I had not intended to write to H-USA so quickly, but reading the Welcome
message for the group suggested that sharing a perspective with the group
might be useful.
The section of the Welcome message that caught my attention was:
The primary purpose for H-USA is to enable teachers interested in
American Studies and American history to obtain accurate information
from scholars, and to discuss the meaning of current and historical events.
To me, this suggests a largely one-way flow of benefits from the US to others.
I would like to encourage people to think more broadly than this: I believe
that American historians have much to gain from hearing interpretations of
American history from non-American scholars.
As an example let me very briefly relay an experience associated with the
celebration of the American Revolution Bicentennial in 1976. As part of the
celebration, the University of Pennsylvania opened a center for the study of
American Colonial History. Among the programs funded at the center by the
American Council of Learned Societies was a program of pre-doctoral and
post-doctoral fellowships that specifically reserved places for non-American
researchers in American colonial history. (Among the post-doctoral fellows
was Yoshida Yoshinor of Kyoto Sangyo University, but European specialists
were also present as I recall.) Although not an American historian myself,
I had a lot of contact with colonial specialists among the University of
Pennsylvania History Department faculty and graduate students. It was clear
from the reactions of American faculty and graduate students there was a
great deal of interest aroused by the perspectives of non-American scholars
and graduate students. Even when there was substantial disagreement with
the perspectives a non-Americna scholar presented, the American specialists
were constructively challenged to re-think some of their perspectives on
American colonial history. They clearly found the exchanges very
stimulating. (Among the graduate students who I recall excitedly commenting
on these exchanges was Yoko Shirai, who now teaches in the Tokyo area.)
Viewed from my perspective as a Japanese historian, I have often had an
opportunity to talk with Japanese scholars who have frequently asked about
how various aspects of Japanese history are viewed by American scholars.
Again, although they do not necessarily agree with the work of their
American counterparts, they do find the experience interesting and
intellectually worthwhile. Since first conducting research in Japan I have
wished for my American history colleagues to have similar experience (my
Americanist colleagues at Ohio State University who have had experiences as
Fulbright lecturers in Japan that confirm my sense of the value of such
exchanges).
It is my hope that H-USA can function as a two-way street, benefitting not
only international scholars who wish to learn about the U.S., but also
American historians as they study their own history.
Philip C. Brown, Associate Professor
Department of History, Ohio State University
Columbus OH 43210
614-292-0904; Brown.113@osu.edu
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(Editor's Note)
On behalf of H-USA, I would like to give special thanks to
Professor Brown for making an excellent suggestion. This is what H-USA
is supposed to be.
International Scholars/teachers, please contribute your scholarship
to H-USA and share your ideas with American schoalars.
Thanks.