Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 20:39:09 -0500 (EST)
From: Gunder Frank <agfrank@chass.utoronto.ca>
Subject: (long) AHA: *ReOrient* (fwd)
To: Robert Denemark <denemark@strauss.udel.edu>,
Albert J Bergesen <albert@U.Arizona.EDU>,
Marianne Brun <eurobrun@berlin.snafu.de>,
"M. Rutten" <mrutten@pscw.uva.nl>,
"NVAPS (helga Lasschuijt)" <nvaps@rullet.LeidenUniv.nl>,
giovanni arrighi <arrighi@binghamton.edu>,
Chris Chase-Dunn <CHRISCD@jhu.edu>, tom hall <thall@depauw.edu>,
islamoglu@wiko-berlin.de
fyi - also in re ISA, leiden,etc.
g/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Andre Gunder Frank
University of Toronto
96 Asquith Ave Tel. 1 416 972-0616
Toronto, ON Fax. 1 416 972-0071
CANADA M4W 1J8 Email agfrank@chass.utoronto.ca
My home Page is at: http://www.whc.neu.edu/whc/resrch&curric/gunder.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 1998 15:47:36 -0600, MDT
From: J B Owens <OWENJACK@FS.isu.edu>
To: richards@acpub.duke.edu, dringrose@ucsd.edu, kwigen@acpub.duke.edu
Subject: (long) AHA: *ReOrient*
What follows is the text of the core pages of the panel proposal for
next January's AHA meeting. There are signs of haste, but I hope it
is good enough to do the trick. Obviously, you are receiving only
text, not the presentation.
Also included were the c.v.'s for the five participants. Following Pat
Manning's suggestions, I cut the c.v.'s to include the necessary
information and organized that so that the same sections came in the
same order in each c.v. That way, the committee members would not
have to waste time trying to grasp the organizational principles
behind five different documents in order to find information: name,
address, phone & fax, e-mail address, education, professional
positions, publications (stress on recent), recent conference papers
(stress on most relevant to panel), grants (stress on most recent and
relevant), memberships. No more than three pages each.
The package was sent priority mail yesterday morning so it should
arrive in plenty of time to meet the Friday the 13th deadline :-)
Again, my thanks to all for helping me to put this proposal together
in such a short time. I couldn't have done that without so much
cooperation. I will send news as I receive it.
Warmest regards,
Jack
PROGRAM TEXT
Panel Title: "Making Connections: The ReOrientation of World
History"
Joint session with the World History Association. The panel will
discuss ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age by Andre Gunder
Frank (University of California Press, 1998).
Chair: J. B. Owens, Idaho State University
Panel: John F. Richards, Duke University
David R. Ringrose, University of California, San Diego
Kaeren Wigen, Duke University
J. B. Owens
Response: Andre Gunder Frank, University of Toronto
[Note: Permission for a join session with the World History Association
given by WHA President Heidi Roupp <roupp@csn.net>.]
************************************************************
PANEL ABSTRACT
Making Connections: The ReOrientation of World History
The panel's purpose is to provide a critical evaluation of
ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age by Andre Gunder Frank,
to be published by the University of California Press in April, 1998.
Frank argues that during the period 1400-1800, there existed a world
economy which profoundly shaped developments in all of its parts and
the relations among them. Therefore, the evidence about no region's
history can be understood without employing a holistic global analysis.
Such analysis entails the rejection of much received social theory,
particularly that with roots in the work of Karl Marx and Max Weber,
and a new purpose for comparative research. Frank proposes an
alternative perspective from which to contemplate the contemporary
global economy, and this perspective demands a reassessment of
periodization, the nature of continuity and change, the form of
historical explanation, and the way research questions are posed.
Frank attacks all "Eurocentric" claims that 1500 represented a
sharp break and opened a new age in which unique European
characteristics (e.g., rationality, efficiency) and institutions (e.g.,
private property rights, political freedom) permitted that region to be
the birthplace and center of "capitalism," born of a transition from
"feudalism," which then spread through the incorporation of other
regions (labeled as backward, stagnant, stationary, traditional) into a
European (and later Europeanized North American) dominated system.
Instead, he describes 1400-1800 as a period in which the pre-existing
Afroeurasian (and increasingly global) economy expanded, but
primarily in Asia where India and especially China were central regions
for productivity and competitiveness. Europeans covered their region's
deficiencies, represented by its chronic balance of payments deficits,
through the infusion of American precious metals. Just as its design
had changed in the past, the always unequal structure of interactions
among regions inflected about 1800 to Europe's and then North
America's advantage, a pattern which may now be shifting again toward
East Asia.
