Eurocentrism and the Politics of Global History

Global history locates national histories in the context of broader processes, in which the West is not necessarily synonymous with progress. And yet it often suffers from the same Eurocentrism that plagues national history, accepting Western categories and values uncritically and largely ignoring non-English historiographies. Alessandro Stanziani examines these tensions and asks what global history is and ought to be. Drawing upon a wide array of sources, he historicizes global history writing from the sixteenth century onward, tracing the forces of revolution, globalization, totalitarianism, colonization, decolonization and the Cold War. By considering global history in the context of a longue durée, multipolar perspective, this book assesses the strengths and limits of the field, and clarifies what is at stake. Acknowledgements 5 Contents 6 Chapter 1 Why We Need Global History 7 Abstract 7 One World or Different Worlds? 11 Globalization or Divergence? 15 Connections and Dependence: From Subaltern Studies to Comparative History 17 Eurocentrism and Global History 19 Selected Bibliography 22 Chapter 2 Connected Historiographies in Expanding Worlds: Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries 26 Abstract 26 Europe and Its Method: One Solution Among Others 26 History and Philology in Connected Worlds 30 The Role of History in Imperial Constructions 45 Asian Universalist Empires and the Role of History Writing 45 Writing History in European Exclusive Empires 51 Selected Bibliography 55 Chapter 3 Inventing Modernity 63 Abstract 63 The Conception of History During the Enlightenment 64 The Quest for Universality: The Enlightenment and Non-European Worlds 69 The Nation Versus the Global? History and Its Archives in the Nineteenth Century 75 History Writing: Philology Against Philosophy 81 References 88 Chapter 4 The End of the Old Order: History, Nationalisms, and Totalitarianism 95 Abstract 95 The Decline of the West? The Philosophy of History and the Politics of Historical Writing 97 Birth of the Annales School 99 Nationalism, the Quest of “Specificity” and Historiographical Constructions 101 The Bolshevik Revolution: The Universality of History Versus Socialism in One Country 109 Conclusion 114 Selected Bibliography 116 Chapter 5 Global History in the Cold War and Decolonization 121 Abstract 121 History and the Construction of Europe 121 Braudel: Global History or Global Eurocentrism? 126 The Decolonization of History 132 The Evolution of Historiography in Communist Worlds 138 Conclusion 142 Selected Bibliography 143 Chapter 6 Conclusion: Global History in the Face of Globalization and the Return of Nationalisms 148 Abstract 148 Index 152 Global history locates national histories in the context of broader processes, in which the West is not necessarily synonymous with progress. And yet it often suffers from the same Eurocentrism that plagues national history, accepting Western categories and values uncritically and largely ignoring non-English historiographies. Alessandro Stanziani examines these tensions and asks what global history is and ought to be. Drawing upon a wide array of sources, he historicizes global history writing from the sixteenth century onwards, tracing the forces of revolution, globalization, totalitarianism, colonization, decolonization and the Cold War. By considering global history in the context of a longue durée, multipolar perspective, this book assesses the strengths and limits of the field, and clarifies what is at stake.-- Provided by publisher