Wesleyan University
THE RETURN OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY
Author(s): DAVID CHRISTIAN
Source: History and Theory, Vol. 49, No. 4, Theme Issue 49: History and Theory: The Next Fifty
Years (December 2010), pp. 6-27
Published by: Wiley for Wesleyan University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41300047
Accessed: 10-01-2016 22:56 UTC
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andTheory,
Theme
Issue
49(December
6-27
History
2010),
©Wesleyan
2010
ISSN:
0018-2656
University
THE RETURN OF UNIVERSAL HISTORY
DAVID CHRISTIAN
ABSTRACT
Theprediction
inthispaperis thatoverthenextfifty
defended
yearswewillseea return
oftheancient
tradition
of"universal
butthiswillbe a newform
ofuniversal
history";
thatis globalinitspractice
andscientific
initsspirit
andmethods.
Untiltheend
history
ofthenineteenth
universal
in
ofsomekindseemstohavebeenpresent
century,
history
mosthistoriographical
traditions.
Thenitvanished
as historians
becamedisillusioned
with
thesearch
forgrand
historical
narratives
andbegantofocusinstead
thedetails
ongetting
document-based
research.
there
aremanysignsofa return
however,
right
through
Today,
touniversal
Thishasbeenmadepossible,
atleastinpart,
history.
bythedetailed
empirical
inthelastcentury
inmany
research
undertaken
different
andalsobythecreation
of
fields,
newmethods
ofabsolute
that
do
not
on
the
of
written
documents.
The
dating
rely
presence
lastpartofthepaperexplores
someofthepossible
forhistorical
consequences
scholarship
ofa return
form
a closerintegratoa new,scientific
ofuniversal
Thesemayinclude
history.
tionofhistorical
withthemorehistorically
oriented
ofthesciences,
scholarship
including
and
raises
the
the
thatuniversal
cosmology,
geology, biology.
Finally, paper
possibility
inhighschools,
betaught
where
itwillprovide
a powerful
newway
history
mayeventually
thehumanities
ofintegrating
from
andthesciences.
knowledge
universal
world
creation
Keywords:
history,
history,
bighistory,
historiography,
myth
The historian's
businessis to knowthepast,notto knowthefuture,
and
in advance
whenever
historians
claimto be able to determine
thefuture
ofitshappening,
we mayknowwithcertainty
thatsomething
hasgonewrong
withtheir
fundamental
of
conceptionhistory.
- R. G. Colling
TheIdeaofHistory*
wood,from
I. INTRODUCTION
ANDA PREDICTION
How willhistorical
andteachingevolveoverthenextfifty
scholarship
years?As
I writethisI can hearthespecterof R. G. Collingwoodtut-tutting
somewhere
behindthewainscot.By thetimeI have finished
thisessayI suspectotherswill
all tut-tutting
havejoinedhim(G. R. Elton,perhaps?orJean-Francois
Lyotard?),
in
an
frenzied
I
want
thank
chorus.
to
theeditorsofHistory
and
away
increasingly
1.R.G.Collingwood,
TheIdeaofHistory,
rev.ed.,ed.JanVanderDussen
andNew
(Oxford
54.Collingwood
that
the
York:
Oxford
historians
whotry
topredict
Press,
1994),
University
argues
future
havefallen
forthedeterministic
sciences
andhavelostsight
ofhuman
logicofthenatural
agency.
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THERETURN
OFUNIVERSAL
HISTORY
7
us to breakwiththisparticular
convenTheoryforencouraging
historiographical
tion.
betweena letterto Santaand a genuineattempt
at
My essayfallssomewhere
is
this:
a
in
historical
scholarprediction.
My wish/prediction
majordevelopment
of whatwas once
shipand teachingoverthenextfifty
yearswill be thereturn
called"universalhistory."
Butthiswillbe a newformof universalhistory
thatis
in
its
and
scientific
in
its
and
methods.
global
practice
spirit
ThePrediction:TheReturnofUniversalHistory
I defineuniversalhistoryas the attempt
to understand
thepast at all possible
andto do so in waysthatdo justicebothto the
scales,up to thoseofcosmology,
and specificity
of thepast and also to thelargepatterns
thathelp
contingency
makesenseofthedetails.2
I predictthatinfifty
willunderstand
thatitis possible
years'time,all historians
and fruitful
to explorethepaston multiplescales, manyextendingfarbeyond
Braudel'slongueduree, by reachingback to theoriginsof our species,theoriginsof theearth,and eventheoriginsof thecosmos.The newuniversalhistory
willtranscend
thepowerfulintellecboundaries,
existingdisciplinary
exploiting
tual synergies
availableto thosewillingto deploythemethodsand insightsof
as one memberof a largefamily
multipledisciplines.It willtreathumanhistory
of historical
and
disciplinesthatincludesbiology,theearthsciences,astronomy,
it
will
blur
the
borderline
between
and
the
natural
so,
cosmology.
By doing
history
sciences(a borderline
rediscovers
an
Collingwoodtookveryseriously)as history
in deep,evenlaw-likepatterns
interest
ofchange.3
In thisexpandedform,history
willhavea powerful
impacton publicthinking
aboutthepastbecause it will beginto play a role similarto thatof traditional
creationstories:it will aspireto createa map of thepastas a whole.Thatmap
will allow individualsand communities
theworldto see themselves
throughout
as partoftheevolvingstoryofan entireuniverse,
justas theyoncemappedthemselveson to thecosmologiesofdifferent
fromthedreamtime
religioustraditions,
storiesofindigenous
Australians
to thePtolemaicmapsof medievalChristianity.
The newuniversalhistory
willcontaina clearvisionofhumanity
as a whole,for
withinitsuniversalmapsof thepastit willbe easy to see thatall humanbeings
sharea common,andquitedistinctive,
of thissharedhishistory.
Understanding
2. MamieHughesfour
definitions
of"universal
"a
Warrington
distinguishes
possible
history":
andperhaps
alsounified
oftheknown
world
oruniverse;
... a history
that
comprehensive
history
illuminates
orprinciples
that
arethought
tobelong
tothewhole
... a history
truths,
ideals,
world;
oftheworld
unified
ofa single
and... a history
oftheworld
that
haspassed
mind;
bytheworkings
down
anunbroken
lineoftransmission."
Berkshire
,ed.W.
through
Encyclopedia
ofWorld
History
H. McNeill
MA:Berkshire
(Great
2005),V,2096.I usethephrase
Barrington,
Publishing
Group,
inthefirst
ofthese
four
senses.
primarily
3.Collingwood
that
dealt
with
anunpredictable
world
ofconscious
actsrather
than
argued
history
events.
Thehistorian's
wasnottoseekgeneral
butto"penetrate"
laws,
law-governed
goal,therefore,
thethoughts
that
motivated
That
waswhy
historians
seemed
tooccupy
a different
pastactions.
episteuniverse
natural
from
scientists
TheIdeaofHistory,
this
distincmological
214).Why
(Collingwood,
isnolonger
tion
tenable
isdiscussed
inDipesh
"TheClimate
ofHistory:
Four
elegantly
Chakrabarty,
Critical
35(Winter
thanks
toDr.KimYong-Woo
ofEwha
Theses,"
201ff.;
2009),197-222,
Inquiry
Institute
ofWorld
andGlobal
foralerting
metothis
article.
University's
History
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8
DAVIDCHRISTIAN
justas nationalist
torywillhelpeducatorsgeneratea senseof globalcitizenship,
nation-states.
withindifferent
oncecreateda senseofsolidarity
historiography
withsomeconfidence
I makethesepredictions
because,in variousguisesand
undervariousnames,such scholarshipis alreadyemerging,
thoughit remains
Aftera centuryand
historians.
of professional
marginalwithinthecommunity
historicalfields,it is
moreof detailedempiricalscholarshipin manydifferent
accountsofthepastatverylargescaleswitha precision
nowpossibletoconstruct
It is also apparentthatthe
in
thelate nineteenth
unattainable
and rigor
century.
newuniversalhistory
enoughto
mayyieldresultsthatareexcitingandprofound
ofthepast.
transform
ourunderstanding
HISTORY
OFUNIVERSAL
II.A SHORTHISTORY
TheAbsenceofUniversalHistoryToday
: youmakeone
so suddenly
'tkeepappearing
andvanishing
"I wishyouwouldn
"All
this
time
it
vanished
the
and
said
Cat
,be;
quiteslowly
quitegiddy" right,"
remained
some
withthegrin
withtheendofthetail, andending
, which
ginning
therestofithadgone.
timeafter
64
-Alice inWonderland
,chapter
withinthehistory
has aboutas muchvisibility
profession
Today,universal
history
Jean-Franas theCheshirecat'sgrin.In 1979,theFrenchpost-modernist
theorist,
has lostitscredibilfamouslyannouncedthat"thegrandnarrative
goisLyotard,
referred
to"thevirtualabandonment
As recently
as 2005,BarbaraWeinstein
ity."5
text
ofAliceinWonderland:
4. From
theGutenberg
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rgs/aliceProject
1866.
Tenniel's
from
areSirJohn
table.html.
12,2010).Theillustrations
(accessed
July
Geoff
onKnowledge
A Report
ThePostmodern
Condition:
5. Jean-Francis
, transl.
Lyotard,
cited
ofMinnesota
Massumi
andBrian
xxiii,
xxiv,
Press,
1984),
University
(Minneapolis:
Bennington
andthePeople
without
"InSearch
Postmodernism
Kerwin
LeeKlein,
ofNarrative
from
Mastery:
Dunstall
for
toAndrew
andTheory
283;mythanks
34,no.4 (1995),275-298,
History
History,"
article.
metothis
alerting
important
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THERETURN
OFUNIVERSAL
HISTORY
9
bent "6
ofthegrandnarrative
tradition
ofa strong
theoretical
amonghistorians
seemsa naive,archaic,andoutdatedformof
To mosthistorians,
universalhistory
historical
as thedisciplineof
abandoned,
thought,
alongwithchroniclewriting,
matured
a
into
branch
of
inthelateninemodern,
history
professional
scholarship
teenthcentury.