Frank offers the book as a preliminary step toward the holistic
global theory and analysis he advocates. He describes the necessary
approach as a three legged stool for which the supporting analyses
would focus on (1) ecological, economic, and technological aspects, (2)
political/military interactions, and (3) social, cultural, and ideological
issues. However, he concentrates on the economic part of the first leg,
because he feels it is the most neglected, and admits that even there, he
gives too little attention to interactions involving Africa and the
Americas.
Because none of the panelists has read the book in its final form,
it is not possible to include in this proposal the abstracts of the
individual presentations. However, the intention is to evaluate the book
on the basis of Frank's use of recent research on the economic history
of East Asia, South Asia, Europe, and the Spanish Empire from his
holistic global perspective. Moreover, attention will be given (1) to the
way this perspective might shape research on the neglected ecological
and technological aspects of the first leg and on the other two legs, and
(2) to how to combine holistically the analyses of the three legged stool.
Among them, the panelists have the variety of regional and topical
research interests which permit such a complex evaluation.
Although Frank appeared on the 1998 AHA program, we feel
that one of the strengths of this proposal is his willingness to respond to
the presentations, but the panel will stand on its own if the Program
Committee would prefer not to have Andre Gunder Frank's name
repeated in 1999.
************************************************************
Making Connections: The ReOrientation of World History
HOW PANEL ADDRESSES ISSUES RELATED TO TEACHING
Andre Gunder Frank's ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian
Age (University of California Press, April 1998) will have a major
impact on the teaching of world history at all levels. For example,
Frank rejects the automatic assumption of the reality of a number of
stock historical categories around which such courses are often
organized. Among these categories are the rise of the West, the
transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, the development of the "State"
as a motor force of European and subsequently world history, the
"modernization" of "traditional cultures," and the existence of discrete
"societies" which can be understood on the basis of their internal
characteristics and then compared to other such entities. Also, the book
encourages greater attention to economic history, an area about which
current world history teaching is generally deficient. Concern about
this deficiency is one reason that the World History Association will
sponsor this panel for the AHA program.
In recent twin documents about the evaluation of History/Social
Studies standards and textbooks (see AHA Perspectives [January 1998]:
29 and 31-32), the Council of the American Historical Association
stressed the need to incorporate continuously "current research findings
and best teaching practices." Frank's book demands a much more basic
systematic global perspective than has been the case among even the
most determined world historians and a fundamental reassessment of
periodization, the enterprise of comparative history, and the
interpretation of localized events, change, and continuity. Moreover,
economic history is thrust into a more prominent place. Given its due,
ReOrient will literally reorient the teaching of world history in the 21st
century and will give a different form to courses on the various
"national" and regional histories. Because ReOrient constitutes a
demanding challenge to world history as a sub-field and instructional
subject, it is necessary that those considering this "reorientation" in
course design have available the proposed detailed examination of
Frank's use of recent research and of the problems of tracing and
presenting economic, political, and cultural interactions and their impact
on people's lives within a holistic global analysis. Among the matters
that panelists may consider is the degree to which the adoption of
Frank's theoretical/analytical approach would entail the rewriting of the
"National Standards for World History."
Further, if it is true that prior European cultural preparation was
not the decisive factor in the region's rise to predominance in the global
economy, ReOrient has implications for larger issues of curricular and
institutional organization. For example, the dynamics of discussions of
race relations and diversity issues are transformed in fundamental ways.
***********************************************************************
Making Connections: The ReOrientation of World History
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
1)
Andre Gunder Frank
96 Asquith Avenue
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M4W1J8
Tel: 1-416 972 0616; FAX: 1-416 972 0071
e-mail: agfrank@chass.utoronto.ca
2)
J. B. Owens
Department of History
CMS 8344
Idaho State University
Pocatello, ID 83209
Tel.: (208) 236-2379; FAX: (208) 236-4267
e-mail: owenjack@isu.edu
3)
John F. Richards
1012 Gloria Avenue
Durham, NC 27701
Tel.: (919) 688-8828; FAX: (919) 684-3966
e-mail: richards@acpub.duke.edu
4)
David R. Ringrose
Department of History C-004
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, CA 92093-0104
Tel.: (619) 534-1996; FAX: (619) 534-7283
e-mail: dringrose@ucsd.edu
5)
Kaeren Esther Wigen
Department of History
Duke University
Durham, NC 27708-0719
Tel: (919) 684-8359; FAX: (919) 681-7670
e-mail: kwigen@acpub.duke.edu