world history

Jerry H. Bentley, the word "world history" has different meanings for different societies. While some may define it as a broad analysis of the whole world's history, others believe it implies foreign history. But, this word doesn't actually correspond to either definition. It denotes historical learning which undertakes an overt comparison of experiences beyond individual societal boundaries or studies interactions among individuals hailing from diverse communities or studies broad historical processes and trends which extend beyond discrete communities.

Besides highlighting cross-cultural dealings in a historical context, one chief concern of the major part of modern world history deals with constructing alternative approaches to the established Eurocentric perspectives of history.[footnoteRef:1] [1:. Jerry H. Bentley, A Companion to Western Historical Thought, ed. Lloyd Kramer and Sarah Maza (Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishers, 2002), 393.] Ever since historical events began to be documented, the element of world history was apparent. The ancient world lacked access to fairly accurate facts regarding far-off countries.

However, they showed a great deal of interest in attempting to comprehend the way their personal experiences could be integrated into the big picture.[footnoteRef:2] Herodotus enthusiastically explained the traditions and unique behaviors of every society he heard of or personally witnessed. His work's principal focus was a grand comparison and contrast of Persian and Greek societies. Ban Guand SimaQian, who is credited with initiating Chinese historical writing, concentrated on the Han empire's history, whilst also accommodating narratives of central Asian nomads and their interactions with the Chinese.

Early cultural customs' endurance and the growing significance of intercultural relationships and communication guaranteed a form of universal vision that would endure during later eras. For instance, chroniclers of medieval Europe typically embarked on their accounts by first summarizing biblical history, inclusive of the creation of the universe and ancient Christian, Jewish and Roman experiences.[footnoteRef:3] [2:. Jerry H. Bentley, Civilization as a Global Project: Sedentary and Nomadic Societies in Cross-Cultural History, ed. Susan Porter Benson, Stephen Brier, and Roy Rosenzweig (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1997), 34.] [3:.

Bentley, A Companion to Western Historical Thought, 394.] Ross E. Dunn believes that the overall discipline known as history was encapsulated through a proficiency-focused vision with careful emphasis to celebrating national histories. World history was dismissed as being neither here nor there, and of a speculative nature. A more specialized and logical form of world history only emerged during the last century, thanks to two factors. Firstly, a flood of knowledge greatly enhanced insights into the world in the last century.

It is believed that Rise of the West by William McNeill, published in 1963, heralded a professional world history domain, broadly interpreting societies and politics. Concurrently, it is now possible to name numerous other 20th-century writers (e.g., Philip Curtin who penned world history monographs and Immanuel Wallerstein who conducted a worldwide examination of the early contemporary age), who performed sociological and historical analyses, thereby contributing significantly to the emergent world history discipline.

The aforementioned researchers undertook the role of historians to put forward novel interpretations of ancient social and economic matters. A third 20th-century researcher, Alfred Crosby, heralded a scientific-cultural world history approach by applying scientific and biological knowledge to interpret environmental history, while Andre Gunder Frank spoke about a succession of world history related cycles, connections, and general patterns.[footnoteRef:4] [4:. Ross E. Dunn, Knowing, Teaching and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, ed. Peter N.

Stearns, Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg (New York: New York University Press, 2000), 127.] Although the abovementioned pool of information was by no means perfect by the middle, or even the end, of the last century, it increased in magnitude and reliability sufficiently enough to contribute to global historical examination endeavors. Secondly, professional world history's development suggested a novel sense of global duty and concern. The last century was witness to a couple of global-scale, colossally devastative wars, in addition to several conflicts of a smaller scale.

The quest for global understanding inspired teachers and historians to study foreign lands' cultures and pasts. Furthermore, they were driven to undertake examinations of the whole human community ecumenically instead of partially.[footnoteRef:5] [5:. Bentley, Civilization as a Global Project, 34.] The above attempts are in no way straightforward, despite being more professional and systematic as compared to prior attempts in this field. Euro-American and European historians interpreted foreign lands from a colonialist and imperialist perspective which somewhat affected their depictions of other societies and cultures.

Recent studies have clarified that, often, cross-cultural depictions more closely reflect the observer's interests as compared to the observed entity's nature. As a representation, mainly of Euro-American and European peoples, world history scholarship has frequently used a Western lens to look at the past. It may even be argued that the very nature of world history examinations reflects scholarly imperialism.[footnoteRef:6] [6:. Ibid.] The world history discipline has gone above individual achievements and created professional analysis organizations.

American secondary schools and higher education institutions, in addition to educational institutions in several other nations, have greatly expanded world history teaching. In the meantime, the nature of examination of world history has undergone a transformation, moving towards a more interactive and interdisciplinary approach. Whilst understanding the initiative's challenging nature, a number of experts have concluded that a form of world history is a particularly meaningful historical approach for 20th-century academics. [footnoteRef:7] [7:.

Dunn, Knowing, Teaching and Learning History, 126.] Those studying world history tend to regard historical events as being outlandish and detached. According to them, ancient individuals and occurrences are strange, vague and unrelated to present-day experiences. They are so, to a great extent, owing partially to the large number of unique variables at play at a given place and time, and partially to the fact that it is impossible to reconstruct a majority of past elements.

Hence, the challenge for history teachers deals with somewhat reducing the strangeness of past eras and constructing, at a minimum, a wobbly bridge of understanding and responsiveness between our forefathers and us.[footnoteRef:8] [8:. Ibid., 133.] Additionally, in the role of educator, I must endeavor to remove from students' minds the idea that individuals belonging to foreign cultures were invariably vastly different.

Such an approach takes one back from history as an examination of mankind's competition and cooperation in a constantly-evolving world to cultural groups' traditional anthropological reification as infinitely identical but completely different from other groups. In contrast, in the role of a teacher of history, I need to urge pupils to connect past developments to their current personal experiences instead of perceiving ancient people as understandable only if they are one's own supposed ethno-racial forebears. [footnoteRef:9] [9:.

Ibid., 134.] Further, a widespread belief among history students is that historical occurrences transpired due to individuals' sharp ideas of what ought to happen successively and their successive performance of creative action for achieving these pre-cognized outcomes. The reason for this belief is the.