Balzan-FRIAS Lectures

In the last decades, the history of science has experienced major shifts. Less Eurocentric, more aware of spatial, local, even material dimensions, science is not what it used to be. Nor is the Iberian colonial past. At the crossroads between traditional imperial history, current postcolonial debates and global history, this lecture explores some of the trends, topics and problems faced by the history of science in the early modern Iberian world.

Date: 23 May 2024

Time: 16:15-17:45

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Juan Pimentel (Instituto de Historia, CSIC, Madrid)

How useful is the concept of capitalism to study the history of economic life beyond the modern Anglophone world?

Using as an example the place of France and its imperial connections in global commodity chains, the lecture will argue that historians should pay more attention to the various types of capitalist organisations which transformed the world after 1800.

Date: 7 December 2023

Time: 16:15-17:45

Speaker: Prof. David Todd PhD (Science Po for History, Paris)

Chen Hao is an associate professor of history at the prestigious Jiao TongUniversity in Shanghai and the author of “A History of the Second Turk Empire (c. 682-745 AD), Leiden: Briill 2021) . A trained Turkologist and specialist in earlymedieval Central Eurasia (as well as a fluent speaker of German), he is also akeen observer of academic global history writing, both in China and in theWest. He will open a general discussion with his own remarks on recent trendsin the field.

Date: 7 June 2023

Time: 16:15-17:45

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Chen Hao (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)

The lecture will use China as an example of how a particular national history
can be embedded in a global context. It will present a new perspective on
modern China, but will also discuss the topic in general and theoretical terms.
No prior knowledge of Chinese history is required.

Date: 15 March 2023

Time: 16:15-17:45

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Dominic Sachsenmaier (University of Göttingen, chair “Modern China with a Special Emphasis on Global Historical Perspectives)

On the occasion of the publication of The Global Bourgeoisie: The Rise of the Middle Classes in the Age of Empire (Princeton University Press), the editors – Christof Dejung, David Motadel, and Jürgen Osterhammel, discuss about the challenges and chances of social history in view of a “global turn” in international history. 

At the same time, the mini-symposium celebrates the opening of the Balzan-FRIAS Project in Global History, which is funded by the International Balzan Prize Foundation and will be located at FRIAS for a period of three years. 

Date: 15 March 2023

Time: 16:15-17:45

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Dominic Sachsenmaier (University of Göttingen, chair “Modern China with a Special Emphasis on Global Historical Perspectives)