Global History and Culture Centre
Management Committee Meeting Minutes
21 May, 2008 – 11:00-1:00; Room H402
External Members: R. Bin Wong (UCLA), David Washbrook (Trinity College,
Cambridge.
Other members: Ann Caesar, Margot Finn, Clare Anderson, Bishnupria
Gupta, Shaun Breslin
Maxine Berg, Giorgio Riello, Trevor Burnard, David Arnold (absent), Anne
Gerritsen (absent).
1. Welcome
2. Membership of the Committee was reported. David Arnold and Anne
Gerritsen are away on prestigious visiting research fellowships.
3. The Centre Leaflet was distributed and Giorgio Riello reported on the
Web page.
4. The MA Programme was explained. Courses running in the coming
year will be the Global History MA core course and one option on
China and the Wider World to be taught jointly by Dr. Anne Gerritsen
and Dr. Red Chan (Translation Studies). Maxine Berg will direct the MA
during the coming year while David Arnold is on leave, and Anne
Gerritsen will convene a core course which will include sessions by
several members of the Centre.
5. Maxine Berg reported on the many events held throughout the past
year, and plans for new events in 2008-9. .
6. Funding and Grant applications: Suggestions:
ESRC network scheme. Does this have an international component.
Suggestions to consult Noel Whiteside and Carol Wolkowitz in Sociology.
The Erasmus Mundi programme. Consult Mathias Niedel in Leipzig. Are
there EU-Asia link projects?
7. The major event in the coming year is a conference at the British
Academy, ‘Writing the History of the Global’. British Academy funding
has been raised, and further funding is now sought from the University
RDF and HRF funds. All major speakers invited has said yes.
8. International Links:
Reports on progress with University of California system. Visits of
Riello and Berg to World History Group in Santa Cruz in February.
Asia links – visits of Riello and Gerritsen to JNU, India in March and to
Bogazci University in Istanbul; visits of Riello and Berg to Beijing in
May (Chinese Academy of Sciences and Global History Centre at
Capital Normal University); visit of Berg, Gerritsen and Riello to Hong
Kong in May to the Chinese University of Hong Kong and to Hong
Kong University.
Strong research links can be made quickly with both universities in
Hong Kong. There is also a strong group of alumnae in Hong Kong.
Possibilities of developing these links should be explored with the
alumnae office and with Ed Harcourt on the University’s East Asia links.
9. Strategic developments:
Reports on developments on research links in North America, in China
and India, and ways of developing the Venice research centre.
Report on Luca Molá’s development of ideas for a research centre
based in Venice on the cultural and public history of innovation and
patenting.
Discussion of new directions:
We should develop our focus on our strengths in the arts and
commodities. We should look for further links with the social sciences.
These could include more linking up with the MA programmes.
Sociology will have a new MA programme on Post colonialism, race
and the global. We must make the MA prominent on the web page.
We should look into potential collaborative studentships. Consult Huw
Bowen at Swansea on collaborative studentships with the Maritime
Museum.
Suggestions from Bin Wong. We should try to focus activities more
effectively. Have monthly meetings/ sessions. We should also look for
collaborative sessions with the Centre for Globalization. There is a
need to connect the modern and the early modern, and to engage the
Japanese.
Bishnupria Gupta made the point that the Global History MA course
would help to increase the visibility of the Centre.
There was some discussion of Maxine Berg’s ESRC grant application.
It may be difficult to recruit postdocs from the U.S. for this if it is
successful. Suggestions for converting it into a teaching leave
fellowship.
The AHRC training scheme was a good source for potential students.
There were other suggestions for potential AHRC collaborative
studentships with the Maritime Museum. The Museum can also make
seminar/conference space available without charge.
10. Potential collaborations.
Globalization Centre – Borders project with IAS
Birkbeck College – has just started a World History MA
Swansea University has a programme in International Maritime History
Develop connections with the Docklands Museum