Universalhistory
makesoccasionalspookyappearances,
perhaps
in undergraduate
courseson historiography,
butitsoonvanishes,leavingbehind,
likeripplesin theair,a fewderisiveremarksaboutthefailingsof a Toynbeeor
a Spengler.HughTrevor-Roper
whenhe recapturedtheseattitudes
perfectly
markedofToynbee'sStudyofHistory,
that"as a dollarearner... itrankssecond
onlyto whiskey."7
One signof thecompleteness
withwhichuniversalhistory
has vanishedfrom
thepracticeof professional
is theinterest
historians
shownin FernandBraudel's
readlongueduree.I remember
vividlythesenseofspaciousnessI feltwhenfirst
his
wonderful
volumes
on
the
Mediterranean.
That
Braudel
is
often
taken
so
ing
as a modelforhistorical
at largescales is tellingbecause,measured
scholarship
Braudel's longueduree is not very
againstthe timescales of humanhistory,
in a humanhistory
thatextendsback at least60,000
longue: justa fewcenturies
and
William
McNeill's
worldhistory,
200,000
years
perhaps
years.8
pioneering
TheRise of theWest
was
so
in
,
exciting partbecause itsscales wereeven more
spaciousthanthoseofBraudel.
Eventheboomingfieldofworldhistory
focusesmainlyon themodernera,and
fewworldhistorians
are comfortable
withtheidea thatworldhistorymighttry
to embracethewholeof history.9
In a recentsurvey,
PatrickManninginsiststhat
"Worldhistory
is farless thanthesumtotalofall history."10
1 suspectmostworld
historians
shareManning'scaution,preferring
to defineworldhistoryin ways
morecompatiblewiththemethodsof detailedarchivalresearchthatdominate
modernhistorical
scholarship.
6. Barbara
without
a Cause?Grand
World
andthe
Weinstein,
Narratives,
"History
History,
Postcolonial
International
Review
50(2005),
71.
Dilemma,"
ofSocialHistory
7. Cited
from
Gilbert
"Toward
World
American
Historians
andtheComing
Allardyce,
History:
oftheWorld
Course"
inTheNewWorld
andNew
,ed.RossDunn(Boston
[1990],
History
History
York:
Bedford/St.
30.
Martin's,
2000),
8. Forarguments
alternative
datesfortheorigins
ofourspecies
the
(andtherefore
defending
ofhuman
seeRichard
Kleinwith
BlakeEdgar,
TheDawnofHuman
Culture
beginnings
history),
John
andSons,2002),
andSallyMcBrearty
andAlison
"TheRevolution
(NewYork:
Brooks,
Wiley
ThatWasn't:
A NewInterpretation
oftheOrigin
ofModern
Human
Journal
Behavior,"
ofHuman
Evolution
39(2000),
there
isa summary
ofthis
debate
inPaulPettit,
"TheRiseofModern
453-563;
inTheHuman
Past:World
andtheDevelopment
Societies
Humans,"
,ed.Chris
Prehistory
ofHuman
Scarre
Thames
andHudson,
4.
(London:
2005),
chap.
9.Jerry
theeditor
oftheJournal
that
ofthe195
,notes
Bentley,
ofWorld
History
onlyseventeen
articles
inthat
between
1990and2006dealtwith
before
1500.Bentley
published
journal
periods
addsthat
this"isnotsurprising
. . . sincemost
historians
work
inthese
erasforwhich
professional
abundant
documentation
andsource
materials
survive."
Ata conference
onworld
relatively
history
research
inNovember
four
ofthirty-six
discussed
2006,
organized
byPatrick
Manning
only
presenters
research
work
onerasbefore
1500.SeeGlobal
Practice
inWorld
Advances
Worldwide
,ed.
History:
Patrick
Markus
20and133-134.
(Princeton:
Wiener,
2008),
Manning
10.Patrick
World
Historians
Create
a Global
Past(NewYork
and
Manning,
Navigating
History:
UK:Palgrave
Macmillan,
2003),3.
Basingstoke,
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10
DAVIDCHRISTIAN
WhytheAbsenceofUniversalHistoryis so Curious
The executioner's
was, thatyou couldn'tcut offa head unless
argument
therewas a bodyto cut it offfrom:thathe had neverhad to do such
a thingbefore
, and he wasn'tgoingto beginat his timeof life.The
was, thatanything
thathad a head couldbe beheaded
,
King'sargument
'ttotalknonsense.
andthatyouweren
-Alice inWonderland
8
,chapter
evennoticeits
thatfewhistorians
has vanishedso completely
Universalhistory
on largerscales,the
absence.Yetifwe surveytheevolutionofhistorical
thought
curious.I saythisbecausebelooksdistinctly
ofuniversalhistory
disappearance
universalhistory
forethelatenineteenth
(as I havedefinedit) pervaded
century,
in mosthumansocieties,and thereasonsforexpellingit were
historical
thought
thanis oftenassumed.
less compelling
tooktheformof whatwe somewhat
In non-literate
societiesuniversalhistory
touse thebestavailableknowledge
call "creation
myths"-attempts
patronizingly
Universalhistories
to place societywithina large,oftencosmological,context.11
in
withinall literatetraditions,
werealso constructed
usually tensionwithmore
histories
of
focused
groups,regions,oreras(a tensionWilliam
particular
sharply
relithat
hadalready
11.A century
including
primitive
"belief-systems,
argued
ago,Durkheim
a
HisLifeandWork,
EmileDurkheim:
Steven
betreated
as cosmologies."
should
Lukes,
gions,
ina
449.Morerecently,
Stanford
Historical
andCritical
Press,
1985),
(Stanford:
Study
University
American
suchas those
oftheSouth
claim
that
creation
ofLyotard's
Cashinahua,
myths,
critique
theglobalized
from
that
thisseems
true
as"little
Kleininsists
beregarded
should
stories,"
peronly
areconcerned,
'TheHistory
oftheCashinahua'
world.
"SofarastheCashinahua
oftoday's
spective
between
them.
there
is nodifference
areinterchangeable
and'TheHistory
ofHumanity'
phrases;
on'rigid
as 'local'orcentered
ofsuchstories
andLyotard's
are'universal
Both
designation
history,'
that
havebelieved
intervention
reflects
a retrospective,
ironic
(theCashinahua
they
may
designators'
vaster
isa much
butwemoderns
know
alonewere
Klein,
better;
human,
category)."
humanity
truly
285.
"InSearch
ofNarrative
Mastery,"
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THERETURN
OFUNIVERSAL
HISTORY
11
McNeill findsin thecontrasting
of Herodotusand Thucydides).12
perspectives
Universalhistoriescan be foundin theMuslimworld(in theworkof Tabari,
Rashidal-Din,and Ibn Khaldun),or in theencyclopedic
tradition
of Chineseofficialhistoriography,
or inthechronicles
ofMesoamerica.13
In theMuslimworld,
dynastichistories
customarily
mergedintoa sacredversionof universalhistory.
We can takeas a moreorless randomexamplea nineteenth-century
ofthe
history
of
the
Firdaus
or
"Paradise
of
This
Khiva,
Qonghirat
dynasty
ul-Iqbal,
Felicity."14
the
and
of
the
but
it
surveys military dynastic
history
Qonghirats,
beginswiththe
traditional
Muslimaccountofthecreationoftheearthandthefirst
Adam
humans,
andEve. It tracesthathistory
the
of
Noah's
and
son,
through lineage
Japheth, his
eldestson,Turk,through
tothetimeofOghuzKhanwhosefirst
wordwas "Allah"
andwhorestored
thetruefaithinCentralAsia. One ofOghuzKhan'sdescendants
wouldbe Qonghirat,
thefounder
oftherulingdynasty
ofKhivain thenineteenth
another
would
be
the
of
the
century;
progenitor
lineageof GenghisKhan.The
resultwas to map Khiva and CentralAsia in generalwithina worldthathad
been returned
to thetruepath
alwaysbeen Muslim,butwhichhad periodically
theheroicactivity
ofgreatandpiousrulers.Morespecifically,
through
bytracing
theQonghirats
to a lineageseniorto thatof theChingissids,it legitimizedthe
1804 seizureofpowerin KhivabyEltiizerKhanfroma lineageclaimingChingissidantecedents.15
By linkingthepresentto thepastas a whole,suchhistories
madesenseofthecontemporary
worldat thetime.
Raoul Mortleyhas tracedtheemergenceof a self-conscious
tradition
of universalhistory
in theMediterranean
world,soon aftertheconquestsofAlexander
theGreat.16
Christian
historical
was organizedarounda paradigmatic
unithought
versalhistory
constructed
in thetimeofAugustine.
This wouldframeEuropean
historical
untiltheEnlightenment,
as itframesChristian
fundamentalism
thinking
ofhistory
as in principlethehistoday.As Collingwoodputsit:"The conception
The symbolof thisuniversalism
toryof theworld. . . becamea commonplace.
is theadoptionof a singleuniversalchronological
framework
forall historical
events.The singleuniversalchronology,
invented
byIsidoreofSevilleintheseventhcentury
andpopularizedbytheVenerableBede in theeighth,datingevery12.William
"TheChanging
ofWorld
andTheory,
Theme
Issue
McNeill,
Shape
History,"
History
Historians
andTheir
Critics
8-26.
34,World
(May1995),
13.Marnie
World
inBerkshire
HughesWarrington,
"Writing
History,"
Encyclopedia
ofWorld
McNeill
MA:Berkshire
,ed.William
(Great
History
2004),V,2095Barrington,
Publishing
Group,
2103.Onthehistoriography
ofbighistory,
seeMarnie
inSocial
HughesWarrington,
"BigHistory,"
Evolution
andHistory
Donald
7-21(alsoavailable
in
4,no.1 (Spring
2005),ed.Graeme
Snooks,
"TheChanging
[November,
2002],16-17,
20];seealsoMcNeill,
Historically
Speaking
Shapeof
World
that
thesacred
orphilosophical
histories
ofall
History,"
particularly
pp.8-9fortheargument
theworld's
traditions
allproduced
accounts
that
canlegitimately
bedescribed
major
historiographical
as"world
histories."
