In Integrating Global History, Don't Forget to also Integrate Europe: Peripheral Insights from Southeastern Europe

Although the global history survey forces its practitioners to rethink narratives of European history, it also suggests rethinking how to define Europe itself. Such surveys offer an opportunity to engage students in the question of the uneven distribution of global processes by bringing the Balkans (and other areas of the European periphery) into global narratives. I will discuss how own research on (and reading of the wider historiography of) Southeastern Europe on issues of nation-building and state-building helped me to consider how to reframe how I defined these issues in Europe as a whole — and this allows for narratives of global history that engage Europe beyond the “London-Paris” axis. My presentation includes suggestions on how to implement primary documents from Southeastern Europe (including some original translations, to be made available online at the Internet Global History Sourcebook project). A sample first-year syllabus and lesson plans are provided, showing practical examples of how I try to challenge students to rethink categories such as “Europe” and “European” — and to think about “European” processes in more inclusive terms.