Historical writing and the global turn: perspectives from a historian of Africa

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7976.2021.e80610

Abstract

How can Global History come into dialogue with African History? How valuable are concepts of connections and entanglements as proposed by Global History?  How can we use Global History in our research? In addition to exploring what Global History is, we were inspired to interview a researcher with extensive experience on the subject. In this conversation, Professor Andreas Eckert details his trajectory as Professor of African History and coordinator of the Global History Research Center (re:work), as well as  how he conceptualizes Global History in his research field.

Author Biographies

Andreas Eckert, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

Current Positions

2009-present Director Käte Hamburger Kolleg “Work and Human Life Course in Global History” (re:work”), funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) 2007-present Professor (Chair) of African History at Humboldt-University Berlin, Germany

Ana Carolina Schveitzer, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

Ana C. Schveitzer is currently PhD student in African History at the Department for African Studies at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. She completed both my Bachelor and Master’s degree in History at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil).  Her doctoral research focuses on how German colonialism used photographs in Africa and the ways wherein the circulation and production of photography created connections with the colonial system more broadly. Through a Global History approach, this project seeks to comprehend a colonial photographic standard about labour thematic.

William Blakemore Lyon, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

William Blakemore Lyon is a PhD student at Humboldt University of Berlin. His current research focuses on the history of migrant labor in Namibia between 1890 and 1925. He completed his Bachelor’s in history at the University of California, San Diego and his MPhil in Modern European History at the University of Cambridge. His Master’s thesis focused on Anglo-German relations in the South West Africa Company, which operated in German colonial Namibia.

Matheus Serva Pereira, Universidade de Lisboa

Doutorou-se em História Social da África, pela Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), com financiamento da Fundação de Amparo e Pesquisa de São Paulo (FAPESP), com a tese “Grandiosos batuques”: identidades e experiências dos trabalhadores urbanos de Lourenço Marques (1890-1930).

Desenvolve trabalhos nas áreas da História Social do Trabalho, História da África, História de Moçambique, colonialismo europeu na África, urbanidades, música e lazer em contextos africanos e estudos pós-coloniais. É membro do Grupo de Pesquisa Áfricas UERJ/UFRJ e do Grupo de Investigação Impérios, Colonialismo e Sociedades Pós-Coloniais (ICS-ULisboa). Também faz parte do conselho editorial da revista Práticas da História: Journal of theory, historiography and uses of the past.

É atualmente investigador no projeto “Arquivos coloniais nativos: micro-histórias e comparações”, (PTDC/HAR- HIS/28577/2017).

References

BAYLY, Christopher Alan. The birth of the modern world, 1780-1914: Global connections and comparisons. Malden: Blackwell, 2004. (Blackwell History of the World)

BELLUCCI, Stefano; ECKERT, Andreas (org.). General labour history of Africa: workers, employers and governments, 20th–21st centuries. Suffolk: Boydell & Brewer, 2019.

BERRY, Sara. Hegemony on a shoestring: indirect rule and access to agricultural land. Africa — Journal of the International African Institute, Londres, v. 62, n. 3, p. 327–355, 1992.

ECKERT, Andreas. Fitting Africa into World History: a historiographical exploration. In: FUCHS, Eckhardt; STUCHTEY, Benedict. (org.). Writing world history: 1800-2000. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. p. 255-70.

ECKERT, Andreas; KOCKA, Jürgen. Mission and Themes: work and life course as historical problems, perspectives of the International Research Center ‘re:work’. Disponível em: https://rework.hu-berlin.de/mission-and-themes.html. Acesso em: 22 mar. 2021.

ECKERT, Andreas. Global histories of work. Berlim; Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2016.

ECKERT, Andreas. Die Duala und die Kolonialmächte: eine untersuchung zu widerstand, protest und protonationalismus in kamerun vor dem zweiten weltkrieg. Münster; Hamburgo: Lit, 1991. 351 p.

ECKERT, Andreas. Grundbesitz, Landkonflikte und kolonialer Wandel: douala 1880-1960. Stuttgart: Steiner, 1999. 504 p.

ECKERT, Andreas; CONRAD, Sebastian; FREITAG, Ulrike (org.). Globalgeschichte: Theorien, Themen, Ansätze. Frankfurt a. M.: campus, 2007.

ECKERT, Andreas; Hentschke, Felicitas. Corona and Work around the Globe. Berlim, Boston: De Gruyter, 2021.

ECKERT, Andreas; LINDEN, Marcel van der. New perspectives on workers and the history of work: Global Labor History. In: BECKERT, Sven; SACHSENMAIER, Dominic (ed.). Global History, globally: research and practice around the world. Londres: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. p. 145-162.

FERGUSON, Niall. Empire: the rise and demise of the British world order and the lessons for global power. Nova Iorque: Basic Books, 2008.

GUEYE, Omar. African History and Global History: revisiting paradigms. In: BECKERT, Sven; SACHSENMAIER, Dominic (ed.). Global History, globally: research and practice around the world. Londres: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. p. 83-108.

KI-ZERBO, Joseph. Histoire de l’Afrique noire: d’hier a demain. Paris: Hatier, 1972.

SPRUTE, Sebatian-Manès. Weltzeit im Kolonialstaat. Kolonialismus, Globalisierung und die Implementierung der europäischen Zeitkultur in Senegal, 1880-1920. Bielefeld: Transcript, 2020.

THOMPSON, Edward. P. Time, work-discipline, and industrial capitalism. Past & Present, Oxford, n. 38, p. 56-97, dez. 1967.

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Published

2021-08-12

How to Cite

Eckert, A., Schveitzer, A. C., Lyon, W. B., Schveitzer, A. C., & Pereira, M. S. (2021). Historical writing and the global turn: perspectives from a historian of Africa. Esboços: Histories in Global Contexts, 28(48), 600–616;617. https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7976.2021.e80610

Issue

Vol. 28 No. 48 (2021)

Section

Interview

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Copyright (c) 2021 Ana Carolina Schveitzer, William Blakemore Lyon, Andreas Eckert; Matheus Serva Pereira, Ana Carolina Schveitzer

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