|
View the h-german Discussion Logs by month
View the Prior Message in h-german's April 2006 logs by: [date] [author] [thread] View the Next Message in h-german's April 2006 logs by: [date] [author] [thread] Visit the h-german home page.
Identity in Transnational History In light of the recent posting of Volker Berghahn’s article "Ostimperium und Weltpolitik - Gedanken zur Langzeitwirkung der 'Hamburger Schule'" on H-Soz-u-Kult and the exciting discussions of transnationalism in the H-German forum, I would like to revisit the topic and offer my perspective on the role of transnational identities and the nation-state in transnational history. The term "transnational" is surrounded by ambiguity and I agree with Konrad Jarausch that one of the first tasks for historians attempting transnational work is to clearly define it. While I still grapple with the precise meaning of the term "transnational" for my own research on the relationships between the German Social Democratic Party and the German peace movement, it becomes increasingly clear that identity plays a key role in its conceptualization. Any individual or group whose meaning and values originate from outside the confines of the nation-state and encourage exchange beyond its constructed borders should be considered a candidate for transnational study. But what does transnational identity mean? Does it require that these individuals must renounce their German identity? Given the still powerful influence of the nation-state, transnational cannot exist without the national and the conflict between identities provides an intriguing site of analysis. For instance, those Social Democrats who were strong advocates of international socialism did not give up their German identity entirely, but they often privileged their transnational values and loyalties above national identity. As insights from other perspectives indicate as well, modern individuals have the ability to prioritize their own identities, including, in some contexts, the transnational over national. Such tensions in identity must be considered in transnational studies. With this in mind, questions raised about connecting the global to the local may be answered affirmatively by considering transnational political identities in German history [1]. These identities represent one invisible "active pressure" that Jennifer Jenkins argues transnational analysis will reveal in networks and dialogues that occur both in and outside the nation. The introduction into political history of the category "transnational" will not only help reframe the debates about the prioritization of foreign over domestic policy of vital importance for German historiography specifically, as Berghahn reminds us. I contend it will also disrupt the political categories of left, right and center that historians and social scientists have traditionally employed to frame politics in the nation-state [2]. The social democrats and pacifists may both be traditionally classified as "left," yet that category is not homogeneous and transnational analysis will lead to a more complex understanding of these groups' actions in national politics. Indeed, the significance of individual transnational identity lies in conflicts between national and transnational influences within the social, political and cultural arenas of the nation-state. Borrowing Shelley Fisher Fishkin's term "crossroads," taken to mean constant sites of exchange, provides a useful framework for transnational analysis [3]. The nation-state should be considered a crossroads where the multi- directional exchanges between national and transnational forces are played out. I would suggest, for instance, that the turbulent relationship between the SPD and the peace movement in the late 1950s and early 1960s is characterized by a redirection of German pacifists' affiliation away from the SPD, which eventually accepted German membership in NATO, towards values of international pacifism and calls for disarmament resonating outside the nation state as the Easter March Movement gained momentum. These identities formed through transnational networks and were based upon values that did not rely on the nation-state for their primary structure. In her contribution to this forum, Nina Berman also cites European identity as a category that cannot be understood through the nation-state alone and a potential area in which transnational analysis will prove informative. The application of transnational categories within the nation-state may provide one perspective through which historians are able to practice transnational history without abandoning the security of national historiographies. Will Gray suggests that the current interest in transnational history is really an effort to place German studies in a "wider context," and I agree, but these efforts do not have to be inherently comparative or based solely within the territorial borders of the state. Indeed, a transnational perspective opens up new spaces for analysis that move beyond the standard comparative framework. It acknowledges the many influences and exchanges of transnational interests within the nation and thus allows areas of inquiry that reveal both fissures in current understandings of national politics and new identities that work to construct linkages beyond national borders. Shelley Rose Binghamton University These comments reflect the conceptual ideas I am grappling with in my dissertation entitled "Transnational Identities in National Politics: the SPD and the German Peace Movement, 1921-1966," Binghamton University. [1] Volker Berghahn,"Ostimperium und Weltpolitik-Gedanken zur Langzeitwirkung der 'Hamburger Schule'" in H-Soz-u-Kult 13.04.2006, http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/forum/2006-04-001. [2] Mary Kaldor introduces this concept in her article "Transnational Civil Society," in _Human Rights in Global Politics_, eds. Tim Dunne and Nicholas J. Wheeler, 195-213 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999). [3] Shelley Fisher Fishkin, "Crossroads of Cultures: The Transnational Turn in American Studies-Presidential Address to the American Studies Association, November 12, 2004," _American Quarterly_ 57:1 (March 2005): 17-57.
 Humanities & Social Sciences Online 
|