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. Acknowledgements. Introduction: The Theory and Practice of World History: Philip Pomper (Wesleyan University). Part I: Mapping the Field: . 1. The Changing Shape of World History: William H. McNeill (University of Chicago). 2. Crossing Boundaries: Ecumenical, World, and Global History: Bruce Mazlish (MIT). 3. Periodizing World History: William A. Green (College of the Holy Cross, Worcester). Part II: Rethinking Structure, Agency, and Ideology: . 4. The World–System Perspective in the Construction of Economic History: Jane Lippman Abu–Lughod (New School of Social Research, New York). 5. Bringing Ideas and Agency Back In: Representation and the Comparative Approach to World History: Michael Adas (Rutgers University). 6. World Histories and the Construction of Collective Identities: S. N. Eisenstadt (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem). 7. Time, Space and Prescriptive Marginality in Muslim Africa: Ritual and Historical Change: Lamin Sanneh (Yale Divinity School). Part III: Unbinding Identities: . 8. History′s Forgotten Doubles: Ashis Nandy (Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi). 9. Identity in World History: A Postmodern Perspective: Lewis D. Wurgaft (Cambridge, Massachusetts). Part IV: Changing Trajectories: . 10. Reflections on the End of History, Five Years Later: Francis Fukuyama (George Mason University). 11. World History, Cultural Relativism, and the Global Future: Theodore H. von Laue (Clark University). References. Notes. Index.

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.