Summer School on “Comparative and Trans-national History: Theories, Methodology and Case Studies”
European University Institute, Florence, 14-18 September 2008
(A rather impressionistic) account, by Lasse Heerten

Upon my arrival at Florence train station, I quickly realised the transnational character of the experience I was to have. After getting on the bus to the European University Institute (EUI), I thought I should make sure that I got off at the right stop. Addressing the woman in front of me in English, garnished with a few Italian words I looked up in the dictionary, I asked whether she could tell me when the bus arrives at San Domenico. The woman, however, did not speak English and instead answered in West African French. Stuttering my initial response, I needed a moment to switch to French and to adapt to this unexpected turn in our conversation. But after that, our chat got going and she helped me find the way to the institute.

This episode proved to be a foretaste of what was to come in the subsequent days. The EUI’s summer school not only provides a space for discussing comparative and transnational history, it also brings together graduate students from all parts of Europe and, in some cases, other parts of the world. Before I arrived at the EUI, I expected the student body to be composed mainly of the European Union’s ‘old’ member states. Yet soon after arrival, I realised that this was not at all the case. There was not a single student from France, for instance, whereas quite a significant number of the participants came from the new member states in Eastern Europe. Personally, and I think many other participants felt the same way, I found it rewarding to be part of such a group. For a graduate student from almost any university in Europe (besides the EUI itself perhaps), chances to discuss one’s subject with students from Estonia to Portugal, from Greece to Norway are rare indeed.

With the exception of Sebastian Conrad’s more interactive take on introducing global history, the summer school’s sessions mostly consisted of papers presented by EUI faculty or guest speakers, followed by discussions. The sessions were more or less equally divided into rather methodological on the one hand and more empirically focussed ones on the other. Both comparative and transnational historiographical approaches to historical theory and practice were presented (see the programme provided at the end of this paper). Although this is not more than a tendency that should not be oversimplified into a clear-cut juxtaposition, the summer school evinced a certain generational divide between the two approaches: whereas historians, who already earned their major credentials in the 1980s and 1990s, rather rely on comparative methods, many younger historians are much more at ease in incorporating a number of different approaches evolving around the idea of crossing different kinds of borders.

What I found striking during a number of sessions was the friction produced by incorporating transnational approaches into an academic environment such as the EUI that is, basically, an EU institution. This is an inherent problem, the repercussions of which were felt in the seminar room. The history of the institute itself is firmly entrenched in the project of writing a history of Europe. It has become a commonplace among transnational historians to say that movements of goods, texts or people do not, unless they are somehow forced to, come to a halt at national borders. But the same is obviously true of continental borders. That this problem is acknowledged in the department was discernible during many sessions; some of the faculty and researchers seem to attempt very decidedly to overcome these restrictions. Yet a friction remains. I had the feeling that the history of Europe outside its borders was not duly represented in a number of sessions. Several participants, however, repeatedly asked for the connections between colonialism and the processes outlined in the papers. It seems as if still more work is needed to integrate the repercussions of colonialism, decolonisation and relations with the post-colonies into European history.

One of the sessions that proved to be especially stimulating was Bénédicte Zimmerman’s paper on “histoire croisée and the making of global history”, in which some of the main ideas connected to transnationalism are elevated to an epistemological status. Following this outline, it might be argued that it would be best to give up national or continental formats completely, at least as starting points of historical analysis. Starting with a concrete historical ‘problem’ instead might open up new and often unexpected vistas.

The “container models” of conventional history focused either on nation-states or continents (or visions of a federal nation-state writ continentally large such as the European Union) are fiercely challenged by this emphasis on cross-border perspectives. Overwhelmingly, the institutional bases of historical research and teaching – in their entrenchment in political units – do not fit this kind of history very well anymore. The profession should start to think about ways how these units might be restructured. Otherwise we run the risk of falling short of providing the academic infrastructure needed to explain the emergence of our contemporary world.

Even if we do not want to give up pursuing a project such as writing a history of Europe, then we still need to find ways to integrate the life stories of people such as the woman I met on the bus, without whose help I would have been lost in this part of Europe: born somewhere in francophone West Africa, she grew up in a Parisian banlieue, now lives and works in Florence, and is as much a part of Europe as anybody else could be.

Lasse Heerten is currently studying for a Master of Studies in Historical Research at the University of Oxford. He is also a doctoral candidate in Modern History at the Freie Universität Berlin. His main research interests evolve around the transnational history of humanitarianism and human rights in the late twentieth century.

Programme

Sunday, September 14
• Prof. António Manuel Hespanha (Universidade de Lisboa),Key-note conference: 

Monday, September 15
• Discussion on the Key-note conference
• Profs. Heinz-Gerhard Haupt, Bartolomé Yun-Casalilla and Antonella Romano, Comparative history and Comparative History of Europe. State of the art, main problematics, perspectives of research
• Profs. Heinz-Gerhard Haupt, Bartolomé Yun-Casalilla and Antonella Romano, Trans-national history and trans-national history of Europe. State of the art, main problematics and perspectives for research
• General introduction to the EUI and to the Department of History and Civilization

Tuesday, September 16
• Profs. Heinz-Gerhard Haupt, Bartolomé Yun-Casalilla and Antonella Romano Trans-national history and Trans-national history of Europe. State of the art, main problematics and perspectives for research – rethinking history of science in a European context
• Lecture and discussion:Prof. Jean Boutier (EHESS, Paris) Did the Republic of Letters ever exist? urope, 16th-18th c.
• Dr. Valentina Fava (Max Weber Fellow), Presentation of her research
• Guided visit to the Library, meeting with Dr. Serge Noiret

Wednesday, September 17
• Lecture and discussion Prof Bénédicte Zimmerman (EHESS, Paris) , Histoire croisée and the making of global history
• Lecture and discussion:Prof. Alberto Mario Banti (Università di Pisa) Figures of the nation: on the historical study of 19th c. European nationalism.

Thursday, September 18
• Lecture and discussion: Prof. Steve Smith (HEC) Cultures in Comparative Perspective: Popular Conceptions of the Soul in Russia and China
• Lecture and discussion: Prof. Philipp Ther (HEC) Mapping European Culture. Transfers, Networks and Markets of Culture in Modern Europe
• Lecture and discussion: Prof. Sebastian Conrad (HEC) Global History - Issues and Approaches
• Round Table