14.Described
in"Islam
inCentral
Islamafter
Communism
Asia,"inAdeebKhalid,
(Berkeley:
ofCalifornia
Press,
2009),19-20.
University
15.Adeeb
"Nation
into
TheOrigins
ofNational
inCentral
Khalid,
Asia,"
History:
Historiography
inDevout
Societies
vs.Impious
States?
Islamic
inRussia,
Central
Asiaand
Transmitting
Learning
theTwentieth
A.Dudoignon
KlausSchwarz
China,
, ed.Stephane
through
(Berlin:
century
Verlag,
2004),131.
16.RaoulMortley,
TheIdeaofUniversal
Hellenistic
toEarly
Christian
History
from
Philosophy
NY:Edwin
Mellen
(Lewiston,
Press,
1996).
Historiography
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12
DAVIDCHRISTIAN
and backwardfromthebirthof Christ,stillshowswheretheidea
thingforward
camefrom."17
BruceMazlisharguesthatBishopBossuet'sDiscourseon UniversalHistory
,
in
the
"last
of
this
tradition.18
historiographical
gasp"
published 1681,represents
wouldflourish
foranothertwocenturies
But secularformsof universalhistory
andinthehandsofthegreatnineteenth-century
system
duringtheEnlightenment
buildersfromHegel to Marxand Spencer.FredSpierhas notedthatAlexander
of theuniverse."In
"a cosmicalhistory
vonHumboldtbegan,butdid notfinish,
theintroduction
to thefirstvolume,publishedin 1845,Humboldtsummarized
nebuhisaims:"Beginningwiththedepthsof space andtheregionsof remotest
which
solar
the
zone
to
our
we
will
descend
lae,
system
through starry
gradually
circledby airand ocean,thereto direct
spheroid,
belongs,to ourown terrestrial
and magnetictension,and to considerthe
ourattention
to itsform,temperature,
initselfuponitssurfacebeneaththevivifying
fullnessof organiclifeunfolding
EvenLeopoldvonRanke,theiconicpioneerofarchive-based
fluenceoflight."19
andattheend
ofuniversalhistory,
understood
theimportance
research,
empirical
Earlierin his career,he wrotethat
sucha history.
of his lifehe even attempted
relanotinitsparticular
thepastlifeofmankind,
"Universalhistory
comprehends
The
of
universal
butin itsfullnessandtotality. discipline
tionsandtrends,
history
the
whileinvestigating
differs
fromspecializedresearchin thatuniversalhistory,
which
it
is
the
on
never
loses
of
whole,
working."20
sight
complete
particular
historians
Then,towardtheendofthenineteenth
expelled
century,
professional
fromthediscipline.Since thenit has languishedin exile,deuniversalhistory
suchas H. G.
and practicedonlyby mavericks
historians
spisedbyprofessional
Wellsor HendrikWillemvan Loon, whoseengagingwriting
styleand financial
was.21
their
historical
as
how
bad
successwereoftentaken proofof
scholarship
was an important
The expulsionofuniversalhistory
partoftheprocessbywhich
As GilbertAlcredentials.
its"scientific"
demonstrated
thedisciplineof history
in
the
and
itself
"The
new
defined
writes:
apprentices
history
against old,
lardyce
in suslearnedtoholdworldhistory
thevocation,rearedon specializedresearch,
In thesecond
and metahistorical."22
outmoded,
overblown,
picionas something
a similarfate,and
suffered
othermacro-narratives
halfof thetwentieth
century,
51.
17.Colling
TheIdeaofHistory,
wood,
Histories
inPalgrave
Advances
in World
18.BruceMazlish,
, ed.Marnie
"Terms,"
Hugheshistories
ofthesev20-23.
Onuniversal
UK:Palgrave
Macmillan,
2005),
Warrington
(Basingstoke,
volution
from
Counter-Re
seeTamara
"Universal
enteenth
andeighteenth
centuries,
History
Griggs,
219-247.
Modern
Intellectual
toEnlightenment,"
4,no.2 (2007),
History
MA:Wiley-Blackwell,
andtheFuture
19.FredSpier,
2010),
(Maiden,
ofHumanity
BigHistory
10.
FromVoltaire
tothePresent
cited
from
TheVarieties
20.Leopold
vonRanke,
, ed.
ofHistory:
61-62.
andNewYork:
World
Fritz
Stern
1956),
(Cleveland
Company,
Publishing
with
facts.
vulnerable
tothecharge
ofcarelessness
21.VanLoonwasparticularly
30.On
inDunn,
Toward
World
22.Cited
from
ed.,TheNewWorld
History,
History,
Allardyce,
"scientific"
and"literary"
between
andpolicing
a clearborder
ofestablishing
thecomplex
process
Work
Disease:
Froude's
inEngland,
seeIanHesketh,
tohistory
Boundary
"Diagnosing
approaches
47 (October
andTheory
inLateofHistory
Victorian
andtheDiscipline
Britain,"
2008),
History
373-395.
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THERETURN
OFUNIVERSAL
HISTORY
13
"A chorusofcriticism
evensciencecameundersuspicion.23
consignedthegrand
or meta-narrative
if nothistory. . . ; postmodto thedustbinof historiography,
ernistsof variousstripesquestionedwhetherhistoricalnarratives
could escape
theteleologicaltendenciesof themasternarrative
of theWestern/liberal
tradia leadingpostcolonialtheorist
has denouncedall historicism,
tion;and recently
as incurably
Eurocentric."24
As R. I. Mooreputsit,"muchofthe
broadlydefined,
resistance
to worldhistory
historians
has arisen. . . fromthe
amongprofessional
fearthattheattempt
tograpplewithquestionstoolargetobe tackledbymeansof
thecriticalappraisalde novoof therelevantprimary
sources,. . . mightlead to a
of
the
and
sinister
structures
thattheyassociate
resurgence
grandiose
speculative
with
the
names
of
and
pre-eminently
Spengler Toynbee."25
Whydid UniversalHistoryDisappear?
Seen in thisbroadhistoriographical
of universalhiscontext,thedisappearance
is
curious
and
needs
to
be
did
it
vanish?
tory
explained.Why
I am no specialistin nineteenth-century
so I offertheideasthat
historiography,
followtentatively.
does notdependon theiracHowever,myoverallargument
in theperfectstormthat
curacy.My hunchis thatthemostpowerfulcurrents
blewuniversalhistory
were:
a
concern
for"scientific"
1) growing
away
rigor,2)
and3) therapidinstitutionalization
of"Rankean"methodsofteachnationalism,
ingandresearch.26
In theeighteenth
and nineteenth
thosewhoattempted
universalhiscenturies,
toriesdidso partlyinthehopeofturning
itselfintoa scienceas powerful,
history
as scientific,
andas law-governed
as physicsorbiology.By theendofthecentury,
mosthistorians
however,
beganto suspectthatthespeculativeandsubjectiveelementsin thesenarratives
theirscientific
outweighed
rigor.As Popperwouldarevento refute.
gue,theyweretoorubbery
Theyfailedas science,andthisfailure
reverberated
theembryonic
Historianslowered
throughout
disciplineof history.
theirsights,insisting
thatfactualrigormustprecedehightheory.
At the1900 International
of
Henri
"We wantnothing
Congress Historians,
Houssayethundered:
moreto do withtheapproximations
of hypotheses,
uselesssystems,
theoriesas
brilliant
as theyare deceptive,superfluous
moralities.
Facts,facts,facts- which
theirlessonandtheirphilosophy.
The truth,
all thetruth,
carrywithinthemselves
became the dominant
nothingbut thetruth."27
Houssaye's naive inductionism
23.Seethesurvey
ofthis
inJoyce
transition
andMargaret
the
Hunt,
Jacob,
Appleby,
Lynn
Telling
Truth
about
W.W.Norton
& Co.,1994).
(NewYork:
History
24.Weinstein,
a Cause?,
without
inthelastsentence
ofthispassage
71;thereference
"History
istoDipesh
Postcolonial
andHistorical
Chakrabarty,
Provincializing
Europe:
Thought
Difference
Princeton
(Princeton:
Press,
2000).
University
25.R.I. Moore,
"World
inCompanion
toHistoriography
,ed.Michael
(London
History,"
Bentley
andNewYork:
942-943.
Routledge,
1997),
26.Tamara
that
theculprit
wasEurocentrism
andthat
theprocess
inthe
Griggs
argues
began
"World
as wefind
ittoday
isnolonger
intheuniversal.
anchored
More
eighteenth
century:
history
ithaslostitscenter
andthisdecentering
wasdoneinresponse
totheEuropean-progress
recently,
histories
launched
inthe1750s."
"Universal
from
Counter-Revolution
toEnlightenment,"
History
246-247.
27.CitedinPeter
ThatNobleDream:The"Objectivity
andtheAmerican
Novick,
Question"
Historical
UK:Cambridge
37-38.
