The Historical Practice of Diversity

Transcultural Interactions from the Early Modern Mediterranean to the Postcolonial World

Dirk Hoerder, Christiane Harzig, Adrian Shubert

• Publisher: Berghahn Books
• Year: 2003
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781782387183
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

While multicultural composition of nations has become a catchword in public debates, few educators, not to speak of the general public, realize that cultural interaction was the rule throughout history. Starting with the Islam-Christian-Jewish Mediterranean world of the early modern period, this volume moves to the empires of the 18th and 19th centuries and the African Diaspora of the Black Atlantic. It ends with questioning assumptions about citizenship and underlying homogeneous "received" cultures through the analysis of the changes in various literatures. This volume clearly shows that the life-worlds of settled as well as migrant populations in the past were characterized by cultural change and exchange whether conflictual or peaceful. Societies reflected on such change in their literatures as well as in their concepts of citizenship.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Contributors
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Transcultural States, Nations, and People
• Part I: Transcultural Pasts in the Mediterranean World and Transalpine Europe
• Chapter 2: A Legendary Place of Encounter: The Convivencia of Moors, Jews, and Christians, in Medieval Spain
• Chapter 3: Religious Communities and Ethnic Groups Under Imperial Sway: Ottoman and Habsburg Lands in Comparison
• Chapter 4: National Movements and Imperial Ethnic Hegemonies in Austria, 1867-1918
• Part II: Global Interconnections: Black Atlantic, Chinese Diaspora, White Empire
• Chapter 5: The Black Atlantic in the Construction of the "Western" World: Alternative Approaches to the "Europeanization" of the Americas
• Chapter 6: Chinese Diaspora in Occidental Societies: Canada and Europe
• Chapter 7: Labor Diasporas in Comparative Perspective: Polish and Italian Migrant Workers in the Atlantic World between the 1870s and the 1920s
• Chapter 8: DIALECTICS OF EMPIRE ANDCOMPLEXITIES OF CULTUREBritish Men in India, Indian Experiences of Britain
• Part III: CULTURAL BELONGINGS AND CITIZENSHIP
• Chapter 9: FROM STATE CONSTRUCTIONS TOINDIVIDUAL OPPORTUNITIESThe Historical Development of Citizenship in Europe
• Chapter 10: PLACE-SENSITIVE CITIZENSHIPThe Canadian Citizenship Regime until 1945
• Chapter 11: THE DIVERSIFICATION OF CANADIANLITERATURE IN ENGLISH
• SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES
• SELECTED STUDIES CITED IN THIS VOLUME
• INDEX