Journal of World History Special Issue: Transnational Approaches to the History of Race and Racism – Free!

The World History Association will be hosting its annual meeting at the University of Pittsburgh’s World History Center from June 22 to 24, on the theme “ENERGIES.” The Journal of World History offers this accompanying special collection, “Transnational Approaches to the History of Race of Racism,” free on the Project MUSE platform through September 30. Select World History titles will also be 30% off from July 1 through Sept 30, 2023.

The special issue “Transnational Approaches to the History of Race and Racism” draws together some of the journal’s most frequently cited and downloaded material alongside some less well-known contributions. Together, these articles compare historic roles, debates, and struggles in relation to today’s trials and tribulations with race consciousness.


Bricktop with patrons and fellow singer Mabel Mercer in Bricktop’s club, featured in “Jazz and the Evolution of Black American Cosmopolitanism in Interwar Paris” by Rachel Gillett in this special collection.

Editor Matthew P. Romaniello talks about this Special Issue in excerpts of his introduction, “Race and Racism beyond National Borders”:

Assembling a special collection of previously published articles has created an opportunity to engage with the legacy of Journal of World History. As with the first of these issues four years ago, I took the opportunity to review our “most downloaded” articles list from Project Muse. It has changed more than I expected – not only from the arrival of newly-published articles but also from articles published decades ago that have gained new prominence. One of those served as the launching point for this collection, Matthew Pratt Guterl’s “The New Race Consciousness: Race, Nation, and Empire in American Culture, 1910-1925,” a “top 10” article for 2022, though it was first published in 1999.

The renewed interest in race and racism is hardly unique to Journal of World History, much less global audiences in this particular historical moment. However, looking to JWH for an article on racism in America may not be the first stop on anyone’s pursuit of more information on the topic. For much of its history, JWH only published a few articles with American content.

Research on race and racism, settler colonialism and anticolonial rhetoric, cosmopolitanism and “Orientalism,” involving global empires and modern nations, has regularly appeared throughout the journal’s history. The benefits of pursuing these topics through a transnational lens broadens our discussions and hopefully encourages more thoughtful engagement with their presence in our daily lives. The articles included in this collection highlight these themes in a variety of regions, offering original perspectives on the entangled debates of race and racism globally.

It should not come as any surprise to a reader of Journal of World History that the history of colonialism is fully entangled with racial hierarchies, much less that colonial and neocolonial policies imposed racialized systems, whether it imposed segregation or achieved assimilation. Neither supported equality. Nor did cosmopolitan lives, those people who crossed borders and interacted with foreign cultures, necessarily demonstrate greater understanding or compassion for diversity. This special collection does highlight that these challenges are not unique or specific to the United States, and, perhaps, we might inform our ongoing discussions of diversity, equality, and inclusion by considering other viewpoints and histories beyond our own borders.  


The World History Association will host its annual meeting in person, from June 22 to 24, on the theme “ENERGIES.” The Journal of World History offers this digital special issue “Transnational Approaches to the History of Race and Racisms” free on the Project MUSE platform through the end of September 2023. Select World History titles in will also be 30% off July 1 through September 30 with coupon code WHA2023.

The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 30 no. 1 (2018)

Artwork by Maika'i Tubbs, featured in this issue
Next Show in Fifteen Minutes, by Maika’i Tubbs, 2008. The Hawaiians (1970 book by authors Gavan Daws and Ed Sheehan and photographer Robert B Goodman), 15″ x 10″ x 8″. Photo courtesy of the artist. Next Show in Fifteen Minutes is a performance that looks at stereotypical depictions of Native Hawaiians and expectations sometimes placed on them to perform “on command.” In this performance, Tubbs picks up a book from a pedestal, opens it, and folds the pages into a circus tent while singing in Hawaiian. He then unfolds the pages, closes the book, and repeats the performance after fifteen minutes.

