So I’ve been catching up on the material on microhistory, from a seminar I missed, whilst writing my short essay. I decided I really ought to go over the microhistory material since I feel like my project may end up
All Questions, No answers? Leaving it Open
[Collaboratively written by David Bor, Johanna Bokedal and Cecilia Nicholson] As a collective group we have decided that sometimes answering questions is something that can be tackled more effectively once we pool the questions together. This allows us to
How Transnational History can Enrich Colonial History
[Co-authored by Feng Bo and Yu Shi) Edward Said’s text ‘Orientalism’ has become exceptionally famous in terms of promoting the negatives of colonial history. The ideas of the ‘Self’ and the ‘Other,’ have led to a lot of focus on
Primary Sources in Transnational History
[NB: Post co-authored by Maitreya and Kṣitigarbha] For both of our projects, we both have a lot of thoughts on primary sources in particular. How do we find enough source material? Will the availability of primary sources affect our potential for
Considering Identity (and Some Self-Indulgent Self-Reflection)
I know this is more a consolidation (project-finishing, presentation-preparing, caffeine-pounding) week than anything else, but I stumbled onto something interesting (to me, at least) while polishing up my work on my project, and I thought it worth sharing. I had
Finally Embracing Transnationalism
Transnational history: why is it worth doing and what does it do well? Transnational approaches take marginalized people and places and attempt to connect them or understand existing connections in different ways. They illuminate connections which may have been ignored
The Necessity of Hands-On History’
Today was spent on an archival research road-trip to Edinburgh, which gave me plenty of time to think on the bus about what ‘hands-on’ means to me in the context of this transnational course, as well as in my larger
Narrowing down my proposal: why too much beer is bad for your project
Having received feedback from my proposal I have come to the realisation that there is such a thing as too much beer. My previously planned three-tiered approach is going to either be too large for a 5,000 word essay, or
Ideas through a transnational and microhistorical lens
When I decided to explore the transnational nature of the welfare state for my project, the transnational elements I expected to be tracking were the ideas spreading across borders and the networks that facilitated them. However, this is a lot
Proposal Changes
One of the biggest challenges I have had with my project is trying to work out the transnational scope. Studying a world map may not originally come across as national history, but looking at who made the map, and the
Questioning Colonialism in my Project
In reading for my longer project, I have been thinking about its colonial context. A point was raised about terminology in the reading and in the seminar last week, and about what we can consider to be transnational. I feel
Project Update: Structuring Communities
This is just a sort of project update post, so please bear with me as I get all kinds of specific. While I have been able to find ample sources for the nature of Regla de Ochá (RdO) itself, I
The Power of Networks, Actors and Agency
In our class last week we discussed networks, actors, and agency. Networks seem to be an obvious concept and easily discernible in various narratives. Similarly actors seem to be the individuals within networks interacting and engaging in the situations. Agency
The Place of Female Migrant Workers in Biblical and Modern Israel
The story of migrants and refugees is a broad topic that consists of innumerable separate, personal stories. Professor Athalya Brenner briefly highlights several issues relating to female migrant workers through an article drawing surprisingly relevant parallels with the story of
Gathering Acorns Over Break
This past spring break was a welcome opportunity to slide some more bricks into place in the wall of my larger research project on historic maritime clothing, gathering evidence (while canoeing, drinking tea and generally brainstorming). The material is fascinating,