Out of the House: On the Global History of UNESCO

International organizations are obvious objects of analysis if you want to achieve a deeper understanding of some of the more prominent transnational issues characterizing the 20th century. That is also the case with UNESCO, but historians have primarily focused on the roots of many of the Organization’s mental engineering and soft power initiatives launched to construct sincere solidarity between people in the wake of World War II, instead of on their subsequent impact. So, what happens when you switch from intellectual history to historical impact analyses? How do you trace the routes of ideas and initiatives from the center to the periphery – from UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris to the member states? What kind of sources are at your disposal out there and how can you access them? And is it even then possible to assess UNESCO's exact impact on people’s mindsets and get to know how globalization works in practice?