Global History and Culture Centre
Annual General Meeting
Thursday 21 May 2015
2.30-3.30pm
H.545 Humanities Building
University of Warwick
Present:
Maxine Berg, Giorgio Riello, Dan Branch, David Anderson, James Baldwin, Kirsty Hooper,
Clare Anderson, Anne Gerritsen, Michael Bycroft, Amy Evans
Apologies:
Bishnu Gupta, Howard Chiang, Matteo Pretelli, Ross Forman, Matthias Middell
1. Welcome
A warm welcome was extended to Clare Anderson, who is the new external advisor.
2. Minutes from the previous meeting
The minutes of last AGM was circulated and accepted.
3. Report on Activities 2014-2015
Maxine reported on all activities –
I.
External advisors:
Professor Clare Anderson accepted an invitation be the new external advisor. Professor
Mattias Middell continues as our other external advisor.
II.
Annual Lecture:
The 2015 Annual Lecture this year will be given by Professor Alison Bashford (Cambridge)
‘Population and Global History’.
The 2014 Annual Lecture last year was by Professor Pat Manning (University of Pittsburgh)
‘Big Data in History’.
Next year’s Annual Lecture will take place on the earlier date of Wednesday, 2nd of March
2016. Professor Nile Green (UCLA).
III.
Events:
A Workshop on ‘The Future of World and Global History’ was held on the 23rd May 2014.
The conference programme and list of participants is attached. There was a wide-ranging
discussion on new directions in the field, including research, and teaching programmes.
A list of the other workshops and seminars was tabled.
IV.
Appointments:
Dr. Anne Gerritsen (Warwick) was appointed to a special Chair at the University of Leiden in
association with her post at Warwick. She was appointed Professor of Asia-Europe
Intercultural dynamics with special attention to material culture, art and human
development. The position is sponsored by the Kikkoman Foundation and the Association
of Friends of Asian Art (VVAK). She gave her inaugural lecture ‘The Global Life of a Soya
Bottle’ at the University of Leiden on the 12th December 2014. Professors Rebecca Earle
and Maxine Berg participated in the procession.
Dr. Robert Fletcher (University of Exeter) was appointed to an Associate Professor post in
Global History. He will join us in September 2015.
Dr. Michael Bycroft was appointed to a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (2014-2017).
A 3-year Assistant Professor in Global History will be appointed in June 2015.
V.
IAS Visitors and Other Visitors
The GHCC visitors in 2014 were Professor Pat Manning (Pittsburgh) and Professor Jeremy
Prestholdt (University of California, San Diego).
The GHCC visitor and IAS Visiting Fellow in 2015 is Professor Sam Moyn (Harvard).
Professor Jan de Vries (Berkeley) presented a programme of seminars and a lecture in
October 2014.
VI.
Research Projects:
Maxine Berg’s ERC project, ‘Europe’s Asian Centuries’ was completed in September 2014,
and the Final Report was submitted in October 2014.
Giorgio Riello’s Leverhulme Luxury network finished in March 2015. Two conferences were
held in 2014-15 as part of the Network’s activities, one at Villa I Tatti (Harvard) in Florence in
September, 2014, and a second conference at the Shard in London in collaboration with
WBS on 5-6 February, 2015.
Howard Chiang’s AHRC-funded network, ‘China and the Human Sciences’ started this year.
A new collaborative project with the British Library on ‘Factories of the Indian Ocean, 16001800’ is currently being developed. An application to the ESRC is expected in Summer 2015.
VII.
Research themes:
Our research programmes are centred on the following three themes:
(a) Material and economic Life in a Globalizing world
(b) Power and Politics in the Colonial and Postcolonial World
(c) Global Humanity? Possibilities and Challenges
A series of conferences, workshops and seminars were organised on these themes in 201415. Recent events include:
- ‘The Spaces of Luxury’ (in collaboration with the Warwick Business School)
- ‘Gems in Transit: Materials, Techniques and Trade, 1400-1800’ (in collaboration with the
Max Planck Institute and the Victoria and Albert Museum)
- ‘Writing the History of Socioeconomic Rights’ (with the Eighteenth-Century Centre)
VIII.
Collaborations and international visibility
The GHCC continued to work closely with numerous institutions, Melbourne University, the
V&A, the British Library, University of Stockholm , University of Bologna, the EUI in Florence;
Birkbeck College, University of London; the British Institute in Eastern Africa in Nairobi and
Institute of Advanced Humanistic Studies (IAHS) at Fudan in Shanghai.
IX.
GHCC Small Grants Research Fund:
£12,421 was allocated for this 2014/15. There were 9 applications, 8 of which were funded.
X.
PhDs and MA Teaching:
£14,030 was awarded as a PhD Studentship to Clare Tang. Next year c. £15,000 will be
allocated for an MA bursary.
The Global History MA ran this year with a small number of students. It remains on the
books next year, but subsequently will be a stream within a general History MA.
Recruitment remains difficult.
XI.
CUP and Palgrave book series:
Giorgio Riello is in negotiation with CUP over a book series.
Maxine Berg has a book series with Palgrave – ‘Europe’s Asian Centuries’. Two volumes are
in Press.
Other Publications:
Anne Gerritsen and Giorgio Riello have published one volume based on recent conferences
from the Global Commodities network, ‘Wrting the Material Culture’; two more are in
press.
Howard Chiang, ed., Psychiatry and Chinese History (2014)
Giorgio Riello was awarded the World History Association Bentley Book prize for Cotton: the
Fabric that made the Modern World (CUP 2013).
4. Reports from Mathias Middell and Clare Anderson
Matthias and Clare’s comments highlighted these points –

