Oxford Centre for Global History January 2013 Update

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OCGH Update January 2013

Oxford Centre for Global History Update (January 2013)

1. Introduction

Since its establishment by the History Faculty at the end of 2011, the Oxford Centre for Global Historyhas engaged in a number of practical activities to support its objective of promoting and facilitating thestudy of global history.

This has included organising seminars, workshops and conferences; pursuing sources of funding for keyresearch projects; setting up a website with inventories of resources in Oxford and elsewhere; buildinglinks with other centres and institutes of global/world history; setting up a visitor programme in Oxford;and reaching out to individuals/centres within and beyond the Faculty for whom global history is apotentially significant area of interest.

The Centre also acts as a focus for graduate students in the Faculty, especially for those whose interestslie outside the main concentrations of graduate research in history. For further information, see ourwebsite http://global.history.ox.ac.uk .

2. Organisation and personnel

The Centre is administered under the History Faculty by a Steering Committee and Director and anAdvisory Committee representing the chronological range from Ancient to Late Modern History seeour website for a full list of Committee members http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=2 .

The Centre Director for 2011-12 was John Darwin (Nuffield, Oxford), who was succeeded in October2012 by James Belich (Balliol, Oxford), the incoming Beit Professor. We would like to thank John for hiswork in establishing and leading the Centre over the past year. John will continue to work closely with

James Belich, Chris Wickham and the Steering Committee in running the Centre.

We would also like to pass on our congratulations to our Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Rob Fletcherwho was recently offered a permanent lectureship at Exeter University and will be leaving us at the endof December 2012.

We recently welcomed Georg Deutsch (St Cross, Oxford) and Jane Humphries (All Souls, Oxford) to theCentres Steering Committee. We also welcome Margaret MacMillan (St Antonys, Oxford) , StephenTuck (TORCH) and Antony Green to our Advisory Committee.
http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=2http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=2http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=2http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=2http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/


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3. Visitor programme

The Centre welcomed its first Research Associate, Dr Margret Frenz (St Cross, Oxford) in October 2012and plans are being made to invite future visitors and attract applications from visiting scholars.

4. Conferences

New Directions in Global History, 27 -29 September 2012

The Centres Founding Conference, New Directions in Global History , was held on 27-29 September2012 at St Antonys College and included plenary lectures from some of the leading practitioners in thefield, including Arjun Appadurai, Ian Morris, Francis Robinson, Linda Colley, Bob Moore, Tony Hopkins,Maxine Berg , John McNeill, and from within Oxford, Nicholas Purcell, Kevin ORourke and James Belich .Discussants include Catherine Holmes, Faisal Devji, Joanna Innes, Alan Stra thern, Patrick OBrien,Stephen Howe, Naomi Standen, Chris Wickham and Jan-Georg Deutsch.

The conference attracted an audience of 135 participants and feedback from participants has beenhugely positive.

We are planning to publish most of the conference papers in a book with a leading academic press, andwe are also in negotiation regarding an ongoing global history series.

Forthcoming conferences:

Consumerism under Communism in Comparative Perspective, 27 -28 September 2013

In September 2013 the Centre is supporting a Conference entitled Consumerism under Communism inComparative Perspective organised by Karl Gerth (Merton, Oxford). Further information to follow.

War in Global History, 9 -11 January 2014

Looking ahead to 2014, we are starting to plan our second Conference War in Global History , acollaboration with the Changing Character of War programme. This is scheduled for 9-11 January 2014at the Maison Franaise, Oxford. Further information to follow.

5. Workshops

The Centres first majo r event Thinking Global , a workshop exploring the methods, concepts andrationale driving the new field of Global History, was held on 25 May 2012 with speakers NicholasPurcell, Catherine Holmes, Faisal Devji and visiting RAI Professor Konstantin Dierks, covering the fullchronological range from ancient to late modern history. The event attracted an audience of approximately 80 people from within and beyond the History Faculty.