Press,
Profession
1988),
(Cambridge,
University
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14
DAVIDCHRISTIAN
in theearlytwentieth
To
century.
methodological
sloganofhistorical
scholarship
wouldhavetonarrowtheir
demonstrate
theirscientific
itseemed,historians
rigor,
to the
Introduction
fieldof visionand setmoremodestgoals. In theirinfluential
"The
historian
written
in
and
wrote:
1898,Langlois
StudyofHistory,
Seignobos
workswithdocuments.Documentsare thetraceswhichhave been leftby the
no history."28
times... No documents,
and actionsof menof former
thoughts
This methodological
asceticismruledout universalhistory
for,as Langloisand
thehistory
ofimmenseperiodsin
Seignobospointedout,"Forwantofdocuments
unknown."29
is destinedto remainforever
thepastofhumanity
But
the"empiricalturn"of thelatenineteenth
It is easy to caricature
century.
seemedto have workedwell
thatsimilarstrategies
it is important
to remember
Yethe never
in thenaturalsciences.Darwinwas a superbempiricalresearcher.30
he
lostsightof theultimategoal of a unifying
paradigm.In his autobiography,
has beennearlyas greatas itcouldhavebeenin the
did writethat"My industry
andcollectionoffacts,"buthe also addedthat"Frommyearlyyouth
observation
I observed,that
orexplainwhatever
I havehadthestrongest
desireto understand
is,togroupall factsundersomegenerallaws.Thesecausescombinedhavegiven
ofyearsoveranyunexplained
orponderforanynumber
methepatiencetoreflect
Darwin's
it
In thelightof
experience, was perhapsnotso naiveto
problem."31
ofaccurateinformation
mightproduceequally
hopethatthepatientaccumulation
in
ideas
history.
paradigm
powerful
itsfocuswithout
narrowed
Butthat'snotwhathappened.Historicalscholarship
newunifying
ideas,andthedisciplinebrokeintomanyisolatedislands
generating
consensusaboutthefundamental
of knowledge.Historianslost any remaining
and
themes
of
their
discipline.In a recentreviewarticle,
questions,problems,
the
result:
likeotherfieldsin thesocialsciences
"History,
GeorgIggersdescribes
is caughtin an ironcage of increasingprofessionalization
and thehumanities,
of
withall thelimitstheyset on theimaginative
and specialization
exploration
knowledge."32
a historical
focus.Itoffered
thenarrowing
ofscholarly
Nationalism
encouraged
to
thatsetclear,manageable,evenalluringboundaries
object- thenation-statebecause
of
amounts
of
attracted
historical
research,
funding
government
significant
theattention
ofa widereadership
inpubliceducation,
andattracted
itsimportance
also offered
Nationalism
inthehistory
ofitsownimaginedcommunity.
interested
an artificial
senseofwholeness.
thedisciplineofhistory
The shifttowardsmall-scaleempiricalresearchwas rapidlyinstitutionalized.
notas peopleof broadlearning.
"Historianswerenow trainedas professionals,
110,no.
Review
American
Historical
inDaniel
"IntheGrip
ofSacred
28.Cited
Smail,
History,"
5 (December
2005),1350-1351.
29.Ibid.
Jonathan
s superb
Darwin
Browne
Charles
30.SeeJanet
, 2 vols.(London:
Cape,
biography,
2002).
andR.B. Freeman,
29vols.(NewYork:
Darwin
31.TheWorks
, ed.PaulH.Barrett
ofCharles
NewYork
XXIX,159.
Press,
1986-1989),
University
review
intheTwentieth
32.Georg
essayofLutzRaphael,
Century,"
"Historiography
Iggers,
von1900biszur
imZeiltalter
derExtreme:
Tendenzen
Methoden;
Theorien;
Geschichtswissenschaft
471.
andTheory
C. H.Beck,
44,no.3 (2005),
2003),
(Munich:
History
Gegenwart
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THERETURN
OFUNIVERSAL
HISTORY
15
Careerpatterns
wereestablished.
Scholarlyjournalswerefoundedwhich,unlike
those of the eighteenth
addresseda professionalreadership."33
The
century,
appearanceof specialistjournals,theriteof passageof thedoctoraldissertation
based on archivalsources,theincreasing
respectforprecisionoverrelevancethesetraditions
leftno roomforthegrandnarratives
of universalhistory.
In an
introduction
to Historyand Theory's1995 "stock-take"
on the stateof world
revolutionsqueezed
history,
PhilipPomperdescribeshow thismethodological
out universalhistory.
"The taskof grandsynthesisrequireshedgehogs,Isaiah
Berlin'sgreatsystem-builders
or holists,whereasthehistory
attracts
profession
whorelishdetailandparticularity."34
foxes,Berlin'sthinkers
III.THERETURN
OFUNIVERSAL
HISTORY
[S]henoticeda curiousappearancein theair: it puzzledher verymuch
atfirst
ita minute
or two, shemadeitoutto be a grin
, but,afterwatching
,
and she said to herself"It'stheCheshire
Cat: nowI shallhavesomebody
to talkto." "How are you getting
on?" said theCat, as soon as there
was mouthenoughfor it to speak with.Alice waitedtill the eyes
"till
to it,"she thought,
, and thennodded."It'sno use speaking
appeared
itsears havecome,or at leastone of them."In another
minute
thewhole
head appeared,and thenAlice put downherflamingo,
and began an
account
tolisten
toher.
ofthegame,
feeling
very
gladshehadsomeone
-Alice inWonderland
8
,chapter
In an interview
withVed Mehtain theearly1960s,ArnoldToynbeeinsistedthat
thedisappearance
ofuniversalhistory
was a temporary
aberration:
he comforted
himself
withthethought
thatthedaysofthemicroscope
historians
were
numbered.
itornot,hadsacrificed
all generalizaprobably
They,whether
theyadmitted
tionsforpatchwork,
relative
andtheythought
ofhuman
as incomknowledge,
experience
chaos.Butintheperspective
ofhistoriography,
were
in
the
and
prehensible
they
minority,
in company
withSt. Augustinehe feltmostakinto him-Polybius,
Toynbee,
Roger
wasinthemajority.35
Bacon,andIbnKhaldun,
Toynbeewas right.Like theCheshireCat, universalhistoryis reappearing,
withtheeasybits.In recentyearstherehas beena resurgence
oflargebeginning
scale narratives
in worldhistory,
trans-national
macroglobal history,
history,
or
whatever
we
choose
to
call
it.
In
1995,PhilipPomperdescribedworld
history,
"36In 2009,
as "a livelyandcreative,
butstillsmallsubdiscipline
ofhistory
history
fourteen
is flourishing,
andnotjustin theUSA.37
yearslater,worldhistory
33.Ibid.,
470.
34.Philip
"World
andItsCritics,"
introduction
toHistory
andTheory
Pomper,
, Theme
History
Issue34,World
Historians
andTheir
Critics
(May1995),1-2.
35.VedMehta,
Encounters
with
British
Intellectuals
FlyandtheFly-Bottle:
Little,
(Boston:
Brown
andCo,1962),
143.
36.Pomper,
"World
andItsCritics,"
1.Inthesameyear,
Michael
andCharles
History
Geyer
wrote:
"It[world
isstill
a hesitant
andfledgling
which
remains
mired
Bright
history]
historiography,
intheold,unsure
ofitsscholarly
andwith
a tendency
toserve
rather
than
status,
existing
knowledge
create
newknowledge.
Buta start
hasbeenmade..." in"World
ina Global
American
History
Age,"
Historical
Review
100,no.4 (October
1995),1038.
37.Fortworecent
that
showthat
isreviving
inmany
oftheworld,
surveys
macro-history
parts
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16
DAVIDCHRISTIAN
remainsoutof
Universalhistory,
themostambitiousof theselargenarratives,
we arebeginning
to see theoutlinesof a modern,scientific
focus.Nevertheless,
Therearenowseveralcoursesin whatis often
reincarnation
ofuniversalhistory.
and Russia.38
in theU.S., Australia,theNetherlands,
describedas "big history,"
themes
across
is
that
And a smallliterature
on big history emerging explores
tobiologytogeology
oriented
historically
disciplinesfromhistory
manydifferent
andcosmology.39
Whyis UniversalHistoryMakinga Comeback?
In a senseuniversalhistory,
liketheCheshireCat,neverreallydisappearedanyIn
It
was
a
remarkable
article,publishedin Historyand Theoryin
way.
lurking.
seemed
moresecurelyentombedthanever,Kerwhen
universal
1995,
history
win Lee Klein arguedthatthecoffinhad alwaysleaked.40"FromLevi-Strauss
we remainhauntedbyhistory,
fromClifford
to Fukuyama,
to Lyotard,
returning
ourcleanbreakwith
everandagainto thebig storyevenas we anxiouslyaffirm
Even whenit seemsmostabsent,universalhistheevilsof narrative
mastery."41
toryhas oftensurvivedas theshadowof all thosepastswe tryto exclude.And,
itmaybe thatwhatwe exclude- whatwe
liketheshadowinJungian
psychology,
as
as powerfully
defineas the"other"inhistorical
thinking-definesourthinking
it
have
is torecoveritswholenessas a discipline, may
whatwe include.Ifhistory
it has overlookedor repressed,
to look once againat themanyshadowhistories
themany"others"ofuniversalhistory.
of
is thata century
A secondreasonforthere-emergence
of universalhistory
thedataandneighboring
detailedresearchinhistory
disciplineshas transformed
can draw.In thelatenineteenth
base on whichhistorians
century,
Europeanworld
to gensuchas Marxsimplydid nothaveenoughreliableinformation
historians
limited
informaWith
the
Asia
or
Africa.
aboutthehistory
of
eralizeconvincingly
it seemedobviousthatthe"East" of
tionavailablewithinWesternscholarship,
was a realmof stasis.Today,itis apparent
Marx's"AsiaticMode ofProduction"
issueofOsterreichische
seethespecial
20,no.2,on"Global
Zeitschrift
furGeschichtswissenschaften
inWorld
Practice
andManning,
edited
ed.,Global
(2009),
History.
History,"
byPeerVries
2009:AnIntroduction,
"ABigHistory
andDanielStasko,
38.SeeBarry
Directory,
Rodrique
in World
Connected
6, no.9 (October
2009):http://worldhistoryconnected.press.illinois.
History
12,2010).
(accessed
July
edu/6.3/rodrigue.html
inanarticle
thelabel,
I coined
theterm
I havereservations
about
39.Though
pub"bighistory"
"TheCasefor4BigHistory,'"
Journal
in1991(DavidChristian,
lished
2,no.2
ofWorld
History
From
theBig
seeFredSpier,
TheStructure
Onbighistory,
223-238).
