Submitted by: D. A. Jeremy Telman <TELMAND@cofc.edu>
List members who are historians may already have seen recent
articles in the American Historical Association's Newsletter,
"Perspectives" by Carolyn Walker Bynum and John Gillis addressing
the future of European history.
These two essays represent a very unsettling trend in the
historical profession; a trend that I believe merits discussion
on this and other scholarly lists.
I will not here try to summarize Bynum's and Gillis's essays.
Rather I would like to comment on the threat their essays pose to
young European historians who have been treading water
professionally and to Europeanists struggling with colleagues and
administrators to maintain or improve programs in an era of
universally shrinking resources. I encourage list members to
read their articles for themselves and respond as they fit.
Below are what seem to me to be important points to raise:
1. Gillis acknowledges that the "Eurocentric model" has not been
replaced with a coherent alternative. While I do not accept that
the American historical profession has really been Eurocentric in
the past, I think it ought to be clear that Europe needs to have
an important place in historical teaching in the years to come.
With Europe moving towards unity and with the collapse of the
Soviet Union, Europe is as important as it ever was from a global
perspective.
2. Bynum and Gillis both encourage Europeanists to become more
broadly trained and to do more comparative work. This is
undoubtedly a worthy goal, but as Europeanists we should also
stress that we are _already_ incredibly broadly trained. A
colleague of mine in medieval studies forwarded to me from
another discussion group a list of books "every medievalist
should have read." The list was extraordinarily lengthy and
included works in a half a dozen languages (at least). Meanwhile
in my department, some of our American historians had a snit
because we recommended that faculty members participating in our
exchange program with the University of Versailles learn a little
French. It is absurd to demand that Europeanists become more
broadly trained when the breadth of their training is already
dizzying.
3. American historians of Europe have made extraordinary and
singular contributions to our understanding of European history.
Except for the English, I think no historical profession can
claim to have had such an impact on the study of the history of
other countries. We should be proud of our accomplishments and
encourage the growth of this field.
4. Europe and European historians continue to lead the way in
methodological innovation in historical studies.
5. Gillis, by my count, names at least five very exciting new
avenues of research into European history. Indeed, with the
transformations currently taking place in European society, this
is a very exciting time to be a European historian, and the
profession will suffer if young scholars are not encouraged to
pursue their scholarly interests in Europe.
6. While I am sympathetic to the aims of multi-cultural education
in this country, I am flabbergasted that people are now seriously
arguing that there has been too much of a stress on European
influences on American society. Our political, economic,
religious, military, and --less completely -- cultural
institutions have European origins, and Europe continues to be an
important point of reference for understanding America and an
underutilized source of ideas for the reform of our society.
7. Carolyn Bynum engaged in some irresponsible generalizations
about "the German character." William Hagen took her to task for
this and she defended herself in the letters column of the most
recent "Perspectives." He is right; she is wrong. You can read
it for yourselves.
8. It is especially depressing to see such excellent European
historians abandoning the field when they are so well-positioned
to defend it. Gillis and Bynum represent the best aspects of the
American historical profession -- not because they are
Europeanists, but certainly not in spite of the fact that they
are Europeanists!
Best,
Jeremy
TELMAND@COFC.EDU (D.A. JEREMY TELMAN)
COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON
HISTORY DEPARTMENT
CHARLESTON, SC 29424 803-953-8102
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