9th BGHS Annual Seminar “Grappling with the Global: The Challenge of Boundaries in History and Sociology”. Britta Dostert / Julia Engelschalt / Lasse Bjoern Lassen / Pınar Sarigöl / Sebastian Matthias Schlerka, Universität Bielefeld, 13.07.2017–15.07.2017.

Reviewed by Julia Engelschalt

Published on H-Soz-u-Kult (October, 2017)

In recent years, ‘the global’ has become a key Panel one, titled “Shock and Awe—Violent term in history, sociology, and related disciplines. Conficts and their Global Repercussions”, started By analysing entangled relationships on diferent with a presentation by NIKO ROHÉ (Bielefeld) scales, research felds such as transnational stud‐ about the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. By asking ies, global history or world society bear witness to how war correspondents raised the events they this ongoing trend. At the same time, the impact witnessed to a global hype and how they shaped of globalisation on virtually all aspects of human contemporary visions of world order, he high‐ life is a recurring issue in the public sphere. How‐ lighted the paradox of this local war becoming a ever, when applied to empirical research, ‘the global event. MORAN ZAGA (Haifa) drew atten‐ global’ as an analytical category tends to be dif‐ tion to the ongoing Syrian confict and analysed cult to pinpoint and operationalise. The 9th Annu‐ the metamorphosis of political borders in com‐ al Seminar of the Bielefeld Graduate School in parison with social boundaries in the region. KEI History and Sociology (BGHS) ofered an interdis‐ TAKATA’s (Duisburg-Essen) presentation about the ciplinary forum for young researchers to present activity of the U.S. Deserter Support Movement their approaches to the related conceptual, against the Vietnam War in the Japanese ‘Global methodological, and empirical challenges. To Sixties’ investigated the conditions that made this complement the conference programme, on 12 movement possible. By tracking the paths of de‐ July the BGHS ofce hosted its frst Interdiscipli‐ serters through local, national, and transnational nary Dialogue, during which resident and visiting trust networks, he emphasised the ability of a spe‐ BGHS professors discussed the implications of ‘the cifc group to send out deserters from the Japa‐ global’ within their respective research felds. nese islands. In his opening keynote lecture, AHMET ÖNCÜ The second panel, “Outside the Box—Refect‐ (Istanbul) problematized the relationship be‐ ing the Global in the History of Ideas”, started tween ‘the global’ and ‘the local’ by asking with a presentation by MARIA IULIA FLORUTAU whether there is a global understanding of the (London). Using the example of Transylvanian term ‘justice’. Following an historical outline be‐ Calvinist philosopher József Fogarasi Pap, her talk tween premodern and modern times, he contrast‐ questioned the validity of the ‘unitary Enlighten‐ ed the Western notion of individual ‘rights’ with ment’ theory when assessed from an Eastern Eu‐ the Turkish equivalent of collective ‘hakk’. ropean perspective. STEFAN BARGHEER (Los An‐ geles) analysed the emergence of comparative-his‐ H-Net Reviews torical sociology from the 1920s to 1970s. He ment Chabad Lubavitch was presented by showed that it was the contingent political situa‐ MELANIE EULITZ (Leipzig) as a paradigmatic case tion and the involvement of sociologists in the study. She highlighted how this religious organisa‐ war efort that gave rise to this sub-feld of sociol‐ tion overcomes the apparent contradiction be‐ ogy. ZOLTÁN BOLDIZSÁR SIMON (Bielefeld) closed tween global and local by recurring to both reli‐ the panel with a critical refection upon the schol‐ gious universalism and local identity. Similarly, arly debate in the feld of global history. He asked ROUVEN WIRBSER (Bielefeld) pointed out the in‐ if there is a ‘global’ subject in history at all, and terconnecting dynamics empowered by religion emphasized the relevance of this question by re‐ on a global level during the Early Modern era. By ferring to current debates around anthropogenic considering the Catholic reformation within a climate change, transhumanism, and technologies multi-directional global framework, he showed of human enhancement, all of which evoke hu‐ how the cult of St. Francis Xavier (1506-1522) frst manity as a global subject. developed in the eastern Asian “peripheries” of The frst day was closed by SASKIA SASSEN’s global Catholicism, later spread to Western Eu‐ (New York) presentation on new geographies of rope, and was fnally adopted in Westphalia. power and the processes through which a recent LAIA PI FERRER’s (Tampere) paper, which fo‐ form of globalised capitalism characterised by ex‐ cused on Portuguese and Spanish parliamentary tractive logics is challenging traditional notions of debates during the latest economic crisis, opened borders and territoriality. According to Sassen, the the ffth panel on the global embeddedness of po‐ domination of ‘nomadic’ high fnance has led to litical processes. Relating to the concept of world practices of proft extraction in increasingly local culture, she conducted a quantitative analysis territories, a phenomenon she illustrated with her showing the discursive interdependency of Span‐ own case study of global metropolitan property ish and Portuguese policy-making in relation to investments. other countries afected by the crisis. MELINDA The second day opened with a panel focusing HARLOV-CSORTÁN (Budapest) addressed the on the decisive role of empires in the develop‐ question of a worldwide cultural system by ofer‐ ment of a more and more interconnected world. ing an analysis of the UNESCO World Heritage ADETIBA ADEDAMOLA SEUN (Grahamstown) re‐ Convention from both a global and national view‐ constructed the spread of malaria in British- point. Based on a Hungarian case study, her pre‐ colonised Africa. The epidemic difusion of the sentation showed that the Convention raised disease on a continental scale during the 20th cen‐ questions of history and memory which involved tury, he argued, was directly linked to the expan‐ both national policy-making and regional identity, sion of railway networks. The infrastructural di‐ thus emphasising the critical interaction between mension within imperial and global power rela‐ global and local. tionships also constituted the central element in In his keynote lecture, DREW THOMPSON the paper of ADITYA RAMESH (London). Adopting (Annandale-on-Hudson) highlighted how political an environmental history perspective, he argued processes throughout the world can be illuminat‐ that water control practices pursued by the ed through photographic sources. His analysis of British in during the late 19th century rep‐ photographs from the Mozambican civil war resented a new speculative frontier for imperial demonstrated how symbolism was used by both capitalist interests. independence and anti-independence movements The fourth panel focused on religion and its to ideologically mobilise public opinion both on a entangling dynamics. The Jewish-orthodox move‐ local and on a global level. The second day was