[Fall1991],
ofBigHistory:
Amsterdam
Press,
1996);DavidChristian,
of
(Amsterdam:
"Maps
Today
University
Banguntil
"
ofCalifornia
to"BigHistory
Time":
AnIntroduction
Press,
2004);Cynthia
University
(Berkeley:
TheNew
From
theBigBangtothePresent
Stokes
Brown,
(NewYorkandLondon:
BigHistory:
Columbia
Seven
(NewYork:
Press,
2007);andEricChaisson,
AgesoftheCosmos
EpicofEvolution:
The
a conference
onbighistory,
from
collection
ofessays
Press,
2006);andseea recent
University
Brian
andHumanity's
Genet,
Swimme,
, ed.Cheryl
Story
Response
Evolutionary
Epic:Science's
CA:Collins
Foundation
andLindaPalmer
Russell
Press,
2009).Fora
Genet,
(SantaMargarita,
seeFred
andsome
ofitscentral
recent
oftheriseofbighistory
Spier,
"BigHistory:
concepts,
survey
Reviews
Science
TheEmergence
ofa Novel
33,no.2
Interdisciplinary
Interdisciplinary
Approach,"
ofbig
a powerful
theorization
offers
andtheFuture
(2008),1-12;Spier's
ofHumanity
BigHistory
andenergy
flows.
thenotions
ofincreasing
around
complexity
history
"InSearch
ofNarrative
40.Klein,
Mastery."
41.Ibid.,
276-277.
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THERETURN
OFUNIVERSAL
HISTORY
17
thatnineteenth-century
was projecting
ontoa nearlyemptyhistohistoriography
canvasa sortof shadowidentity
ofEurope.Asia seemedtheshadow
riographical
ofeverything
historians
theworldhave
EuropeanorWestern.
Today,
throughout
better
accesstotraditional
traditions
and
can drawon a
regionalhistoriographical
vastamountofmodernscholarship,
andthismakesiteasiertodetectandcounter
suchcrude,culture-bound
of
Indeed,one ofthegreatachievements
projections.42
modernworldhistoricalscholarship
has been therefutation
of Eurocentric
imandprehistory
have
agesofa staticEast.43
Analogouschangeswithinarchaeology
transformed
our understanding
of the 100,000-200,000yearsof humanhistory
beforetheappearanceofthefirst
written
documents.44
Similarchangeshave also occurredin themorehistoricalof thenaturalsciences.Particularly
has beenthedevelopment
ofnewdatingtechniques
important
Revolution."45
duringwhatI havedescribedelsewhereas the"Chronometric
By
I
mean
the
which
we
absolute
dates
to
"chronometry"
techniquesby
assign
past
events.Chronometry
is fundamental
to historical
As M. I. Finleyput
scholarship.
it:"Dates and a coherent
as exactmeadatingschemeare as essentialto history
surement
is to physics."46
is chronometry
thathistorians
Indeed,so fundamental
all toooftentakeitforgranted.
Yetin thelasthalfcentury
(and largelyunnoticed
a profound
chronometric
revolution
has transformed
historians)
by professional
orienteddisciplines.It is easy to forgetthatbeforethemiddle
manyhistorically
ofthetwentieth
written
recordsprovidedalmosttheonlyreliablewayof
century
absolute
dates
to
events.
As ColinRenfrewwrites:"BeforeWorld
assigning
past
WarII formuchof archaeologyvirtually
theonlyreliableabsolutedateswere
historicalones- Tutankhamun
reignedin the 14thcenturyBC, Caesar invaded
Britainin55 BC."47H. G. Wellsconfessedin a chronological
appendixtotheuniversalhistory
he attempted
inAnOutlineofHistorythat"Chronology
onlybegins
42.Vinay
Laihaswritten
a forceful
oftheEurocentrism
ofmuch
recent
in
critique
scholarship
world
in"Much
Adoabout
TheNewMalaise
ofWorld
history
(including
myownwork)
Something:
Radical
Review
butLai'sownarticle,
, no.91 (Winter
History,"
2005),124-130,
History
together
with
therapid
ofworld
historical
outside
oftheEnglish-speaking
raises
world,
growth
scholarship
thehopethat
ina more
international
suchprojections
willbeexposed
andcorscholarly
community
rected
more
than
inMarx's
time.
Fora discussion
ofsimilar
ofworld
see
easily
critiques
history,
Dominic
"World
asEcumenical
Journal
Sachsenmaier,
18,no.
History
History?,"
ofWorld
History
4 (2007),
465-489.
43.Scholars
suchas KenPomeranz,
BinWong,
Andre
Gunder
andJack
Goldstone
have
Frank,
demonstrated
that
aslateas 1800theChinese
wasasdynamic,
andtechnologicommercial,
economy
creative
asthose
ofwestern
Thechanges
that
theremarkable
of"the
cally
Europe.
helpexplain
power
West"
inthenineteenth
andtwentieth
centuries
andrather
late.
Twofine
of
emerged
suddenly
surveys
thishistoriographical
revolution
areRobert
TheOrigins
World:
AGlobal
and
Marks,
oftheModern
Narrative
theFifteenth
totheTwenty-first
ed.(Lanham,
MD:Rowman
,2nd
Ecological
from
Century
andLittlefield,
TheRiseoftheWest
inWorld
Goldstone,
2007),andJack
Why
Europe?
History,
1500-1850
McGraw-Hill,
(NewYork:
2008).
44.Fora fine
overview
ofrecent
onhuman
seeScarre,
ed.,TheHuman
scholarship
prehistory,
Past.
45.SeeDavid
cronometrica"
Christian,
"Historia,
complejidad
yrevolution
["History,
Complexity
andtheChronometric
Revista
deOccidente
and"The
Revolution"],
, no.323(April
2008),27-57,
inGenet
etal.,eds.,TheEvolutionary
Revolution,"
Evolutionary
EpicandtheChronometric
Epic,
43-50.
46.Cited
from
inHughesHistories
Mazlish,
"Terms,"
ed.,World
, 19.
Warrington,
47.ColinRenfrew
andPaulBahn,
Methods
andPractice
Thames
and
(London:
Archaeology:
101.
Hudson,
1991),
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18
DAVIDCHRISTIAN
tobe preciseenoughto specifytheexactyearofanyeventaftertheestablishment
of theerasof theFirstOlympiad[776] and thebuildingof Rome [753]."48This
fundamental
chronometric
barrierconfinedempiricalhistoricalscholarship
to a
scale of severalthousandyearsand in practiceto thestudyof literatesocieties
relative
and theirelites.Thoughnineteenth-century
geologistshad determined
Thisis whythe
datesformanygeologicaleras,absolutedateswereunattainable.
in
the
was
so
of
radiometric
1950s
revolutionary.
datingtechniques
emergence
in thefirstdecade
The basic principleof radiometric
datingwas understood
of thetwentieth
century.
Thoughthedecayof an individualradioactiveatomis
with
therateof decayof largenumbers
of atomscan be predicted
unpredictable,
measurable
a
Each
has
a
radioactive
half-life,
precisely
greataccuracy.
isotope
will
for
which
half
of
its
atoms
have
decayed.Carbon-14, example,
periodduring
has a half-life
of 5,730years,whereasuranium-238
decaysto an isotopeof lead
of about4.5 billionyears.This meansthatit is possibleto deterwitha half-life
radioactivematerialwas formed,
minewhena lumpof materialcontaining
by
into
therelativeproportions
of theoriginalmaterialand thematerials
measuring
which
areconsiderable,
whichithaddecayed.The practicaldifficulties
however,
beforethe 1950s,whenWilis whysuchmethodscould notbe used routinely
reliablemethodsforusingthedecayof carbon-14to date
lardLibbyestablished
In 1953,ClairePatersonusedthemuchlongerhalf-life
materials.
archaeological
timetheage oftheearthat about4.56 billion
ofuranium
todetermine
forthefirst
years.
therevolutionary
ofthese
one ofthefirst
todemonstrate
Renfrew,
implications
writes:
forEuropeanprehistory,
techniques
inthenature
sawmajorchanges
ofprehistory.
Thesecondhalfofthetwentieth
century
allowedthe
... thedevelopment
ofradiometric
methods,
radiocarbon,
including
dating
ineverypartoftheworld.Itwas,moreover,
construction
ofa chronology
forprehistory
andit
orrelationships,
freeofanyassumptions
aboutcultural
a chronology
developments
records.
Tobepreas tothosewithwritten
couldbeapplied
as welltononliterate
societies
a
ina chronological
sense.Asa direct
meant
historic
nolonger
tobeahistoric
consequence,
becamepossible.
Itwasfeasible
todate,quiteindependently
newkindofworld
prehistory
atlastto
alltheancient
civilizations
oftheworld.. . . [I]tbecamepossible
ofoneanother,
and
their
human
the
various
of
datethefossils
evolution,
accompanydocumenting
stages
ingartifacts.49
revolution
The implications
of thechronometric
go farbeyondarchaeology.
Sincethe1950s,ithas beenpossibleto createa timelinethatis basedon reliable
absolutedatesand extendsbeyondtheappearanceof writing,
beyondeven the
appearanceofourspecies,to theoriginsoftheearthandtheuniverse.Suddenly,
we cando prehistory,
paleontology,
geology,andevencosmologywiththesortof
to thestudyofhumancivilizations.
confined
chronometric
precisionpreviously
1102.
3rd
ed.[1920]
48.H.G.Wells,
Outline
Macmillan,1921),
(London:
ofHistory,
and
Weidenfeld
Mind(London:
TheMaking
49. ColinRenfrew,
oftheHuman
Prehistory:
Revolution
TheRadiocarbon
Civilisation:
Nicolson,
2007),41;in1973Renfrew
Before
published
andPrehistoric
Jonathan
(London:
Europe
Cape,1973).
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THERETURN
OFUNIVERSAL
HISTORY
19
The chronometric
revolution
was one elementin another
important
change,the
historicization
of thenaturalsciences.Paleontologists,
geologists,and cosmolowerein thetricky
businessofcongistsbeganto realizethatthey,likehistorians,
a
and
often
the
few
cluesithapstructingvanished,
highlycontingent,
pastusing
was merely
penedto have leftto thepresentday.50Suddenly,it seemed,history
one of a wholefamilyof scholarlydisciplinesthatstudiedthepastwithchronoitwas notitsconcernwithchangeintime,norits
logicalrigor.Whatdistinguished
concernforchronological
butmerelythefactthat,alongwitharchaeolprecision,
itfocusedon thehistory
ofa singlespecies,ourown.
ogyandprehistory,
IV.THEIMPACT
OFUNIVERSAL
HISTORY
ONHISTORICAL
SCHOLARSHIP
TheCatonlygrinned
whenitsawAlice.It lookedgood-natured
, shethought:
stillithadvery
claws
anda greatmany
teeth
tobe
, so shefeltthatitought
long
treated
with
respect.
