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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