070341 KU Theories, Sources and Methods of Global History (2018W)

The general topic of this course about theories, sources, and methods in global history will be ‘1968’ in global perspective. Taking the 50th anniversary of 1968 as a starting point, this class will familiarize students with the debates about and different historiographical approaches to the momentous developments in several world regions summed up under the cypher ‘1968’. Special emphasis will be placed on more recent interpretations which analyse these processes less as ‘national’ events and more in terms of their global embeddedness, the circulation of ideas, persons, practices, etc. as well as in view of the connections between locations. Covering numerous cases and including a wide range of actors (not only students, but also workers, peasants, new social movements as well all-out national liberation movements), the course will particularly focus on the radical 1960s in the Global South.
The idea of the course is to equip students with a sound ‘roadmap’ of fundamental theoretical and methodological debates in global history and to further train their skills for searching and analysing sources. In addition, a number of other basic skills – formulating a research interest, producing different kinds of text, preparing presentations, etc. – will be further enhanced.
This course will introduce ‘theories’ and ‘methods’ in current global historical debates through readings, discussion, and a number of smaller writing assignments as well as through an in-depth analysis of a forum debate about the radical 1960s in the Third World recently published in a global historical journal. Meanwhile, students will get in touch with ‘sources’ by familiarizing themselves with several archives which hold revelant online repositories of materials related to ‘1968’.