-Alice inWonderland,
6
chapter
If we do see a return
to universalhistoryin a new,scientific,
guise,how will it
affect
historical
scholarship?
SeeingtheLargePatterns
A revivalof universalhistorywill affectthe contextof historicalscholarship
muchmorethanitspractice.Afterall,rigorousempiricalresearchis themeatand
drinkof scholarship
in all fieldsincludingthenaturalsciences.So I suspectthat
formosthistorians
"normalhistory"
will carryon regardless.
But thecontextof
historical
researchwillbe transformed.
human
as partof a much
Seeing
history
will
affecthow historians
thinkaboutresearch,thequestionsthey
largerstory
and thewaytheyjudge thesignificance
of scholask,thewaystheycollaborate,
This
is
because
a
of
that
sees
itself
as
of
arship.
discipline history
part a larger,
universal
will
ofa Kuhnian
interdisciplinary
history surelyacquiresomefeatures
Therewillsurelyemergea loose consensusabouttheverylargepatparadigm.51
ternsapparentin history,
and thiswill changehow we thinkabouttheproblems
we studyat moreconventional
scales.
The first
reasonforsayingthisis thatuniversalhistory
willencouragecollaborationbetweenhistorians
andscientists.
Moreandmore,historians
willfindthemselvesworking
withhistorically
mindedscholarsin thenaturalscienceswhotake
itforgranted
thatgoodempiricalresearchis alwayslinkedin somewayto large,
ideas.Collaboration
willbe particularly
attheborderbeparadigm-like
important
tweenhumanhistory
andbiology.Whatmakeshumanhistory
different
fromthe
50.W.H.McNeill,
andtheScientific
andTheory
Worldview,"
"History
37,no.1(1998),
History
1-13.
51.Thomas
S. Kuhn,
TheStructure
2nded.(Chicago:
of
Revolutions,
ofScientific
University
that
modern
science
ischaracterized
Press,
1970).Kuhn
Chicago
famously
argued
bytheexistence
ofparadigms,
fundamental
models
ofhowthings
work
andhowthey
should
bestudied.
Heargued
that
a paradigm
a mapwhose
details
areelucidated
scientific
research.
Andsince
"provides
bymature
nature
istoocomplex
andvaried
tobeexplored
atrandom,
that
asobservation
and
mapisasessential
toscience's
experiment
(109).
continuing
development"
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20
DAVIDCHRISTIAN
of,say,ourbiologicalcousins,thegreatapes?Afterall,as individuals
history
they
arejustaboutas cleveras we. Whydo we havea richhistory
oflong-term
change
whenthey,apparently,
don't?To tacklesuchquestionsseriously,
will
historians
haveto negotiate
thetricky
bordertheysharewithsciencessuchas biologythat
areorganizedaroundKuhnianparadigms.
will encouragehistorians
to start
Second,thesheerscale of universalhistory
once
for
in
I
human
looking
again
large,paradigm-like
patterns
history. would
liketo discussthispointin moredetail.
The narrowfocusof modernhistorical
hidesthelargepatterns.
At
scholarship
thescaleofa fewyearsordecades,orevena fewcenturies,
thecontingent
aspects
ofhumanhistory
standout,as do theunpredictable
consequencesofhumanagenor economichistory,
loom
cy.Even at thescales of demographic
contingencies
one-childpolicy,forexample.The birth
large:thinkoftheChinesegovernment's
ofGenghisKhanwas a contingent
eventthatreverberated
Eurasiafor
throughout
centuries.52
So
and
dominate
historical
even
many
contingency agency
thought
at thescales of theBraudelianlongueduree.This,I think,is why,in Toynbee's
"sacrificed
all generalizations
forpatchwork,
relative
words,so manyhistorians
and
.
.
.
of
human
as
chaos."53
knowledge,
thought
experience incomprehensible
similaralso happenedin archaeology.
Renfrewwritesthatformany
Something
"The world... is constructed
individualactionsby indiarchaeologists
through
vidualpeople.It is a richpalimpsest,
human
andperhaps
to
testifying
creativity,
littlemoreis to be expectedthanthecollectionand collationof regionalnarratives."54
and archaeologists,
Renfrewfindsthe
Yet,likemanyotherhistorians
idea thatthereis no deeppattern
to humanhistory
After
profoundly
unsatisfying.
thepassage I havejust cited,he adds: "To those,however,who see scienceas
thesearchforpattern
andforexplanation,
thisramifying
richnessof complexity
leavessomething
to be desired.. . . Arethereno simplifying
which,
perspectives
whilenotdenyingindividualagencyand creativity,
willrevealsomeunderlying
order?"55
A return
will showthatthereare indeed"simplifying
to universalhistory
perinhumanhistory.
orderliness
However,thelarge
spectives"thatreveala profound
can be seenclearlyonlyat scalesofmanymillennia,
orattheevenlarger
patterns
in
scalesofhumanhistory
as a whole.The shift perspective
as onemovestolarger
scalesis similartotheshiftphysicists
experienceas theymovefromthequantum
to the
level,whereprocessessuchas radioactivebreakdownare unpredictable,
scaleofeveryday
law-likepatterns
life,wherethesameprocessesyieldpowerful,
suchas thosethatmakeradiometric
datingfeasible.Two centuries
ago,Kanthad
thatin history,
as in thesciences,contingent
alreadyunderstood
processescould
"whatseemscomplexand chaoticin the single
give rise to law-likepatterns:
individualmaybe seenfromthestandpoint
ofthehumanraceas a wholeto be a
52.Fora fine
recent
seeMichal
Khan
OneWorld
discussion,
Biran,
Publishers,
(Oxford:
Chinggis
2007).
53.Mehta,
, 143.
FlyandtheFly-Bottle
54.Renfrew,
Prehistory
,74-75.
55.Ibid.
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THERETURN
OFUNIVERSAL
HISTORY
21
Kant
steadyandprogressive
thoughslowevolutionofitsoriginalendowment."56
illustrated
his argument
choicesof millions
by notinghowthefreedemographic
of familiesresultedin highlypredictable
At largescales,
demographic
patterns.
thepixelsof humanactiongenerateclearpatterns,
and awarenessof thesepatternswillinevitably
at smallerscales.Though
changehowwe thinkabouthistory
can loomlargeevenat verylargescales(thinkoftheasteroidimpact
contingency
thatdrovethedinosaursto extinction
and openeda pathto ourown evolution),
was
half
the
was essenCollingwood missing
storywhenhe insistedthathistory
tiallyaboutthefreeactionsofindividualactors.57
Atthescaleofhumanhistory
as a whole,threelarge,interrelated
stand
patterns
out. The firstis increasing(and eventuallyaccelerating)controlof biospheric
resourcesbyhumanity
as a whole.The resultsarepalpabletoday,in an era some
to describeas the"Anthropocene."58
But thetrendwas
geologistsare beginning
in
the
Paleolithic
era
as
our
ancestors
learned
how
toexploitmany
alreadypresent
different
from
toarctictundra,
untileventually
environments, tropicalforests
they
hadcolonizedall oftheearth'scontinents.
In thealmostfour-billion-year
history
of lifeon earth,no othersinglespecieshas shownsuch sustainedadaptability.
The secondpattern,
madepossiblebythefirst,
is a slowandaccelerating
increase
in thetotalnumberofhumanbeings.The third,
tiedto thefirst
two,is
intimately
an eventualincreasein thecomplexity,
and interrelatedness
of human
diversity,
societiesonce populationgrowthceased to taketheformof migrations,
and beto
It was theappearanceof
gan,instead, generatelargeranddensercommunities.
from10,000yearsago, thatallowedthisfundamental
agriculture,
change.None
oftheselargetrendswereapparent
tothosewholivedthrough
them,norcan they
be seen at thescales of conventional
historical
research.At smallscales it is the
fluctuations
thatstandout.The longtrendscan be seen onlyat largescales and
in retrospect.
"The owl of Minervatakesitsflight
onlywhentheshadesof night
aregathering."59
Thatthesetrendsare linkedin somewayswiththeverynatureof ourspecies
is apparent
fromthefactthattheycan be seeninthehistories
ofcommunities
that
had no contactwithone another.60
The bestexampleof thesestrangeparallels
is perhapstheevolutionof agrariansocieties.In mostagrarianregions(Papua
New Guinea,withrootcropsthatdiscouraged
prolongedstorage,is an interesting
led quiteindependently
to theemergence
of
exception),thespreadofagriculture
thelargecommunities
oftendescribedas agrariancivilizations.61
In all of them
56.Immanuel
"Ideafora Universal
from
a Cosmopolitan
Point
ofView,"
inKant
Kant,
History
onHistory
Beck(NewYork:
,ed.LewisWhite
Macmillan,
1963),11-12.
57.Thatstory
is toldsuperbly
inWalter
T. RexandtheCrater
Alvarez,
ofDoom(London:
1998).
Vintage,
58.SeeWillSteffen,
PaulJ.Crutzen,
andJohn
R.McNeill,
"TheAnthropocene:
AreHumans
Now
theGreat
Forces
ofNature?,"
Ambio
614-621
.
36,no.8 (December
Overwhelming
2007),
59.Hegel,
Preface
tothePhilosophy
cited
from
transl.
S. W.
ofRight,
Hegel,
Philosophy
ofRight,
ON:Batoche
Books,
2001),20.
Dyde(Kitchener,
60.Doestheideaofa "species"
commit
onetoa form
ofessentialism?
Notnecessarily,
as
history
outin"TheClimate
ofHistory,"
214-215.
