Africa's Global 1989

Abstract

In this issue we continue the critical reflection on respatializations of global historical periods of change and caesuras by turning to the events of “1989”. About thirty years later seems a particularly good point of time of doing so as more archival material be-comes accessible and as a younger generation of historians enters the debate, which sees the conflicts and transformation in and around 1989 with greater distance compared to long-standing interpretations by participants. In this course, especially individual so-cieties gained attention which experienced at that time fundamental transformations linked with transnational and transregional shifts and were thus “1989” entered col-lective memory as a global caesura. This raises the intriguing question of how and to what extent these single memories have merged slowly into a common global memory of 1989, especially as we note at the same time a decreasing interest among scholars to actually consider the global character of that year and the changes it saw and initiated.In view of that the issue interprets on the one hand 1989 as “global moment” with a nuanced understanding what signifies such moments and provides on the other hands empirical evidence for Africa regarding both the deep embeddedness of the course of events in transregional process and international dynamics and constellations as well as to how this shaped recollections.

Biographical Note

Matthias Middell (SFB 1199 & Leipzig University, Germany)

Matthias Middell is a professor of cultural history at Leipzig University as well as a speaker of the SFB 1199 and director of the Global and European Studies Institute at Leipzig University. He studied history earning his PhD from Leipzig University with his research focusing on the French Revolution. Since 2013, he has served as the director of the Graduate School Global and Area Studies in Leipzig and is currently the head of the Erasmus Mundus Global Studies Consortium. He teaches regularly at partner universities and co-supervises PhD candidates with colleagues from France, South Africa, and Ethiopia. His current research interests include the history of the French Revolution from a global perspective, history of cultural transfers around the world, and the role of space in the understanding of the current world being the result of long-lasting global connections.