2 H-Net Reviews closed by an artist talk by KARINA SMIGLA- nally, JIALIN CHRISTINA WU (Louvain) presented BOBINSKI (Munich), who presented her artwork her current research on diasporic identities in ADA, the key visual of the 2017 BGHS Annual colonial Southeast Asia. With her reconstruction Seminar. With its globular shape and its ability to of oral histories of Indian and Chinese immigrants leave a physical trace on any surface, it touches in British Malaya in the early 20th century, she while foating around in space, ADA was present‐ was able to provide historicity to ‘the global’ by ed as a metaphor of the relationship between in‐ showing how its meaning evolved over time for dividual agency and the memory of collective in‐ diferent communities. teraction. The 9th BGHS Annual Seminar concluded The last day of the conference included two with a roundtable discussion which summarised panels and a roundtable discussion. Under the the main challenges that emerged in the process heading “Inside Moloch—Dissecting the Glob‐ of grappling with ‘the global’. All in all, the partici‐ alised City”, the sixth panel added an urban di‐ pants agreed that ‘the global’ should not be under‐ mension to the debate over the meaning of ‘the stood as an empirical fact, but rather as a socially global’. BAPTISTE COLIN (Bielefeld) proposed to constructed concept, an analytical artefact that address the phenomenon of squatting from a provides a symbolic order to society. Referring to global perspective by investigating squatting a metaphor used by Ahmet Öncü in his opening movements in Paris and Berlin in the post-war pe‐ lecture, defning ‘the local’ and ‘the global’ is just riod. Providing a defnition of squatting as a way as difcult as pinpointing the present moment be‐ to link scales and boundaries, he highlighted the tween past and future—it is impossible to grasp efects of global capitalism on local space. After‐ because it is never there. Turning to more wards, ARTURO DÍAZ CRUZ () presented methodological concerns, the participants pointed his current work on Tepito, the largest informal out the benefts of thinking globally as a way of market in Mexico City, and emphasised the funda‐ covering a broader range of phenomena and mental interconnectedness of the metropolitan, overcoming the limitations of other concepts. Be‐ the national, the transnational and the global ing aware that not every topic must or should be scales within this local entity. approached from a global angle, they also warned The last panel of the Annual Seminar, “Tran‐ against the exponential use of the concept in scending Identities—Migration in a Globalising academia. Finally, the discussants agreed that the World” looked at ‘the global’ from the perspective issue remains unresolved, and that diferent felds of migration studies. Focusing on Japanese and of study take diferent approaches to ‘the global’. Chinese to , PING-HENG Therefore, the participants called for more inter‐ CHEN (Heidelberg) discussed the relationship be‐ disciplinary exchange in an attempt to globalise tween global economic and migratory fows and knowledge production. the emergence of a racial imagination in a specifc Conference overview: local context in the late 19th and early 20th cen‐ Keynote Lecture I turies. The aspect of race was also central to SHI‐ Ahmet Öncü (Istanbul): Hakk or Right: A Ve‐ WEI CHEN’s (Singapore) presentation. Challeng‐ blenian Refection on the Social Origins of Juridi‐ ing existing concepts of race and ethnicity, she ar‐ cal Sensibilities in Western and gued that the process of boundary formation be‐ tween the peoples of North Korea and China was Panel I: Shock and Awe – Violent Conficts not mainly based on ethnic or national identities, and their Global Repercussions but rather on belief and socioeconomic status. Fi‐

