070291 UE Methodological course - Theories and Methods in Global History and Global Studies (2021S)

The aim of this course is to learn how to apply the tools global history as an academic discipline offers us. What are useful theories and methods that allow us to deal with the questions global historians ask? Ideally, after having completed this course, you should be able to apply some of these theories and methods to a specific research question. Also, you should be familiar with a few important debates in the field.

Global history has been booming for several decades and is arguably the fastest-growing field within the discipline. The increasing number of journals devoted to the field, university programmes around the world and best-selling books like Sven Beckert’s Empire of Cotton (2014) or Jürgen Osterhammel’s The Transformation of the World (2014) clearly show the popularity of global history. Despite its long-lasting popularity, scholars in the field are still debating what global history actually is.
In this course we discuss various approaches to global history, ranging from global history as world history (e.g. Chris Bayly’s The Birth of the Modern World) to global history as micro-history (e.g. the recently published issue of Past & Present, edited by John-Paul Ghobrial). You will be introduced to major theories and methods in the field that allow you to understand the potentially global causes of a particular question that you are interested in.

We read and discuss secondary literature and primary sources on a weekly basis. You have to give one presentation semester and hand in 2 essays.