Hailey's
World History in Context
Christian, David, 1946-
Journal of World History, Volume 14, Number 4, December 2003, pp. 437-458 (Article) Published by University of Hawai 'i Press DOI: 10.1353/jwh.2003.0048
For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jwh/summary/v014/14.4christian01.html Access provided by University of the Sunshine Coast Library (11 Mar 2013 23:42 GMT)
World History in Context * david christian
San Diego State University
all about and Margaret written, “what historians best is to H istory isJacob havecontext. AstoJoyce Appleby,doLynn Hunt,make connections with the past in order illuminate the problems of the present and the potential of the future.” 1 That is why historians so often complain about fields such as international relations that focus almost exclusively on current events and issues. However, historians haven’t always been so good at putting their own discipline in context. Oddly enough, this applies even to world history. One of the virtues of world history is that it can help us see more specialized historical scholarship in its global context. But what is the context of world history itself? This is a question that has not been sufficiently explored by world historians. 2 Yet it should be, for all the reasons that historians
* This essay is based, in part, on a paper given to the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities at their 250th anniversary symposium in Haarlem in May 2002: “Maps of Time: Human History and Terrestrial History” in Symposium ter Gelegenheid van het 250-jarig Jubileum, Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen: Haarlem, 2002. My thanks to the Society for permission to reproduce some passages from that paper. 1 Joyce Appleby, Lynn Hunt, and Margaret Jacob, Telling the Truth about History (New York and London: W. W. Norton, 1995), p. 9. 2 Exceptions include William H. McNeill, whose article “History and the Scientific Worldview,” in History and Theory,
Christian, David, 1946-
Journal of World History, Volume 14, Number 4, December 2003, pp. 437-458 (Article) Published by University of Hawai 'i Press DOI: 10.1353/jwh.2003.0048
For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jwh/summary/v014/14.4christian01.html Access provided by University of the Sunshine Coast Library (11 Mar 2013 23:42 GMT)
World History in Context * david christian
San Diego State University
all about and Margaret written, “what historians best is to H istory isJacob havecontext. AstoJoyce Appleby,doLynn Hunt,make connections with the past in order illuminate the problems of the present and the potential of the future.” 1 That is why historians so often complain about fields such as international relations that focus almost exclusively on current events and issues. However, historians haven’t always been so good at putting their own discipline in context. Oddly enough, this applies even to world history. One of the virtues of world history is that it can help us see more specialized historical scholarship in its global context. But what is the context of world history itself? This is a question that has not been sufficiently explored by world historians. 2 Yet it should be, for all the reasons that historians
* This essay is based, in part, on a paper given to the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities at their 250th anniversary symposium in Haarlem in May 2002: “Maps of Time: Human History and Terrestrial History” in Symposium ter Gelegenheid van het 250-jarig Jubileum, Koninklijke Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen: Haarlem, 2002. My thanks to the Society for permission to reproduce some passages from that paper. 1 Joyce Appleby, Lynn Hunt, and Margaret Jacob, Telling the Truth about History (New York and London: W. W. Norton, 1995), p. 9. 2 Exceptions include William H. McNeill, whose article “History and the Scientific Worldview,” in History and Theory,
Cited: Roger Lewin, Complexity: Life on the Edge of Chaos (London: Phoenix, 1993), p. Roger Lewin, Human Evolution, 4th ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999), p. 190. C. Stringer and R. McKie, African Exodus (London: Cape, 1996), p. 150. 32 Recent works by Jared Diamond have shown how fruitful and provocative the insights of a biologist can be for world historians. See, in particular, Guns, Germs, and Steel, (New York: W. W. Norton, 1997).