{"id":1636,"date":"2020-02-17T12:00:20","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T12:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/?p=1636"},"modified":"2020-02-17T12:00:25","modified_gmt":"2020-02-17T12:00:25","slug":"microhistory-isnt-actually-little","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/2020\/02\/17\/microhistory-isnt-actually-little\/","title":{"rendered":"Microhistory isn’t actually little"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This week\u2019s readings focused on labels, attempts to try and\nmake send of time and space. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a surprise to anyone that historians\nlove a definition. Even though global history is larger than borders, it still\nis confined to space, and uses existing terms and methodologies with this. The\ndiscussion of space within Space and Scale in Transnational History<\/em> really\nmade me think this week, about how easy it is to get bogged down in the metaphorical.\nIt is easy to detach different schools of thought from reality, which is where\nmicrohistory really stands apart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By rooting an understanding of different actors (an IR term\nbut I couldn\u2019t think of a historical equivalent) and ideas within a localised\nunderstanding, it makes history more accessible. Microhistory gives us access\nto people\u2019s lives. Even though it is global and not confined to borders, does\nnot mean that we do not understand and recognise what they are. I really\nenjoyed Owen\u2019s use of Steven Walsh as a current example of a transnational \u2018connector\u2019.\nEven though he has travelled to several different countries, he is still\nconfined to nations on a spatial level. The national associations help to narrow\ndown the search and make the spread of infection easier to understand.\nAdditionally, his own nationality has assisted in his recovery. There is also\nan element in the fact that he is British, and therefore his treatment and\nsubsequent recovery would perhaps be different that to those who he unknowingly\nhave affected.  These national authorities\nare forced to take responsibility whether they would like to or not. What this\nfurther re-emphasizes is the argument that transnational is still inherently national,\nonly that more players are involved. To disregard national borders is  to disregard space that has been carefully carved\nby previous historians and actors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Microhistory allows\nus to see specific examples and case studies of perhaps much bigger issues.\nGlobal emergencies are only made real when we see individuals. Twenty-four hour\nnews coverage means that often we become detached from stories that are\nconstantly evolving for weeks or months. Yet when the whistle-blower doctor Li WenLiang\ndied of the virus last week, it caused an international outcry against the\nChinese government. It turned a lot of the coverage from fear to rage, anger at\nhow this could have been further prevented. This particular case, his death provokes\nquestions of more than just disease, but wider cultural understanding and the\npolitical climate. Only through a specific lens and focus are we able to debate\nthis, something microhistory allows us to do on a very big scale. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week\u2019s readings focused on labels, attempts to try and make send of time and space. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a surprise to anyone that historians love a definition. Even though global history is larger than borders, it still is<\/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-1636","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-qo","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1636","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=1636"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1637,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1636\/revisions\/1637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/doing\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}