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X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.historikertag.de/Leipzig2023/en/programm/sektionen/afroglobal-history-of-the-present-contributions-to-theoretical-approaches-to-global-history/
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SUMMARY:[Historikertag 2023] Afroglobal History of the Present (Contributions to Theoretical Approaches to Global History)
DESCRIPTION:The majority of global history focuses on the Eurasian and North American experience. However, in recent years, new works have increasingly attempted to integrate African experiences. How do these works affect our understanding of global history?
In this section, we discuss the possibilities and limitations of an Afro-global history of the present. By this, we mean a new narrative about the history of the planet that moves away from the mainstream of global history and its focus on integration and convergence. Afro-global history is characterized by critical impulses, including radical history and decolonial studies but remains committed to an empirical approach that prioritizes ethnographic and archival research.
By the end of the 2010s, it became clear that global history would not age well. As leading global historians noted, the field was becoming increasingly "overrated" (Roland Wenzlhuemer) and had "reached a point of diminishing returns" (David Bell). While the first wave was triggered by the return of nationalism and racism to the forefront of world politics after Trump's presidency, the coup de grâce was delivered by Covid-19. As the word "global" was increasingly associated with pandemics and disasters rather than interconnectivity and integration in public debates, even the most enthusiastic proponents of global history began to voice their doubts.
These recently expressed doubts should have emerged earlier. It's not as though there were no warnings. Important and early criticism of the global historical perspective came from historians from the Global South, who repeatedly expressed concern that global history did not take into account non-Western experiences. Toyin Falola describes global history as "no more than a transitional narrative to globalization" and as "a narrative about Western power and its expansion." Over 20 years ago, Frederick Cooper criticized the concept of globalization from the perspective of African history. His article has often been cited. However, despite Cooper's demonstration that African experiences do not fit into the form of "globalization," much of the literature continues to use the term as a theoretical foundation. Overviews of global history continue to use concepts of "integration," "globalization," and "convergence," as if there had never been postcolonial and radical criticism.
This panel section deals with perspectives on global history that fully take into account African history.
Der Beitrag Afroglobal History of the Present (Contributions to Theoretical Approaches to Global History) erschien zuerst auf Historikertag 2023.
LOCATION:HS10
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