Global and Transnational History: The Past, Present, and Future

by Akira Iriye

It is no exaggeration to say that the study of history has been transformed significantly during the last twenty-odd years. Akira Iriye, the world authority on transnational history, examines the emergence and growth of global and transnational history, away from more traditional, nation-centred perspectives.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

100 pages, Hardcover

First published October 26, 2012

About the author

Akira Iriye was an historian of American diplomatic history, especially United States-East Asian relations, and international issues. A graduate of Haverford College and Harvard University, he taught at the University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of Rochester, and the University of Chicago before accepting an appointment as Professor of History at Harvard University in 1989, where he became Charles Warren Professor of American History in 1991. He was Director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies from 1991 through 1995. He served as President of the American Historical Association in 1988, and also served as president for the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.

Reviews

[Imam Sihombing · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers a fresh perspective by showing that states and major historical figures are not the only ones driving history. Communities, organizations, and micro-level actors also play a central role, making a significant impact beyond national borders.

A great takeaway from this book is understanding that transnational history and global history are different, yet interconnected. Ultimately, transnational history serves as a valuable tool to enrich a nation's historiography.

[Alexander Hart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another one of Iriye's "quick reads," suitable for a more general audience than his more academic works. It's a basic discussion of past and future trends in historiography away from national histories and towards international history, mostly told from his own perspective.

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Iriye's personal reflection on the historical turn from International history to Global and Transnational history. Short and sweet with a nice reading list at the back.

[Kieran Havukoski · Rating 3 out of 5]

pure yapping akira iriye the goat tho

[Andre Aguiar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short book primarily offering historiographical reflections on the rise of the global and transnational turn in the late 20th century. Akira Iriye emphasizes that, before the 1970s, historians were mainly trained to focus on particular aspects, always centered on national borders, politics, diplomacy, and the military affairs of sovereign states. Reflecting on his own academic trajectory, even after changing his main subject from British history to the history of the US, the methodologies did not change, and the approach was confined within national borders. Even the rise of comparative studies was about comparing works by different authors in different nations, with the nation as the centerpiece of reflection.

He argues that history lagged behind history itself by focusing on the nation-state, as the world was increasingly moving towards a new globalized, transnational trend across several fields of knowledge and human practices. He notes a shift in the 1990s towards a more transnational and global historical approach that, albeit still too national, began to pay attention to connections and the movement of ideas, people, and goods. He explains that this transnational trend was less focused on state matters and more on universal human themes and was influenced by the interest in understanding non-state actors and institutions.

For Akira, the transnational turn offered a way to denationalize and dewesternize the historical practice, although there are still several challenges, especially conceptual ones (since most categories are Western-driven). Yet his own book centers mainly on the US, Europe, and parts of East Asia. Places like Africa, regions of Asia, and Latin America are marginal or serve a few points in his arguments. Yet, his reflections are useful for reflecting on these places as non-Western actors in historiography.

He argues that traditional studies often treated non-Western regions as exotic or judged purely through Western paradigms. In this way, non-Western regions were always trying to catch up with Western Europe and the US, aiming for a form of Western modernity based on specific standards of modernization, industrialization, and political thought, framed in categories that drive these kinds of interpretations. Iriye claims that transnational approaches can denationalize historical approaches and highlight new, more sophisticated connections that an over-national approach obscures. For instance, Latin America, despite being marginal in his book, can be considered through a transnational lens rather than measured against European nation-state development. Environmentalism, migration patterns, indigenous history, and human rights (still, many Western categories) can be employed by focusing on human issues instead of state-driven actors

[hoffnarr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short but useful.

[EvaLovesYA · Rating 3 out of 5]

En rigtig god kilde ifb. med et semesterfag på engelskstudiet.

- Brugt på universitetet (engelsk)

[Nan Mu · Rating 3 out of 5]

比较概述性的书，但实际操作起来不会很容易，但做研究应该有这个视野。