USIH Crosspost: The Transnational Turn
I just posted a piece on “The Transnational Turn” and its consequences for U.S. intellectual history at the USIH weblog. I think this post, however, has implications for other subfields. – TL
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Great stuff, and a tough issue. I always wonder, in my field, exactly how much I am missing because I'm dependent on research from English-speaking nations, or from researchers elsewhere willing and able to write in English or the few other languages which I can “access.” History has unique issues – especially the antique language forms you alluded to – but in many ways we are all historians. Our work grows out of traditions, philosophies, sciences, and conversations that reach back across time and out across nations and cultures, and we are limited by our languages.
So maybe, it is not that “English Only Americanists” are looked down on, but that those researchers have certain limits to what they might reasonably study. We all have those limits, created by the many barriers humans face. This is just a very big, and very common, one.
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Great job.It is a very good article full of information about the U.S. intellectual history. Thanks.
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