On January 30 2017, Andreas Eckert, professor of history at Humboldt University of Berlin and director of the international research centre "Work and Human Lifecycle in Global History" gave a talk entitled " *The field of Global History in Germany – temporary fashion or lasting transformation of historiography? " . In his talk he tied the larger development of global history to the national experience of German historians, most notably the attempts at coming to term with the Nazi past and what was for a long term an absence of a strong national discussion of the colonial heritage, and convergence of these trends. Recently, however, global history is fashionable within German academia, and professor Eckert highlighted how this development can shed light on the eurocentrism both of past studies, in terms of non-European agency, and on the research framework and concepts as a whole.

On the one hand, the discussion treated theoretical aspects of global history, such as to what degree any such research trend is affected by the national historiography and to what degree it is part of the global academic integration of scholars and the intellectual diaspora of Asian and African scholars in the US, and how that affects the development of the framework. On the other hand, professor Eckert highlighted the practical and institutional side of doing history. First, he presented both student and PhD programs in global history, forming a basis for the field, and then he stressed the importance of working in groups, and the many ways that can be done. Second, the discussion concerned the necessity of governmental support, funding, as well as the development of institutions. In Germany, he explained, institutions for global history have developed relatively quickly over the last decade, and while there is no telling what will happen in another ten years, it seems as it has indeed carved out a niche that could last.

(Lisa Hellman)