[1]<\/sup><\/a>An absolute must have, in my view, for anyone attempting to negotiate HI2001, or the scope of historical enquiry more generally. Tosh\u2019s work provides several chapters (\u2018Mapping the field\u2019, \u2018The uses of history\u2019 and \u2018Historical awareness\u2019 for example) dedicated to explaining the various subdisciplines of history. <\/p>\n\n\n\nAs far as know, Tosh does not term his work \u2018transnational\u2019. A well-accomplished historiographer however, I thought it useful to weigh his take on transnational history against those insights provided by transnationalists like Patricia Seed and Chris Bayly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From Tosh\u2019s description, I took what I found to be the three most important features of this new and exciting discipline. First, that it provides a basis for challenging the national paradigm of historical analysis, primarily by illuminating the global \u2018networks\u2019 that have shaped aspects of national development. Second, that these transnational \u2018networks\u2019 function at sub, supra and inter \u2013 national levels. That is to say that they exist below, above, in-between or across nations (as a \u2018full range of contacts and influences from abroad\u2019). Third, that transnational history does not discriminate with respect to the \u2018types\u2019 of \u2018network\u2019 it seeks to explore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turning next to the 2006 AHR review (particularly with respect to those comments on the \u2018distinctiveness of transnational history\u2019) my concern about the problem of \u2018doing\u2019 transnational history without a clear definition of the field changed. I found Tosh\u2019s description echoed those provided by the six contributors. Beckert\u2019s account of transnational history as skeptical of what he termed the national \u2018enclosure\u2019 resonated with the idea of decentralizing the national paradigm. The frequency with which terms like \u2018across\u2019, \u2018movement\u2019, \u2018interpenetration\u2019 and \u2018flows\u2019 appeared in relation to the idea of transcending national boundaries was analogous to Tosh\u2019s idea of extra-national forces determining national development. Appadurai\u2019s \u2018space\u2019, or (better perhaps) \u2018spaces\u2019 of \u2018the flows\u2019 was \/ were certainly comparable to what we might be able to describe as \u2018levels\u2019 of transnational interaction (above, below and in-between the nation). It seemed as if there was a good deal of consensus on the character of approach after all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If I could then describe \u2018transnational\u2019 history, might it look something like this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018The study of those extra-national or national historical forces that have moved above, below, between and across national borders\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I liked the idea of using \u2018forces\u2019, instead of targeting \u2018people\u2019 or \u2018goods\u2019 specifically. It left scope for more natural energies (disease or climate change for example): those also capable of moving across national borders at different levels. The idea of using \u2018movement\u2019 also appealed to me. \u2018Flow\u2019 seemed to imply linear or one-sidedness direction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m not quite sure of how fruitful this self-invented exercise has been to the reader, but I do now (fingers crossed) have a much stronger understanding of what transnational history can involve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back then to the original questions I posed at the beginning of this entry (I\u2019ll work backwards). I do think there is a general consensus on the \u2018nature\u2019 of the transnational perspective. Some of the more nuanced expressions however (\u2018forces\u2019 rather than \u2018networks\u2019 for example) that can be used to describe the focus of that perspective itself, might well be subject to contest. As to my first question, I\u2019m ironically beginning to appreciate the lack of a clear-cut definition. It affords the potential for massive, perhaps untraditional analytical scope (something that may serve me well further down the line during the progression of this module). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Admittedly there are still some issues I would like to resolve. Does transnational history seek to understand the flows that shape nations, the nations which shape the flows, or both? Am I right in thinking that the discipline can incorporate \u2018natural\u2019 rather than exclusively \u2018man-made\u2019 \u2018forces\u2019? Does it examine the movement of these \u2018forces\u2019, or their reception in different \/ exclusive national contexts?
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n[1]<\/sup><\/a>Tosh, John, The Pursuit of History: Aims, methods and new directions in the study of history<\/em>(London, 2015).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I have yet to find any clear definition of transnational history, and perhaps this should come as little surprise. The \u2018angle\u2019, \u2018way\u2019, \u2018perspective or \u2018response\u2019 of transnational history is relatively new: not just to me, but the wider academic community<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5wNtZ-hV","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1112,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1111\/revisions\/1112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}