On Mon, 21 Oct 1996, Jason W Moore wrote:
> Is there any way to move outward, with an institutional framework that
> reaches out to world-systems students and faculty throughout the
> humanities and social sciences? I write because I suspect that I'm not
> the only graduate student (History, UC Santa Cruz) whose work fits
> squarely within the world-systems perspective, but is relatively
> isolated in a discipline which gives world history second class status,
> and treats world-systems as not "real history." If you want to stop inbreeding,
> you need to attract grad students, and not just in sociology (for instance, I know a number of literature grad students here who use world-systems concepts in their work).
> Inbreeding is indeed quite bad -- but what is to be done?
> Best,
> Jason Moore, History, UC Santa Cruz.
>
Dear Jason,
I'm not sure anything can be "done," but things are beginning to
happen, I think, in history and the humanities that can reverse the
inbreeding trend just by their sheer momentum. The New Historicism in the
humanities and the rising concern in the history profession for world
history and interdisciplinary approaches will, I hope, open doors
previously closed or only slightly ajar. At Binghamton University,
for example, we have not only Immanuel Wallerstein and his colleagues
in Sociology but also three or four people in the History Department and
people like Ali Mazrui in Political Science and Tony King in Art
History, faculty involved in world-systems analysis who came here not
because of the Sociology Department's program in world-systems analysis
but who just happened to be here when Wallerstein arrived (like me) or who
came afterwards for their own good reasons.
I would guess there are several other History departments around
the country with faculty who are professionally involved in world-systems
analysis, comparative civilization studies, globalization, world history,
and the like; and I expect that number to grow substantially during the
next ten years. The centripetal forces at work in the world are so vast,
so visible that scholars in all disciplines are compelled to come to terms
with them whether they like it or not. In the long run this may not work
to the advantage of PEWS or world-systems research specifically. Other
approaches, other organizations may take their place. But there is every
reason for a graduate student in history or the humanities these days to
"specialize" in what might be called World Studies. More power to you.
Sincerely,
W. Warren Wagar
Department of History
Binghamton University, SUNY
USA