Global China
Led by University of Oxford and University of Warwick, September 2019
The Global History and Culture Centre at Warwick has been developing connections with colleagues in China from the beginnings of the Centre in 2007. Global history is an impossible enterprise without partnerships and collaborations, and global history provides a solid base from where other endeavours in the humanities can be developed, including the study of literature and linguistics, art and material culture, and local, regional and national history.
This two-day conference held jointly at Warwick and Oxford, brought together several institutions in China and the UK who have a long-standing commitment to global history. While the sciences (including the social sciences) are less dependent on the linguistic skills of the participants, the humanities are predicated on sophisticated linguistic skills. Institutions worked together to share research and explore possible methodologies at this collaborative event, building on institutional exchanges and bringing significant benefit to the development of the humanities.
Warwick and Oxford collaborated to invite a wide range of speakers from China and the UK working on two interrelated topics, the connections between Global History and Chinese History, and to place the history of China in the context of changing global order in the mid-twentieth century.
Extensive arrangements were made over that period to invite key speakers from a range of top Chinese and UK institutions, within but not restricted to the UKCHA arrangements (Fudan, PKU, Shanghai Jiaotong, Tsinghua; LSE, Warwick, Oxford, Cambridge). A great deal of work went into finding speakers with complementary/interdisciplinary interests. Prof Yan Haiping of the Chinese secretariat of UKCHA was also hosted.
The conference itself was extremely successful. The first day explored a range of issues concerning the framework of global history, with speakers from both China and the UK showcasing microstudies that contributed to the wider argument. The second day sought to find new links between social history, international history and international relations in the mid-twentieth century, with comparisons and similarities between the Chinese, European and American experiences being explored.
A particular highlight was the “student showcase,” in which graduate students were asked to give presentations on their doctoral work in progress. This was a rare opportunity for students to get feedback from a range of senior scholars from both the UK and China, providing useful input at an early stage of their careers.