This issue of The Contemporary Pacific includes a scholarly resource from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa Library for “Making Pacific Languages Discoverable;” political reviews covering Polynesia and Micronesia; the work of artist and UH Mānoa grad Maika’i Tubbs; and the following articles and media reviews:

Articles

Book and Media Reviews


Find the full text of the issue at Project MUSE


00_30.1 cover_FINAL_RGBAbout the Journal

The Contemporary Pacific provides a publication venue for interdisciplinary work in Pacific studies with the aim of providing informed discussion of contemporary issues in the Pacific Islands region.

Subscriptions

Single issue sales and annual subscriptions for both individuals and institutions available here.

Submissions

Submissions must be original works not previously published and not under consideration or scheduled for publication by another publisher. Manuscripts should be 8,000 to 10,000 words, or no more than 40 double-spaced pages, including references. Find submission guidelines here.

The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 29 no. 2 (2017)

Featured art in the new issue of The Contemporary Pacific by Selwyn Muru: On 9 June 2017, 135 years after government troops invaded and violently decimated the Māori settlement of Parihaka (and at the time this issue of the journal was about to go to press), a Crown apology was finally offered to the people of Parihaka. The gesture is more than symbolic: an additional deed of reconciliation, legacy statement, ongoing relationship agreements with local and national government, a development fund, and legislation are being put in place to ensure that the Crown’s commitment is legally binding. Parihaka Papakainga Trust Chair Puna Wano-Bryant’s declaration of a “new dawn” echoed sentiments expressed at the time of Parihaka’s founding. The cover image depicts two important prophets, peacemakers, and leaders of nonviolent resistance in this story: Te Whiti o Rongomai, who helped establish Parihaka with Tohu Kakahi, and their colleague Riwha Titokowaru, who was blind in one eye, and who was arguably “the best general New Zealand has ever produced” (James Belich, in Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand).

This issue of The Contemporary Pacific features a dialogue, “Losing Oceania to the Pacific and the World,” political reviews, the work of artist Selwyn Muru, book and media reviews, and the following articles:

  • Climate Change and the Imagining of Migration: Emerging Discourses on Kiribati’s Land Purchase in Fiji by Elfriede Hermann and Wolfgang Kempf
  • Charting Pacific (Studies) Waters: Evidence of Teaching and Learning by Teresia K. Teaiwa

Continue reading “The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 29 no. 2 (2017)”

The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 28 no. 2 (2017)

From artist Lisa Reihana featured in this issue. Dandy, 2007. Countering stereotypical depictions of Māori masculinity, strength, and prowess that focus on physical accomplishments on the battlefield or rugby playgrounds, Reihana’s Dandy, with full-face moko (tattoo) and Victorian attire, asserts a quietly confident sense of elegance and poise.

This issue of The Contemporary Pacific features a look at public murals in a Kanaka Maoli context, political reviews, the work of artist Lisa Reihana, book and media reviews, and the following articles:

  • Walls of Empowerment: Reading Public Murals in a Kanaka Maoli Context by A Mārata Ketekiri Tamaira
  • Traveling Houses: Preforming Diasporic Relationships in Europe by A-Chr (Tina) Engels-Schwarzpaul
  • CEDAW Smokescreens: Gender Politics in Contemporary Tonga by Helen Lee

Continue reading “The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 28 no. 2 (2017)”

The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 29 no. 1 (2017)

From artist Lisa Reihana featured in this issue. Dandy, 2007. Countering stereotypical depictions of Māori masculinity, strength, and prowess that focus on physical accomplishments on the battlefield or rugby playgrounds, Reihana’s Dandy, with full-face moko (tattoo) and Victorian attire, asserts a quietly confident sense of elegance and poise.

This issue of The Contemporary Pacific features a look at public murals in a Kanaka Maoli context, political reviews, the work of artist Lisa Reihana, book and media reviews, and the following articles:

  • Walls of Empowerment: Reading Public Murals in a Kanaka Maoli Context by A Mārata Ketekiri Tamaira
  • Traveling Houses: Preforming Diasporic Relationships in Europe by A-Chr (Tina) Engels-Schwarzpaul
  • CEDAW Smokescreens: Gender Politics in Contemporary Tonga by Helen Lee

Continue reading “The Contemporary Pacific, vol. 29 no. 1 (2017)”