With two major projects come to an end, there is a need to take time to reflect on what’s
been achieved and plan ahead.

It is important to debate on the distinctive profile of the Centre, and how to capitalise the
gains from the activities.

Impressive events had taken place that were thought provoking. Hosting joint events was a
good idea to engage people from different area and draw in wider audience.

We should raise a question of how to sustain so many activities financially.

The three strands of research streams are great idea of direction. How flexible are they for
further discussion and development. The Centre website should reflect and promote these
themes.
5. Future GHCC plans, activities and funding
A. Future Conferences and Workshops:
1. The Space Between: Micro History and Global History. Organized by Maxine Berg and
John-Paul Ghobrial – Venice -26-28 February, 2016 – joint funding sought with Oxford.
2. PG Training/Summer School on ‘Area studies and Global History’ – Possibly University of
California Berkeley, April, 2016. [funded by Warwick/California scheme].
3. Conference: ‘Economic Change in Global History’ organized by Giorgio Riello and
Tirthankar Roy (LSE).
4. Workshop to be organized by Robert Fletcher/the new appointment in GHCC.
5. Howard’s AHRC-funded network, ‘China and the Human Sciences’: a major conference is
planned for the summer of 2016.
Seminar speakers for next year:
Paul Warde (Cambridge) (with Early Modern Group) – 27th January; Sarah Easterby-Smith
(St. Andrews) (with Eighteenth-Century Centre) – 11th Feb; David Todd (Kings London) (with
European History Centre) – 24th Feb.; Marilyn Booth (Oxford) (9 March) and Ruth Harris
(Oxford) (20 Jan.) will each give History seminars; Emma Teng – summer term.
Clare Anderson was proposed as a speaker for the Autumn term.
B. Funding
Our core University funding is now nearly entirely spent on Studentships/bursaries and
conferences and workshops. Plans for future use of this funding are now in discussion.
Outside funding:
Claudia Stein and Charles Walton have applied to for a Leverhulme Research Interchange on
Global Human Rights.
There have been two meetings with the British Library in a bid to do an ESRC application
and a Leverhulme application on Indian Ocean Trade.
Dr. Sarah Hodges has submitted an AHRC standard research grant application on ‘Chennai’s
Twentieth Century: From Colonial rule to “Global City”’.
Professor David Anderson submitted an ERC Advanced Grant application on ‘Violence and
Empire in the Indian Ocean’.
6. AGM next year – proposed change of date to Thursday, 12th May, 2015
7. A.O.B.
It was proposed to look into the AHRC Collaborative Awards scheme.
A potential candidate for a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship Application was discussed.