The inaugural Centre for Imperial & Global History Annual Lecture, will take place on 25 May (full details and abstract below). Professor James Belich (Beit Professor of Imperial and Commonwealth History, University of Oxford) will be speaking on Globalization and Divergence over five millennia. The lecture should be of wide interest. Attendance is open to Exeter staff and students. The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception.

ABSTRACT

Can the concepts of ‘globalization’ and ‘divergence’ usefully be salvaged from modernity and Euro-centrism for the study of deep global history? Globalization is normally dated to some time after 1492, if not 1945, while divergence is normally considered sui generis, as in ‘the’ Great Divergence of Europe from the rest of the world. Here I adapt both concepts, posit several iterations over the last 5,000 years, and briefly consider their after-lives and interactions.