Dipesh
Chakrabarty
points
61.Why
thestorage
ofsurpluses
isdiscussed
inJ.R.McNeill
and
tropical
gardening
discourages
William
H.McNeill,
TheHuman
ABird's
Web:
andLondon:
(NewYork
EyeView
ofWorld
History
W.W.Norton
& Co.,2003),
34-35.
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22
DAVIDCHRISTIAN
we findcities,states,armies,networks
of exchangeand tribute-taking,
literacy,
and . . . pyramids.
Itmaywellbe thattheparticular
astronomy,
designofthepyravariedin different
"cultures"
midsor thecitiesor theastronomical
observatories
as theresultofcontingent
decisionstakenwithineachregionat
or"civilizations"
times.Thesefeatures
jargon,"pathmayhavebeen,in theeconomists'
particular
builtpyramids,
Butthefactthatall agrariancivilizations
cities,and
dependent."
Robert
who exwas not.Thatreflects
observatories
Adams,
something
deeper.
in
The
in
a
classic
Evolution
this
of Urban
studypublished 1966,
plored problem
: EarlyMesopotamiaand PrehispanicMexico, concludedthat"boththe
Society
societiesin questioncan usefullybe regardedas variantsof a singleprocessual
pattern."62
it seemsthatthetrendsapparentin humanhistory
maybe intiRemarkably,
EricChaisson,whohas taughta formofunimatelyrelatedtoevenlargertrends.
versalhistory
forwellovertwenty
years,hasarguedthatoneofthecentralthemes
We can thinkof complexthings
is thatof increasing
of big history
complexity.63
as entitiescomposedofdiverseelementsassembledaccordingto a specificplan.
so is humansociety.
Starsare complex,so are planets,so are livingorganisms,
entities
also
qualitiesthatareextremely
display"emergent
properties,"
Complex
theircomponent
difficult
to
(and perhapsimpossible) predictby studying
parts,
butfromtheprecisewaythosecombecausetheyarisenotfromthecomponents
The qualitiesofwater,forexample,arenotobviouslyimponentsarearranged.64
in
the
of
andoxygenatoms.Arrangethoseatomsin difqualities hydrogen
plicit
seem
ferent
Emergent
properties
emergent
properties.
waysandyougetdifferent
thatmakeup
magicalbecauseit is impossibleto detectthemin thecomponents
once
thosecominstead
seem
to
out
of
nothing
they
appear
anycomplexentity;
Buddhist
in
There
is
a
famous
are
a
sutra,known
ponents arranged specificway.
in Englishas the"Questionsof Milinda,"thatcapturestheidea of emergence
well.WhentheGreco-Bactrian
ruler,Milinda(Menander)askstheBuddhistsage
the
Buddhist
doctrine
of non-self,
about
Nagasenaasks how Milinda
Nagasena
cameto theirmeeting.In a chariot.Nagasenathenasks whata chariotis. If you
tookits wheelsaway wouldit stillbe a chariot?If you tookaway thedriver's
itspartsrandomly
wouldit stillbe a chariot?Like a star,a
seat?If youarranged
arearranged
chariotis nota chariot(or a selfa self)unlessitsmanycomponents
or "self' or "star"
in specificways.Onlythendoes thequalityof "chariotness"
or even"humanity"
appearsto haveitsown
appear.Each typeofcomplexentity
distinctive
emergent
properties.
of
thatin the13.7-billion-year
Therearepowerful
reasonsforthinking
history
uniThe
haveslowlyincreased. early
theupperlevelsofcomplexity
ouruniverse,
andheliumatomsthrough
versewas simple.Itcontained
hugecloudsofhydrogen
even
ofenergy.
whichflowedvariousforms
(I ignoredarkenergyanddarkmatter,
inRenfrew,
62.ThisisRenfrew's
,71.
Prehistory
paraphrase
63.Chaisson,
EpicofEvolution.
nature
ofconsciousness,
theemergent
tounderstand
64.InTheAstonishing
,anattempt
Hypothesis
atleastinprinciple,
never
ruleoutthepossibility
insists
that
wemust
Francis
Crick
that,
emergent
itsparts
"thenature
andbehavior
canbeunderstood
from
ofanobject
plustheknowledge
properties
TheScientific
Search
interact."
TheAstonishing
ofhowallthese
fortheSoul(New
Hypothesis:
parts
andSchuster,
York:
Simon
1994).
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THERETURN
OFUNIVERSAL
HISTORY
23
bethoughtheymakeup perhapsninety-five
percentofthemassoftheuniverse,
causeneither
seemstohavehadthesamepropensity
as atomicmatter
forforming
complexentities.)Over time,fromtheseelementsmorecomplexentitieshave
emerged,includingstars,new chemicalelements(formedin thedeath-agonies
oflargestars),planets,andlivingorganisms
suchas ourselves.Each revealsnew
thatprovidetheresearchagendasof thesciencesthatstudy
emergent
properties
to earthsciencesto biologyto humanhistory.
As Chaisthem,fromastronomy
son has pointedout,all complexentitiesdependon energyflows.Thisraisesthe
thatwe mightbe able to estimatedegreesof complexity
withsome
possibility
the"density"
oftheenergyflowsthrough
different
comobjectivity
bycalculating
entities.65
Chaisson's
calculations
that
entities
are
much
plex
rough
suggest living
morecomplexthandead things(a cockroachis vastlymorecomplexthana star);
andtoday'sglobalhumansocietyappearsto be one of themostcomplexentities
we areawareof.That,surely,
is a conclusionto makeeventhemostempirically
mindedofhistorians
situp andlisten!
Awarenessof largepatterns
suchas theones I have describedwill affectthe
researchbyraisingnewquestionsand settingnewresearch
practiceof historical
inthelightofthese
agendas.How canI makesenseoftheprocessesI am studying
Are
of
these
Do theyrepresent
largepatterns? theypart
patterns?
counter-patterns?Do theyhaveno bearingat all on thelargepatterns?
ExplainingtheLargePatternsofHumanHistory
Thentherearedeeperquestionsaboutthenatureofthepatterns
themselves.
How
can we explainthem?How,forexample,can thehistory
of a speciesas quirky,
as ourownyieldthepowerful
trendswe see
willful,andunpredictable
long-term
in humanhistory?
And how does humanhistoryfitintoan even largerstoryof
increasing
complexity?
We alreadyhave some interesting
candidateanswersto thesequestions.The
trendswe have seen show a speciesthatkeeps adaptingin new ways so as to
increaseitscontrolof biosphericresources.Of course,all species"adapt."They
evolve in waysthatensurethatmostindividualscan extractenoughresources
fromtheirenvironment
to surviveand reproduce.Darwin'sgreatachievement
was to explainhowspeciesdo thisthrough
themechanism
of naturalselection.
Butthepatterns
we see in humanhistory
aredifferent.
Humansdo notjustadapt,
theykeepadapting,and at a pace thatcannotbe explainedby naturalselection
alone.Continuous
adaptation
providesthespeciesas a wholewithmoreresources
thanareneededsimplytomaintain
a demographic
unususteadystate.Something
al is goingon. Andthereis alreadyemerging
a consensusabouthow we should
describethisdifference,
whichdistinguishes
thehistory
ofhumanbeingsfromthe
histories
ofall otherspeciesonearth.In a recentlectureadvocating
an "evolutionof
Eric
Hobsbawm
it
like
this:
aryhistory humanity,"
puts
Thechangesin humanlife,collective
andindividual,
in thecourseof thepast10,000
let
alone
in
the
10
are
too
years,
past generations,
greatto be explained
bya wholly
Darwinian
mechanism
ofevolution
via genes.Theyamount
to theaccelerating
inheri65.SeeEricChaisson,
Cosmic
Evolution:
TheRiseofComplexity
inNature
MA:
(Cambridge,
Harvard
onp. 139.
Press,
2001),
University
particularly
chap.3 andthetable
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24
DAVIDCHRISTIAN
tanceofacquired
characteristics
I supposeitis
andnotgenetic
mechanisms.
bycultural
Lamarck's
onDarwinviahuman
revenge
history.66
In fact,evenHobsbawm'sscales are too small;thehistory
of Paleolithicmigrationsshowsthatthesamemechanisms
havefunctioned
eversincetheappearance
ofourspecies,some 100,000yearsago.
How can we explainthisremarkable
capacityforsustainedand accelerating
thatseemsto be a newemergent
of ourspeciesand thepriadaptation
property
driver
in
human
I
of
have
mary
change
history?
arguedelsewherethatthekey
is theremarkable
of humanlanguage,whichallowedhuprecisionand fluency
mansalone to sharelearnedknowledgeso preciselyand in suchvolumethatit
could accumulatewithminimaldegradation
withinthememorybanksof entire
communities.67
Humanlanguagelinkedhumansintohighlyefficient
information
networks
whichthelearning
ofeachindividual
couldbe shared,addedto,
through
andpassedon to future
The slow mechanism
of geneticinheritance
generations.
was overlaidbythemuchfaster
mechanism
ofknowledgetransfer.
Thelong-term
trendsthatmakehumanhistory
so different
aredriven,in otherwords,bya new
andmorerapidadaptivemechanism
thatwe can call "collectivelearning."68
As a
we
cannot
new
it.
That
exspecies
helpaccumulating knowledgebyexchanging
our
remarkable
the
of
behaviors
that
we
find
plains
plasticity, astonishing
variety
inindividuals
andindifferent
humansocieties,andtheextreme
we have
difficulty
in trying
to pindownanysingle"humannature."Yetbehindthisvarietythereis
one constant:
ourpropensity
forsharingtheinsightsof each individual,
thereby
a
It is thispropensity
that
generatingcollectivecapacityforsustainedadaptation.
seemstohavedrivenhumansocietieswithradicallydifferent
cultures
andinvery
different
environments
towardgreater
alongbroadlysimilarpaths,andultimately
controlofresources,
and
social
largerpopulations, greater
complexity.
Is it too optimistic
to supposethatideas like thesemaycontainin embryoa
Kuhnianparadigmforhumanhistory?
