Edward
Said's Orientalism is a book that is
familiar to most historians, as it is often invoked in the scholarship we read
and its ideas are frequently repeated, even if most of us have never read the
whole volume through.1 The importance of this volume was not
Said's arguably authoritative account of the evolution of hegemonic notions of
the "world," the "oriental" and the "west," but rather the ways in which to
forced his readers to question many of their assumptions of these concepts. By
suggesting that these were ideas with particular histories and real-world
expressions of power and dominance, he forced us to question ideas like
"oriental despotism" and "western civilization" as well as experiences like
colonialism and racialized and gendered oppression. Therefore, even without
specifically citing his work world historians owe a special debt to him.
The
forum presented here is an elaboration on a roundtable presented at the last
World History Association Conference in San Diego, California. Its purpose is
not to either endorse nor critique world history and world historians. Rather,
like with Orientalism, its purpose is
to contribute to a conversation in which we talk about our assumptions about
both the "world" and "history." In convening this panel, my aim was to help
ensure that world history remains a "forum" in which important issues are
debated, rather than a "temple" in which a particular approach to the past is
worshipped.
In the
opening essay, I suggest that world history is on the cusp of some very
interesting developments as its mainly North American practitioners consciously
seek open discussions with newly-formed organizations of global historians
around the world as well as scholars and activists not formally affiliated with
these organizations. I then try to raise questions as to what might happen as
world history "internationalizes." My deliberately provocative assertions are
then answered by a number of scholars, not only leading world historians Jerry
Bentley and Patrick Manning, but also an outsider to the World History
Association who teaches world history courses, Christopher Chekuri. Their
responses are then followed by brief comments from observers of the original
forum from around the world who have become participants now. Lucia Carter and
Robert Strayer from the United States, Thembisa Waetjen from South Africa, and
Yue Sun from the People's Republic of China. Craig Benjamin has provided a
précis of this commentary to serve as a aid for further discussion. We would all
welcome responses from the readers of World
History Connected to the ideas we have put before you, which, it is hoped,
with find their own way into the virtual pages of that journal.
Trevor
R. Getz is an Associate Professor of African History at San
Francisco State University. He is the author or co-author of several books
including Exchanges: A Global History
Reader and Modern Imperialism and
Colonialism: A Global History. He is currently working on several volumes
looking at the global past from African perspectives. He can be contacted at tgetz@sfsu.edu. |
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Notes
1 See Edward Said, Orientalism,
(New York: Vintage Books, 1978) and Gyan Prakash, "Orientalism Now," History and Theory, 34 (1995), 199–212.
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