Places Connected: Denmark and Japan as Temporarily Experienced by Fellows, 1954–2008

This paper argues that the temporary experience of places by fellows who formed global networks financed by development assistance contributed to the globalization of national histories of the 20^th century. Along with many other so-called donors in the 1950s, Denmark and Japan chose to invest in the education of own and other nationals involved in development. They, thereby, financed personal connections between individuals throughout the world and established channels not only for streams of money and ideas, but also of people. By focusing on the personal networks financed by development assistance, I wish to offer a dynamic understanding of development history and globalization, which challenges the nationally bound histories of development assistance by Carol Lancaster in Foreign Aid: Diplomacy, Development, Domestic Politics (2006) among many others. The fellows who experience the places of Denmark and Japan during their temporary study in these countries return home, travel elsewhere and meet other former fellows and bring their experiences with them. These people constitute weak links according to Mark Buchanan in Nexus: Small Worlds and the Groundbreaking Science of Networks (2003) and they intertwine numerous national histories throughout the world. As weak links the fellows connect places through their experiences.

Drawing inspiration from the field of Anthropology, Niels Kayser Nielsen’s work [Places in Europe] (2006) allows the historian to explore how the experiences of different places initiate new personal understandings of the world - and of the concept and practices of development in the 20^th century. By combining work on the experience of place with network historiography on migration and kinship, the paper presents a case as to the function of the temporary encounter in human networks. Furthermore, it illustrates how the combination of two newer trends in historiography allows for globalizing the national histories of Denmark and Japan.