World History: Ideologies, Structures, and Identities

World history is currently one of the most exciting areas of discussion amongst historians. In this book some of the most distinguished scholars and public intellectuals in the field present magisterial overviews and innovative approaches to the key problems of world history. Others offer radical postmodern and postcolonial critiques of holism, identity, and Western "scientific" history in favor of a different kind of universalism. The collection thus presents both the development of the field and current lively debates within it, challenging readers to rethink their notions about the direction, meanings, and uses of world history. The book is intended to stimulate lively discussion among both teachers and students and to suggest new ways to conceptualize and organize their study of world history. It will be welcomed by all those interested in teaching history courses attuned to the global era in which we live.

List of Contributors vii Acknowledgements ix Introduction: The Theory and Practice of World History 1 Philip Pomper Part 1 Mapping the Field 1 The Changing Shape of World History 21 William H. McNeill 2 Crossing Boundaries: Ecumenical, World, and Global History 41 Bruce Mazlish 3 Periodizing World History 53 William A. Green Part II Rethinking Structure, Agency, and Ideology 4 The World–System Perspective in the Construction of Economic History 69 Janet Lippman Abu–Lughod 5 Bringing Ideas and Agency Back In: Representation and the Comparative Approach to World History 81 Michael Adas 6 World Histories and the Construction of Collective Identities 105 S. N. Eisenstadt Part II Unbinding Identities 8 History’s Forgotten Doubles 159 Ashis Nandy 9 Identify in World History: A Postmodern Perspective 179 Lewis D. Wurgaft Part IV Charting Trajectories 10 World History, Cultural Relativism, and the Global Future 217 Theodore H. Von Laue Notes 235 Index 272

Philip Pomper is William F. Armstrong Professor of History at Wesleyan University. He is also Associate Editor of History and Theory. He has written primarily on the Russian revolutionary intelligentsia and on the uses of psychology in history. Richard H. Elphick is Professor of History at Wesleyan Univeristy. He has written on the origins of white dominance in Southern Africa and on the history of Liberalism and Christianity in the region. He is currently interested in missions and Christianity in world history. Richard T. Vann is Professor of History and letters at Wesleyan University. He is Senior Editor of History and Theory and has written on the history of family life in a world perspective.