33 -0600 (CST) Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 13:06:33 -0600 (CST) To: wsn@csf.colorado.edu Subject: inquiry regarding world history historiography Hello, I just joined the list and I am trying to gain some info regarding a historiographical paper that I have to do. This is my first time on one of these lists so I hope I'm not breaking any listserve taboos by posting an undergrad inquiry. I am a history / political studies student at the University of Manitoba. I have to do a historiographical paper for a historical methods class. As my focus has been world history and global political economy I thought that world history would be an appropriate topic. Allow me to explain ... the purpose of the assignment is to write a historiographical paper on a particular subject. As it is important not to ignore relevant sources, the topic has to be narrowly defined so that the historiography is manageable. Since simply doing a review of the writing of world history is far too broad I have thought of a few ways of narrowing it down. First, I would like to focus on world histories that offer a particular theory for world historical development ie in their interpretation of world history they see particular patterns, processes, dynamics, laws that have a global application as opposed to histories that see world history as nothing more than a collection of distinct local histories. I am also looking for sources whose interpretation would also not be limited to a particular era or region but would encompass all human history. I still haven't figured out exactly how to say this. I hope it makes sense. Some examples. I see Stavrianos's "Lifelines from our past" as relevant as he divides history into three periods, each with its own dynamic. In each epoch, the development of the next epoch becomes necessary as a result of particular historical processes. (I hope I am representing his arguments correctly. I have not read his book in over a year). Francis Fukuyama may also be appropriate as he argues that human history culminates in the triumph of liberal democracy. first year world history texts, with their focus on the histories of different regions and time periods, and with the absence of any unifying/cohesive theory being offered, (a more "factual" approach to world history) would be innappropriate. Gabriel Kolko's anatomy of a war is also innappropriate because although it is a global history of the vietnam war its analysis is specific to a particular period within the twentieth century as a opposed to human history as a whole. I am under the impression that if I choose sources that tackle human history in its entirety, there will be fewer sources that I will have to use. Second, I will only be looking at sources that are after 1989. The reason for this is that I see the Cold War as a turning point and it is an easy way to reduce the material that I will review. How do academics from a vantage point in the post cold war world perceive all prior human history? This distinction may not be a truly legitimate one to make (I'm not in a position to know) but it is a useful one as it reduces the material to review, and it is one I can make an argument for. As I do more reading and gain a better understanding of the approaches that different world historians take I hope to be able to refine and narrow down the focus of the paper further. I have included a bibliography in this email. The bibliography I have included is of sources that may be relevant to my topic. I have not had a chance to go through them all and there are a few on the list that I have already discarded. The questions I would have for you are these, 1) does this topic sound feasible 2) do you have any suggestions about how I may go about doing this, defining my topic more clearly, and narrowing the focus further 3) what sources should I be using that I have not included in my bibliography thanks and sorry for the length, Ryan Toews Bibliography Books Braudel, Fernand, A History of Civilizations, 1993. Chomsky, Noam, World Orders, Old and New, 1996. Costello, Paul, World Historians and Their Goals: Twentieth Century Answers to Modernism, 1993. Chase Dunn, Christopher and Hall Thomas, Rise and Demise; Comparing WOrld Systems. 1997 Frank, Andre Gunder, and Gills, Barry, The World System: Five hundred years or Five Thousand ------ ReOrient 1998 Fukuyama, Francis, The End of History and the Last Man, 1992. Gellner, Ernest, Plough, Sword, and Book: The Structure of Human History, 1989. Goudsblom, Johan, Jones, Eric, Mennell, Stephen, The Course of Human History, Economic Growth, Social Process and Civilization 1996 Gran, Peter, Beyond Eurocentrism: A new view of Modern World History, 1996 Hodgson, Marshall, Rethinking World History: Essays on Europe, Islam, and World History, 1993 Huntington, Samuel, The Clash Of Civilizations and the Making of a World Order, 1996. Lamb, H.H, Climate, History, and the Modern World, 1995 Matossin, Mary Kilbourne, Shaping World History, 1997. Modelski, George From Leadership to Organization: the evolution of Global Politics McNeill, William A World History, 1998. Prazniak Roxann, Dialogues across Civilization, sketches in world, essays in world History Sanderson, Stephen, Civilizations and World Systems: Studying World-Historical Change, 1995 Snooks, Graeme Donald, The Dynamic Society:Exploring the Sources of Global Change, 1996 Spier, Fred, The structure of Big History Stavrianos, Leften, Lifelines From Our Past, 1989. Thomas, Hugh, World History: the story of mankind from prehistory to present Wallerstein, Immanuel, The Modern World System Articles Amin, Sadir, "The ancient world system versus the modern capitalist world system" in Review, 14, 349-85, 1991 Benton, Lauren, "From the World-Systems Perspective to Institutional World History: Culture and Economy in Global Theory", in The Journal of World History, 1996, 9(2) Burke, Peter, "New Reflections on World History", in Culture and History, 1989 (5):9-18 Frank, Andre Gunder, "A theoretical introduction to 5000 years of World Systems History", in Review, 13:155-248. ------- "A Plea for World Systems History", in Journal of World History, 1991 2(1): 1-28. Geyer, Michael, and Bright, Charles, "World History in a Global Age" in American Historical Review, 1995 100(4): 1034-1060. Green, William "Periodizing World History", in History and Theory, 1995 34(2): 99-111. Hughes, Donald, "Ecology and Development as narrative Themes of World History" in Environmental History Review, 1995 19(1): 1-16. Kirch, Patrick, "Microcosmic Histories: Island Perspectives on 'Global' Change" in American Anthropologist 1997 99(1), 30-42. McNeill, William, "The Fall of Great Powers: An Historical Commentary", in Review, 1994 17(2), 123-143. -------- "The Changing Shape of World History", in History and Theory, 1995 34(2): 8- 26. -------- "World History and The Rise and Fall of the West" in The Journal of World History, 1998 9(2) Muhlberger, Steven, and Paine, Phil, "Democracy's Place in World History" in Journal of World History, 1993 4(1): 23-45. Munroe, Trevor, "The Midst, not the End of History" in Social and Economic Studies, 1993 42(4): 241-262. Neild, Keith, "Liberalism and History: Reflections on the Writing of World Histories", In Culture and History, 1989 (5): 65-92. Rotenstreich, Nathan, "Can There Be an End to History", History and Memory, 1990, 2(2): 136-142. Spier, Frank "Regimes as Structuring Principle for Big History" WHA annual Conference, 1995.