It was great to see some of you browsing through last year’s posts, comments, readings – that is precisely the purpose of running “the soul” of MO3351 on this site. Keep going, browsing, interacting with previous students’ thoughts. Now, this week
Transnational Pub Talk – Week 3
GREAT, we did not only have a discussion around migration and the transnational making of post 1945 Germany (Rita Chin) and the USA (Ian Tyrrell) but you also started thinking ahead about your projects. Most of you have already penned
Seeing & Reviewing Week 2
Last week, based on AHR conversation, Clavin, and Rüger’s OXO we had a good discussion (mainly in small groups) around a number of topics – with a number of looses ends. These included: -the relation between nation and trans -the
Writing transnational Europe – adding tomatoes
Back to routines and habits – have you started trying any new routines or braking with old habits? Have you started writing for an hour pre-breakfast for a week? Have you been jogging on the beach following reading Tyrrell and
Finding a transnational scope on French sailor clothes?!
For the past two weeks, I’ve been struggling to define what I could feasibly write about during the coming weeks. From the practical viewpoint of a historian, national topics are appealing; one’s research material is physically closer, in one’s language, culturally familiar,
A transnational ‘City upon a hill’
NB: I haven’t read either reading particularly carefully as of yet, so I may disclaim the opinions expressed here in class tomorrow. When I was in high school I did an American history course (which might have been odd given
Unconventional Approaches to Understanding American History
Ian Tyrrell’s Transnational Nation. United States History in Global Perspective Since 1789 is an innovative study regarding the connections and interchange between the US and the rest of the world during America’s process of development and expansion. It is easy to
Ian Tyrell’s ‘Transnational Nation’
In the introduction, Tyrell begins with a brief outline of the traditional narrative often ascribed to the formation of the United States as a nations. This narrative focuses on domestic developments which championed internal forces over European cultural influence, almost
Comparing Rita CHIN and Ian TYRELL
This entry compares the way transnational history is practised in two books, one by Ian Tyrell and another by Rita Chin. I started with their central arguments presented in the book, then went on to use the three aspects of transnational history presented by Patricia Clavin in last week’s reading – ‘time’, ‘manner’ and ‘place’ – to discuss their differences.
Some thoughts on language use in transnational history (inspired by Chin’s introduction and readings from previous weeks.)
*Note: This is an attempt to express a thought that has been bothering me, by tomorrow I may completely disagree with everything I have just written.* I’ve had this niggling idea since last week of this issue of language in
Guest Workers in Post-war Germany
The introduction to Rita Chin’s book on guest workers in postwar-Germany focusses on the face, role and importance of guest workers in shaping the nation after the fall of the Third Reich. The wider argument highlights how the debate about
Transnational Methodology in Rita Chin’s The Guest Worker Question in Postwar Germany
In the first chapter of her book The Guest Worker Question in Postwar Germany, Rita Chin makes an excellent case for the roles played by both Aras Ören and the wider Ausländerliteratur community in the German phenomenon which she calls
National governments as institutions in the study of transnational history
Patricia Clavin emphasizes that transnational history allows us t0 explore the history of supra-, trans-, and international institutions. She often references the League of Nations, as well as the United Nations, as heretofore unexplored nexuses for transnational history. However, it
How to Define Transnational History
What is the definition of transnational history? A simple Google search of the phrase produces a myriad of results none offering a clear definition. A result from University College London entertain that they’re a forum for transnational historical research, but
Discussing a Conversation: AHR’s Conversation on Transnational History
The attempt in the American Historical Review to more closely pin down what it means to write transnational history certainly makes for compelling reading as it presents the developing views of six historians with very varied backgrounds on a