3 H-Net Reviews

Niko Rohé (Bielefeld): Turning a Local Con‐ and His Veneration in the Prince-Bishopric of fict into a Global Hype – and Back Again. Foreign Paderborn War Journalists in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 Panel V: Staging the Global in the Political Moran Zaga (Haifa): The Challenge of Boundaries Arena in Syria: Past, Present and Future Laia Pi Ferrer (Tampere): Looking at Others Kei Takata (Duisburg-Essen): Escaping through in National Policymaking: The Case of the Networks of Trust: The U.S. Deserter Support and in the Recent Economic Crisis Movement in the Japanese Global Sixties Melinda Harlov-Csortán (Eötvös): UNESCO World Panel II: Outside the Box – Refecting the Heritage: connecting local to global in one cultur‐ Global in the History of Ideas al system Maria Iulia Florutau (London): Transfers of Keynote Lecture III Knowledge from Transylvania to the Drew Thompson (Annandale-on-Hudson): in the Enlightenment: The Convergence of Ideas Naming Mozambique's Dead Photographs in József Fogarasi Pap’s Metaphysical Dissertation Stefan Bargheer (Los Angeles): Military Intelli‐ Artist Talk on the Conference Key Visual gence and the Laboratory Research Method: The Karina Smigla-Bobinski (Munich): ADA - Rise of Comparative-Historical Sociology during Grappling with the Globe World War II Panel VI: Inside Moloch – Dissecting the Glob‐ Zoltán Boldizsár Simon (Bielefeld): Is There a alised City Global Subject of History? Baptiste Colin (Paris): Beyond the Phe‐ Keynote Lecture II nomenological Global Reading : Introducing a Saskia Sassen (New York): Embedded Border‐ Global Perspective. Squatting as a Way to Link ings: Making New Geographies of Centrality Scales and Boundaries Panel III: Globalism avant la lettre? Rethink‐ Arturo Díaz Cruz (Mexico City): Assembling the ing Empire Scales: Ethnographic Refections on the Study of the Economic and Political Regimes in the Local Adedamola Adetiba Seun (Grahamstown): Order “Tracks of Death”: A Global History of Railway and Malarial Mortality in Twentieth Century Panel VII: Transcending Identities – Migra‐ Africa tion in a Globalising World Aditya Ramesh (London): Historical Sociology and Ping-Heng Chen (Heidelberg): “Those who ft the Making of the Nineteenth Century Environ‐ in with our place”: The Emergence of a Racial Dis‐ ment: Debt and River Improvement in the British course on East Asian Immigration in Late 19th- Empire Century Guatemala Panel IV: Faith Crossing Borders – Global Di‐ Shiwei Chen (Singapore): One Hundred Years of mensions of Religion Transnational Migration in the North Korean-Chi‐ nese Borderland: Race, Nation and Formation of Melanie Eulitz (Leipzig): Global Hasidism, Lo‐ Boundaries cal Jewishness: The Worldwide Inner-Jewish Mis‐ Jialin Christina Wu (Louvain): The Location of the sionary Activities of Chabad Lubavitch and its Ef‐ Global: Anecdotal Histories of Diasporic Identities fects in in Colonial Southeast Asia Rouven Wirbser (Bielefeld): From East Asia to Westphalia: The Global Cult of St. Francis Xavier Concluding Roundtable Discussion: Grappling with the Global

4 H-Net Reviews

If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/

Citation: Julia Engelschalt. Review of 9th BGHS Annual Seminar “Grappling with the Global: The Challenge of Boundaries in History and Sociology”. H-Soz-u-Kult, H-Net Reviews. October, 2017.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=50991

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

5