world history & gunder frank Nov. 2000 (fwd)

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                 ANDRE  GUNDER  FRANK

         1601 SW  83rd Avenue, Miami, FL.  33155 USA
      Tel: 1-305-266  0311   Fax:  1-305  266 0799
                E-Mail :  franka@fiu.edu
   Web/Home Page:  http://csf.colorado.edu/archive/agfrank
    



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 07:49:21 -0500 (EST)
From: Andre Gunder Frank <franka@fiu.edu>
To: franka@fiu.edu
Subject: world history & gunder frank Nov. 2000

STATEMENT ABOUT WORLD HISTORY AND WORK ON THE SAME AND
ON CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL ECONOMY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
by
Andre Gunder Frank

My understanding of,  and perspective,  research and teaching on  world
history is in history of the  world as a single global whole.  As the
saying goes that the whole is more than the sum of its parts and indeed it
also helps shape the parts, so that studying history of the whole world is
different from and more than  studying only  one or various parts of the
world  and even  comparing them as though they were independent of each
other and the whole is not adequate even to understand any part. We need
connection and holism even more than comparison. As observed by Leopold
von Ranke, there is only universal history; and as Marc Bloc wrote there
is only history of the world predominantly. Unfortunately, neither of
these masters of Eurocentric history practised what they preached, and
studying only this or that  part of the world  at a moment of or through
time is still the predominant practice among historians and even
"world" historians and social scientists. However, beyond the predominant
'vertical' history of any one place or topic through time, we also need
'horizontal' history that examines how  all or at least some places and
topics around the world are connected and mutually influence  each or at
any one moment of time. In other words, while historical research and
analysis of particular 'part/s' of course also remains important,  
it can also benefit enormously from being informed by a perspective that
takes global and relational influences on the part into account. 

My work is also interdisciplinary; and I have previously taught in
departments and schools of  history, economics, sociology, social change,
anthropology and archaeology and most recently in international
relations/studies. My work has been also used by scholars and politcal
policy makers in politics, political science, demography, geography,
regional studies and  even more 'distant' ones like public health and
nursing. I  say that on the basis ot the wide range of journals from which
the  3,000 plus  references were recorded by  the Social Science  Citation
Index and more recently appear on the internet. Moreover, my writings have
appeared  in edited readers whose titles refer to several  dozen topics
ranging from A to Z and to regions and countries in  Western and East
Europe, Asia,  Africa, North and South America, which  are recorded in my
attached CV. The same also records my publication in 27 languages of over
30 books and over 130 editions thereof in various of these languages, in
some 130  edited readers, and of over 350 articles published in some 600
issues of journal, magazine and newspaper serials, for a total of about
900 publications. The CV also mentions my membership  the editorial boards
of  a half dozen  journals and my participation in a dozen professional
Associations in various fields, as well as  the  listings of my name in
over a half dozen biographical dictionaries in various fields and
countries and mentions the recent receipt of  various research grants and
several awards and  honours. My last book ReORIENT has received the first
book award by the World History Association and also one by the American
Sociological Association's Political Economy of World Systems  section.  A
Festschrift dedicated to me was published in 1996.

My research and publication, teaching and many lectures on world history
and archaeology extends over 5,000 years back to the third millennium and
concentrates on last 500 years and on the political economy of the last 50
years, as well as on contemporary affairs and future trends. Most of my
work, several books and many articles and public lectures have been on the
political economy of contemporary affairs and  have concentrated on the
economic, political and social crisis in the world as a whole and in its
various regions since 1967  and its implications for public policy.  My
global historical research, teaching and concern also with some
contemporary public policy  implications for the present and future
emphasize the global and regional structural inequalities and  cyclical
dynamics and transformation of Afro-Eurasia a whole before 1492 and of the
entire world since then. My last book  ReORIENT analyzes the global
economy for the period 1400-1800.  It was first published in 1998 in
English by the University of California Press and since then in Chinese
and Japanese and is forthcoming in Korean.  My last public lectures  on
the period 1400-1800 covered in my last book were delivered as the keynote
address in July  to the Association of Asian Studies of  Australia from
whose president I enclose a letter of appreciation. In  May I lectured
the same to various institutes in China and explored its implications for
the present and future of that country, and in October I lectured on the
same topic in Denmark. That  month also, I  gave half a dozen  lectures,
but now on very contemporary problems,  at  the university and in various
institutes as well as to members of Parliament in Latvia;  and in August
I participated in the "Millennium 3000" conference  of the World Futures
Society  in Seattle.  My weakest knowledge is on  the  19th and early 20th
centuries, although I have done some research and publication on this
period as well. However, I have now begun new research and writing also to
this more modern  history for an  intended  sequel  to my  ReORIENT book
that dealt  only with the period until 1800.  The advantage of now
pursuing this  research and writing on modern history is that I can thus
also involve students in the same  from the innovative global perspective
of my previous work.

From this global perspective that has  guided my  teaching also in the
past, I would now be prepared to offer reading and research seminars to
your graduate and upper level undergraduate students from what I hope is
on the frontiers of knowledge in modern world history as well as still
also on pre-modern periods.  I would also encourage students at the
masters  and doctoral level to write dissertations and colleagues to
pursue their own research from that long global perspective, even if these
may be on particular shorter periods in a particular region, and of course
I would be prepared to supervise some such and other dissertations. To do
so, I could also rely on my world-wide personal contacts to consider
sponsoring and organizing some related national and international
conferences if  adequate  outside and University financial and local
infrastructural and logistic support is available.





    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

                 ANDRE  GUNDER  FRANK

         1601 SW  83rd Avenue, Miami, FL.  33155 USA
      Tel: 1-305-266  0311   Fax:  1-305  266 0799
                E-Mail :  franka@fiu.edu
   Web/Home Page:  http://csf.colorado.edu/archive/agfrank