Out of the Ivory Tower: Broadening Global History in Germany

Published: 2021
Blog for Transregional Research

Abstract

The humanities are united by their aim of promoting critical self-reflection. History shares this aim, and so do recent turns in the field. In the context of one of these turns, global history was created as a new field in the early 2000s, aiming not so much at a comprehensive history of the world but rather questioning the prominence of the nation and of Eurocentrism in history. This brief contribution explores the challenges that history in general and global history specifically face at present. It then sketches its position in academia, before suggesting topics and ways for Arab and German historians in this field to cooperate and outlining why such collaborations might be helpful. It concludes by looking at teaching, another way through which global history can reach out into society, suggesting that this might be an even more effective way of living up to history’s social responsibility.