If so, thenone consequenceof a return
to
universalhistorywill be thefinalcollapseof thebarriers
thathave dividedthe
humanities
fromthenaturalsciencesforso long.If Chaisson'sideas aboutthe
66.EricHobsbawm,
theBigWhy
ANewAgeofReason,"
LeMonde
Questions:
"Asking
History,
to
14,2010);thanks
(December
2004)http://mondediplo.com/2004/12/
(accessed
diplomatique
July
Dr.KimYong-Woo
Institute
andGlobal
foralerting
meto
ofEwhaUniversity's
ofWorld
History
this
article.
67.Daniel
Dennett
hasargued
that
theremarkable
ofverbal
communication
arises
from
stability
thedigital
nature
ofwords,
thefact
evenwhen
ormisspelled
ormisunderstood,
that,
mispronounced
canoften
their
whole.
"Words
haveonefeature
that
hasa keyroleinthe
they
preserve
meaning
Thatis,norms
accumulation
ofhuman
culture:
fortheir
permit
Theyaredigitized.
pronunciation
in
automaticindeed
transmission
errors
from
involuntaryproofreading,
preventing
accumulating
much
thewaythemolecular
machines
that
do.""TheCultural
Evolution
accomplish
genereplication
andOther
ofWords
Harbor
on Quantitative
Tools,"ColdSpring
,
Symposia
Biology
Thinking
online
from
17,2009athttp://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/papers/coldspring.pdf,
published
August
p. 4
12,2010).
(accessed
July
inChristian,
Theideaofcollective
68.1haveexplored
these
arguments
MapsofTime.
learning
McNeill
writes:
togeneralize
ideascentral
tothework
ofWilliam
McNeill.
Ina 1995essay,
attempts
"itseemed
I began
TheRiseoftheWest
historical
obvious
tomein1954when
towrite
,that
change
waslargely
with
toborrow
followed
(orsometimes
provoked
byencounters
strangers,
byefforts
toreject
orholdatbay)especially
attractive
novelties."
"TheChanging
McNeill,
ShapeofWorld
15.
History,"
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HISTORY
THERETURN
OFUNIVERSAL
25
we mayalso be
of modernhumansocietyare correct,
extraordinary
complexity
has provedso
able to explainwhygenerating
paradigmideas forhumanhistory
muchgreaterthanthosedehistorians
deal withlevels of complexity
difficult:
scribedin,say,physics.
Whatwill be theinstitutional
of thecollapse of thisparticular
implications
"BerlinWall"?Will we see theemergenceof new "Facultiesof HistoricalSciWillthe
ences,"withhistorians
sharingofficesand seminarswithcosmologists?
as
fundamental
to
be
tackled
nature
historical
a
of
question
very
changeemerge
acrossmultipledisciplines?None of thisis clear.Whatis clearis thatthereturn
as well as intellectual
consewillhaveprofound
institutional
ofuniversalhistory
which
current
will
the
on
because
it
break
down
scholarly
fragmentation
quences
structures
arefounded.
institutional
INGENERAL
HISTORY
ONEDUCATION
V.THEIMPACT
OFUNIVERSAL
The returnof universalhistorywill have a significant
impacton educationin
general,inthreemainways.
schoolcuras I havedescribeditbeginsto penetrate
First,ifuniversalhistory
it
will
students
the
of
modern
ricula,
unity
knowledge.Tohelp
grasp underlying
theintellectual
northeinstitutional
resources
day,moderneducationhas neither
themanyformsof knowledgethatare taughtin schoolsand
neededto integrate
we needto
Ratherthanprovidingstudentswithmoreinformation,
universities.
in
the
internet.
the
available
books
and
on
helpthemnavigatethrough information
We needto helpthemsee thecoherenceof modernknowledge.I have foundin
fora less fragyearning
amongstudents
myownteachingthatthereis a profound
mentedvisionof reality.
can helpovercome
Coursesin universal("big") history
thevastocean of modthissenseof fragmentation
by providingmapsthrough
ernknowledge.Suchcoursesarealreadybeingtaughtin universities,
andI hope
onlinecurricula
thatcan be
overthenextfewyearsto collaboratein constructing
to sucha proposalare bothinstitutional
and
taughtin highschools.The barriers
If theycan be surmounted,
it shouldbe possibleto teachaboutthe
intellectual.
in
that
understand
thathistory
and literature
andbiology
students
past ways
help
a
and cosmologyare notseparateintellectual
but
of
islands, parts
single,global,
andinterdisciplinary
to explainourworld.
attempt
Second,thecoherentvisionof thepast describedin thispapershouldhelp
walksof lifeto understand
betterthecomplexrelationpeoplein manydifferent
willbe inbetween
and
the
Such
our
own
species
biosphere.
understanding
ship
as we learnmoreaboutsomeofthedangerousconsequences
creasingly
important
of our astonishing
as a species.Underecologicaland technologicalcreativity
and
all
are
andaccumulate
how
human
communities
driven
to
store
standing
why
should
us
be
more
we
use
this
about
how
choosy
creativity.
knowledge
help
Finally,onlyat thescales of universalhistorywill it be possibleto graspthe
as a whole.We haveseenthattheoveralltrajectory
underlying
unityofhumanity
of humanhistory
cannotbe seen withintheconstricted
timescales of Rankean
the
revival
of
universal
historywill allow historians
scholarship.
Consequently,
take
to
atthebeginning
of
up a challengethatsomehistorians
alreadyunderstood
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26
DAVIDCHRISTIAN
thetwentieth
thatofconstructing
histories
of humanity
as powerful
and
century:
as thegreatnationalhistories
ofthenineteenth
andtwentieth
centuries.
inspiring
In theaftermath
ofWorldWarI, manyarguedthathistorical
teachingorganized
aroundtheidea of thenation-state
couldonlyguarantee
moreandevenbloodier
warsinthefuture.
As JohnToshwrites:"TheLeagueofNationscampaigned
vigof warand nationalism
in thehistory
curriculum
in
orouslyforthedownplaying
schools.The historian
EileenPowerbelievedthatworldcitizenship
wouldcome
nearerifhistory
anddemonstrated
teachingenlargedthesenseofgroupsolidarity
that'everyoneis a memberof twocountries,
his own and theworld."'69
H. G.
Wellswrotehis OutlineofHistoryin a similarspirit.Peace, he argued,required
thecreationof "commonhistoricalideas. Withoutsuchideas to hold themtowithnothing
butnarrow,
andconflictselfish,
getherinharmonious
co-operation,
races and peoplesare boundto drifttowardsconflict
traditions,
ing nationalist
and destruction.
This truth,
whichwas apparentto thatgreatphilosopher
Kanta
or
more
...
is
now
to
the
man
in
the
street."70
century
ago
plain
Morerecently,
thegreatAmericanworldhistorian
WilliamMcNeillhas written:
entire
whichhistorians
Humanity
possessa commonality
mayhopetounderstand
justas
as theycancomprehend
whatunites
ofenhancing
confirmly
anylessergroup.Instead
as parochial
worldhistory
be
flicts,
does,an intelligible
historiography
inevitably
might
todiminish
thelethality
ofgroup
encounters
a senseofindividual
expected
bycultivating
identification
withthetriumphs
andtribulations
as a whole.This,indeed,
ofhumanity
strikes
meas themoraldutyofthehistorical
inourtime.We needtodevelop
profession
anecumenical
withplenty
inall itscomplexity.71
ofroomforhuman
history,
diversity
theprospectofa return
touniversal
Amongmanyotherreasonsforwelcoming
is
the
that
it
the
framework
within
whichwe
then,
history,
possibility
mayprovide
cancreatehistories
thatcangenerate
a senseofhumansolidarity
orglobalcitizenas thegreatnationalhistoriesonce createdmultiplenational
shipas powerfully
solidarities.
As Jerry
Bentleyhas argued,
worldhistory
takeon a moreexplicit
dimension
[an]ecumenical
might
ideological
by
withmovements
toadvance
thecausesofglobalcitizenship,
allying
seeking
cosmopolitan
cross-cultural
andrelated
In recent
sciendemocracy,
dialogue,
projects.
years,
political
andothers
moralphilosophers,
havedevoted
considerable
tothearticulation
tists,
energy
anddevelopment
oftheseideals.72
By takingon thisimportant
challenge,historicalscholarshipand historical
be
able
to
a
vital
rolein helpingto tackletheglobalproblems
teachingmay
play
we facetoday,andin avoidingsomeofthedangersinseparable
fromnationalism
in a worldequippedwithnuclearweapons.
69.John
Matters
UK: PalgraveMacmillan,
Tosh,Why
2008),125;he
History
(Basingstoke,
citesMaxine
A Woman
inHistory:
Eileen
1889-1940
UK:Cambridge
Power,
Berg,
(Cambridge,
223.
Press,
1996),
University
70.Wells,
Outline
vi.
ofHistory,
71."Mythistory,
orTruth,
andHistorians,,"
American
Historical
Review
91,no.
Myth,
History,
7.
1986),
(February
72.Jerry
andSomeMoral
ofWorld
Journal
Bentley,
"Myths,
Wagers
of
Implications
History,"
World
78.Thesame
a short
ontheideaofglobal
16,no.1(2005),
History
pageincludes
bibliography
citizenship.
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THERETURN
OFUNIVERSAL
HISTORY
27
"Cheshire
Puss," she began, rathertimidly
, as she did notat all know
whether
it wouldlike thename:however
; it onlygrinneda littlewider.
"
"Come,it'spleasedso far,"thought
Alice,and she wenton. Wouldyou
"
tellme,please,whichwayI oughttogofromhere?" Thatdependsa good
deal on whereyou wantto get to," said the Cat. "I don'tmuchcare
where-" said Alice. "Thenit doesn'tmatterwhichwayyou go," said
theCat. "-so longas I getsomewhere,"
Aliceaddedas an explanation.
saidtheCat,"ifyouonlywalklongenough."
"Oh,you'resuretodo that,"
[AliceinWonderland,
6]
chapter
and WCU (WorldClass University
MacquarieUniversity
) Fellowofthe
Institute
Global
and
World
at
, Seoul
of
History Ewha WomansUniversity
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