Global History

Abstract

This chapter elaborates on the growing presence of global historical scholarship since the 1990s. It discusses the contours of this academic field—for example, by comparing it to similar forms of historiographical inquiry and by presenting its role in various subfields ranging from intellectual history to the history of commodities. Global historical scholarship, the chapter argues, is not necessarily global in scope; rather, the field operates on a variety of scales, searching for alternatives to nation-centered and Eurocentric perspectives. The chapter also presents some challenges that global historians need to face in the future, in addition to some opportunities that may arise. Among other themes, it reflects on the current global institutional landscapes of global historical research and asks whether these are suitable to carry the field into the future.