Background and Aims

Background
In less than a decade, transnationalism has had a remarkable influence on historiography. It has begun to transform the perspective from which historians view events, experiences, and the exercise of power.

To date, however, much of this perspective has had as its foundational focus on the nation itself. At the same time, international historians have found themselves defending their terrain against the insurgency of transnationalism, and positing the international as the more challenging of the two concepts.

Aims
The Intensive aims to explore the relationship between the recent trend to transnational history and the conceptualisation of the international as a space and form of interpellation that is both constructed out of, and alternative to, nations.

What is the difference between transnational and international history? What is the relationship of transnational history to other concepts in current historiography, including cosmopolitanism, the global, as well as the international?

We do not anticipate that students will in all cases engage directly with the historiographical debates, but we do expect them to draw these larger questions into their own more specific studies.

An Invitation to Postgraduates
This Intensive is for postgraduates who see their research fitting into either transnational or international history, and for those who see both the transnational and the international as concepts relevant to, and constructive for their enterprise.

It is also an invitation to postgraduates to reflect upon the international as a concept that shifts attention away from nations and onto the forms that transnational spaces and experiences take, and have taken in the past.

Additionally, we would like to hear from students working in international history who are finding the concept of transnationalism useful.