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A particularly welcome aspect of the workshop was the enthusiasm and readiness with which membersof the audience engaged with the questions raised by historians of periods other than their own.Encouraging debate across chronological divisions has been a central rationale behind the Centre, andthis should remain a central part of our work, as well as being something that Oxford is particularly well-placed to promote.

The Centres second workshop was held on 7 November 2012 entitled Deserts, Steppes and InnerSpaces in Global History , a collaboration with the Cantemir Institute. The workshop featured papersfrom younger scholars including Berny Sbe, Alexander Morrison, Mark Thompson and the Centrespost-doctoral Fellow, Rob Fletcher. The workshop attracted participants from within and beyond theHistory Faculty and generated vigorous discussion.

Forthcoming workshops:

A Deep History of Migration , 21 February 2013

The Centre is holding an afternoon workshop on Thursday 21 February to discuss the history of migration over the very long term. Our main speakers are Clive Gamble (Southampton), FelipeFernandez-Armesto (Notre Dame) and James Belich. Clive Gamble is the leading expert on thePalaeolithic origins of migration. Felipe Fernandez-Armesto is a leading global historian with a particularinterest in the Atlantic world. There will be a response by James Belich whose recent book Replenishingthe Earth deals with the consequences of Anglo migration since circa 1800.

We hope that the discussion will cover the key influences on migration, both forced and free, as well asthe consequences of settlement and diaspora. We are especially keen to have the participation of thosewhose field of expertise lies in the more recent history of diaspora, refugee movements and forcedmigration. For further information, see http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=984 .

Empires of Knowledge, 9 May 2013

In Trinity Term, the Centre will be holding a workshop entitled Empires of Knowledge. Speakers willinclude Sir Christopher Bayly (Cambridge) and John Darwin. Further information to follow.

Global Knowledge , 10 May 2013

This workshop follows from the above, and will be run by our allied graduate organization, theTransnational & Global History Seminar, which is supported by the Balliol Interdisciplinary Institute.Further information to follow.
http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=984http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=984http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=984http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=984


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6. Seminars

Global & Imperial History Research Seminar

The theme for the Michaelmas 2012 Global & Imperial History Research Seminar programme was Elitesand Empires and included papers from Francisco Bethencourt (KCL), Roland Quinault (SAS, London),Michael Broers, Dominic Lieven (Cambridge), Tanja Buehrer (SOAS, London), Stephanie Cronin, andLanver Mak (SAS, London).

The Hilary Term 2013 programme includes papers from Laurence Brown (Manchester), Margret Frenz(St Cross, Oxford), Sadiah Qureshi (Birmingham), John-Paul Ghobrial (Balliol, Oxford), RolandWenzlhuemer (Heidelberg) and Pekka Hamalainen (St Catherines, Oxford) . See our website for a fullprogramme http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=332 .

Transnational & Global History Seminar

The Transnational & Global History Seminar s Michaelmas 2012 programme was on InterdisciplinaryApproaches to Transnational Hi story . Presenters from other disciplines were invited to give a paperfollowed by a response by a historian in the field. Topics included Global Order, IndigenousParticipants in Humanitarian Networks, International Resource Spaces and Conflict, P roduction,Consumption, Exchange ..Speakers included Andrew Hurrell, Joh n Darwin, Zoe Laidlaw, Kevin O Rourkeand James Belich.

For information about future events, see http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=934 .

7. Collaborations

Over the year the Centre has built links with several other projects and Centres within and outsideOxford including the Global Middle Ages group and the Princeton- Oxford Political Membership:Transnational Historie s exchange programme. We are also working closely with the student-ledTransnational and Global History Seminar group.

We have established contact with and hope to work with the Cantemir Institute, Modern EuropeanHistory Research Centre, the Humanit ies Divisions new TORCH Research Centre, Warwick Global Historyand Culture Centre, the Yale Institute for International Security Studies, the Oxford Diasporas Projectand Global Historical Sociology at LSE. The Centre is keen to establish relations with similar centres

overseas.
http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=332http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=332http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=332http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=934http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=934http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=934http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=934http://global.history.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=332

Oxford Centre for Global History January 2013 Update

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