13212

SoSe 13: 1968 in Global History

Christoph Kalter

Hinweise für Studierende

Participatory requirements: Regular and active participation, willingness to take on small tasks during the semester, seminar paper.

Kommentar

Revolution and reform, departure and upheaval - today, "1968" stands for the radical questioning of existing political, social and cultural orders through various actors who refused to settle for their societies’ and the world’s status quo. However, "1968" cannot be reduced to one mythical year or a few iconic events. As research has long pointed out, the date is more of a symbol that encompasses numerous developments from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. More recently, academics have tried to expand their view past Europe and the West and to consider the protest movements’ transnational dimension more carefully. It has of course long been known that "1968" crossed borders: Opposition to the Vietnam War and the proverbial "spark of protest" that flew from Berkeley to Berlin and from Paris to Prague are entrenched topoi of the narratives around 1968. A true decentralisation of "1968", however, is still missing. This is not merely a matter of examining more "peripheral" cases (such as China, Mexico and Senegal) that have been neglected in favour of the "central" cases (the USA, France, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic). Rather, a crucial question for Global History is in how far the "mystery" of the many 1968s’ simultaneity (M. van der Linden) can be explained through empirically proven interconnections and global contexts. How much did protesting actors learn from their counterparts in other nations and continents? What role did decolonisation, the Cold War and the global economy play in determining the themes, actors, modes and conjunctures of the protests? Does a "global 1968" even exist? Using these questions as its backdrop, the seminar offers an introduction into different themes and case studies of "1968", with a special emphasis on the more recent literature about the protests’ transnational dynamic. Schließen

Literaturhinweise

Introductory literature: Klimke, Martin/Pekelder, Jacco/Scharloth, Joachim (eds.), Between Prague Spring and French May. Opposition and Revolt in Europe, 1960-1980, New York et al. 2011; Christiansen, Samantha/Scarlett, Zachary A. (eds.), The Third World in the Global 1960s, Oxford et al. 2013; Gassert, Philipp/Klimke, Martin (eds.), 1968. Memories and Legacies of a Global Revolt (= Bulletin of the German Historical Institute, Supplement 6/2009), Washington, DC 2009. Schließen