After initially looking at the project proposal and the possible range of ideas I had for my final topic, I realized my main two ideas for the extended essay were actually closely related. First, I wanted to analyse the rates
The Forgotten Fourth Horseman
While doing reading for my upcoming project on the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919, I was struck by something in particular: a glaring lack of information on the subject. One would think that there would be plenty of sources to be
An Indian Villager, An American Sailor, A Frenchwoman, an Opium Trader and an African American On A Ship
Sea of Poppies is a historical novel written by Amitav Ghosh, and is an intriguing study into opium trade, and how it affected the Indians who were involved. It also focuses on indentured servitude of Indians away from the subcontinent
Where to begin?
As I sit here contemplating my project proposal, I have come to wonder exactly what my specific 5000 word essay should be on? There are a number of avenues I would like to explore, and I have
‘I’ll put a girdle round about the earth in forty minutes’ – Doing and Practicing Transnational Theatre
I’ve been kind of running with one of the ideas that I put forward in a previous blog post, about how art is inherently transnational. And specifically, I’ve been pushing towards the idea of a project proposal rather than an
End of Year Project: The Silk Road?
In last week’s seminar, I was considering two possible project ideas. One related to the Silk Road, and the other related to the India-Pakistan partition. At this stage, I’ve done a bit of research on both these ideas, and will
Getting started
I’m starting to sink my teeth into some sources that might lead me in a sensical direction for my project, and along the way I’ve come up with several new ideas and buzzwords. These discoveries all lead me to ask
Microhistory: The Debate
Micro history gained prominence as a school of historical thought during the 1960s and 70s. It essentially seeks to attribute worldwide historical events to smaller, seemingly insignificant occurrences on a micro level. There is a great debate surrounding the effectiveness
Macro micro macro macro micro macro micro micro macro history
Does anyone else have a problem with the fact that these words are basically the same? And also like…so micro means small, right? Which means that macro means big? But then on a camera, right, there is a macro setting.
Review: In search of the Chinese Common Reader. Usable Knowledge and Wondrous Ignorance in the Age of Global Science, Joan Judge (York University Toronto)
I remember doing a module on twentieth century China in year 10 at high school and noted the strong emphasis that my teacher placed on how the state strongly influenced what people read and thought. The primary sources that we
The continuous discontinuity of history’s agent-strands
History is made up of microhistories. If you stand a distance from the tapestry, it might appear that the individual threads make up sweeping stripes –grand movements; irresistible forces— but upon closer inspection, it is apparent that each ‘thread’ has
Microhistory, and [Neglected] Histories?
The following blogpost will consider two aspects of our readings for Tuesday. First, I’ll be talking about utilising microhistory, and its many benefits in historical analysis. Second, I’ll consider the reading regarding the Singapore Mutiny of 1915, and will consider
An Image of the World
Scale is a term that is intrinsically linked to the processes of transnational history. With close links to that of micro-history, scale in the transnational perspective – another crucial component of transnational history – is centred on an inherent fear
The Return of Martin Guerre and Other Thoughts on Microhistory
First of all, I love microhistory. When I saw that one of our readings for this coming week was Tonio Andrade’s “A Chinese Farmer, Two African Boys; and a Warlord: Toward a Global Microhistory” I was enthusiastic to see how
The instance of the abstract: when accuracy is inconvenient
How accurate does history need to be in order to be valid? How accurate can it be? In the face of the concept of transnational history, and the implications that some of its wider-reaching premises bring to bear upon much