Professor Jeremy Prestholdt of the University of California, San Diego, gave a lecture on November 5 (Sunday) from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.
First, Professor Prestholdt straightforwardly set forth the approach of global history. He stated that regardless of the temporal and spatial scale , global history was attractive because it studied history from the level of the entire world and multiple regions to the level of individual awareness and the world of imagination. Then, citing Frederick Cooper, Professor Prestholdt argued that global history is a methodology of examining over a long-term span the meaning of relationships, connections, and mutual effects. It is alluring in uncovering unexpected influences and relationships.
　Next, Professor Prestholdt concretely discussed the contents of four of his works and projects. His first book delved into how consumer goods such as clothing and textiles were purchased in Zanzibar and Tanzania in East Africa. This book totally changed the place of East African consumers and markets in global history . This work had a great influence on the fields of both political history and economic history. Next, related to this work, Professor Prestholdt introduced his project studying the export of Japanese textile goods to East Africa.
　Following the publication of this book, Professor Prestholdt's research expanded from the circulation of things to the circulation of images, investigating how an image transcends an area and is projected, reinterpreted, and regenerated collectively. He introduced his works that included the examination of how the crew of a Zanzibar ship, the Sultana, sailing to New York to expand trade, created their own images of Zanzibar outside of the country. Professor Prestholdt also discussed a project that seeks to study how figures such as Che Guevara and Tupac Shakur transcend their own regions as pop icons and symbols are consumed and projected.
　Finally, Professor Prestholdt concluded the lecture by emphasizing that the pursuit of questions raised by the approach of global history is all the more important today. This approach seeks to elucidate mutual influences and long-term consequences brought about by contacts and dependencies in a global environment. Investigating these questions is what makes global history fascinating.
During the discussion, participants asked so many questions that there was not enough time to answer them all. Concerning the circulation of textiles, Professor Prestholdt was asked about mutual influence of Japan and Africa and the extent of the market in Tanzania. Enthusiastic questions continued about the classification and selection of pop icon production. Furthermore, participants asked questions about the strengths of the approach of global history and what are considered its core and peripheral issues. Professor Prestholdt answered each question with great care. (19 participants).
（SUGIURA Miki）