The Middle Ground Journal
World History and Global Studies
recent posts
- “Politics, Protests, and Popular Culture: The Global Legacy of Akira Toriyama and His Dragon Ball”
- “Underprepared but Overperformed: Explaining the Enigma in Study Abroad”
- Review of Chasing Greatness by Anatoly Reshetnikov
- Review of Black Sun by Julia Kristeva
- The Clash of Trade Ideologies: Revisiting the Battle of Liaoluo Bay through the Lens of Hans Putmans’ Interpretation of Vrijen Handel and the Ming Tributary System
- Pursuing the Global in a Local Setting: Particularistic Silences in the Teaching, Deconstructing, Researching, and Writing of Asian History
- South Asian Migration and Colonial Records: Some Challenges in Reconstructing the Bengali Historical Migration
- The First and Second Taiwan Strait Crises in Cold-War Asia: An Overview
Category: Featured
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By Alex Elbaz, Normandale Community College/Metropolitan State University student © 2025 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 30, Summer 2025 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.orgSee Submission Guidelines webpage for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
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By Sumiko Otsubo, Ph.D., Metropolitan State University © 2025 The Middle Ground Journal (ISSN: 2155-1103) Number 30, Summer 2025 http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.orgSee Submission Guidelines webpage for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
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By Lap Kan AU, PhD student, National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) Abstract: This paper examines Hans Putmans’ interpretation of vrijen handel (free trade) within the framework of the Dutch East India Company, contrasting it with the Ming Empire’s tributary system. The study argues that Putmans’ concept of vrijen handel must be understood in the context…
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“Historians depend on authorities’ categorizations and frames of reference, but they must not accept these without thoroughly examining and questioning them. Without critically reading government census reports, using these statistics is problematic in writing migration history.”
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“Historians depend on authorities’ categorizations and frames of reference, but they must not accept these without thoroughly examining and questioning them. Without critically reading government census reports, using these statistics is problematic in writing migration history.”
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“the US government made presumptuous miscalculations, believing that they could transform Taiwan into a strong base to counteract communism….examining the protracted conflict in the Taiwan Strait during the 1950s to the 1960s, this paper analyzes the potential for the conflict in the region to escalate to a nuclear level.”
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“Research universities have been essential in preserving power for the US throughout the Cold War.”
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From colonialism to climate change, from gender to genocide, from revolutions to racism, world historians regularly tread ground that is fraught with contro¬versy. In this moment, adroitly navigating these minefields can be as important as the subject matter itself.”
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“[T]hese three books are pointing historiography in a direction that has been a minority view but is increasingly important to the writing of world history and to supporting public policies based on a more informed understanding of the current age.”
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“The trials and tribulations surrounding the evolution and erosion of the Chinese streets of Calcutta have hardly received importance in the popular historical narrative of the city, irrespective of the sustained curiosity regarding the lives of the Chinatowns. A street’s role in constructing a spatial identity often separates a locality from another, but it certainly…
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On Teaching Column: A (Fort) Ancient Commonwealth: Local History in a Premodern World History Survey
“While this module was designed to address the premodern history of Kentucky specifically, in its rough parameters it could be revised for other regions in North America.”
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“Ku Klux Klan Documents in Noblesville, Indiana: Race, History, and Archives” By Sumiko Otsubo, Ph.D., Metropolitan State University Abstract: Discussions of an unusually intriguing case about access to archival documents brought together historians, archivists, history undergraduates, and interested parties. This essay informs readers that despite the continuing resistance in favor of withholding the identities of…
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Out of Our Minds: What We Think and How We Came to Think It. Felipe Fernández-Armesto. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2019. ISBN: 9780520331075. Reviewed by David C. Fisher, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Edited by Birgit Schneider (c) 2021 The Middle Ground Journal, Number 21, Spring 2021. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the…
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Colonial Food in Interwar Paris: The Taste of Empire. Lauren Janes. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. ISBN: 9781472592828 WilliamsColonialReviews20192020TheMiddleGroundJournal.org Reviewed by Nicholas Williams, University of Minnesota Edited by Ann Waltner (c) 2019 and 2020 The Middle Ground Journal, Number 19, 2019-2020 school year. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
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Ongoing Forum: Book Reviews and the Teaching of World History, 2018 Cohorts HIST3029 Transnational History: A New Perspective on the Past The University of Hong Kong Semester 1, 2017-18 Dr Birgit Schneider After teaching HIST3029, my favorite course here at HKU, for the third time, I am left amazed about how much of a difference…
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Histoire Globale in France: The Rise of the French Connection For Full Article: SchoutedenOArticlesFall2018themiddlegroundjournal.org By Olivier Schouteden Edited by Mariona Lloret Roda and Ruben Carrillo (c) 2018 The Middle Ground Journal, Number 17, Fall, 2018. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
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The British Empire and World History: Some Connective Thoughts For Full Article: ZielinskiBArticlesFall2018themiddlegroundjournal.org By Bart Zielinski, Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, King’s College London Edited by Mariona Lloret Roda and Ruben Carrillo (c) 2018 The Middle Ground Journal, Number 17, Fall, 2018. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
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World History in Germany: New Wine in Old Bottles For Full Article: ŠimkováPArticlesFall2018themiddlegroundjournal.org By Pavla Šimková Edited by Mariona Lloret Roda and Ruben Carrillo (c) 2018 The Middle Ground Journal, Number 17, Fall, 2018. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
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Making the Geographic Turn: Researching and Teaching Early-Modern British and World History For Full Article: ZukasAM2ArticlesFall2018themiddlegroundjournal.org By Alex Zukas, Professor of History, National University Edited by Mariona Lloret Roda and Ruben Carrillo (c) 2018 The Middle Ground Journal, Number 17, Fall, 2018. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
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Chinese Mexicans: Transpacific Migration and the Search for a Homeland, 1910-1960. Julia Maria Schiavone Camacho. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2012. ISBN: 9780807835401 For Full Article: LockardChReviewsSpring2018themiddlegroundjournal.org Reviewed by Craig A. Lockard, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Edited by Ashley Dressel (c) 2018 The Middle Ground Journal, Number 16, Spring, 2018. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See…
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Changing Women, Changing Nation: Female Agency, Nationhood, and Identity in Trans-Salvadoran Narratives. Yajaira Padilla. Albany: SUNY Press, 2012. ISBN: 9781438442778 RochaChReviewsSpring2018themiddlegroundjournal.org Reviewed by Carolina Rocha, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Edited by Karen Rosenflanz (c) 2018 The Middle Ground Journal, Number 16, Spring, 2018. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
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Regulating Prostitution in China: Gender and Local Statebuilding, 1900–1937. Elizabeth J. Remick. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2014. ISBN: 9780804788366. GaoReguReviewsSpring2018themiddlegroundjournal.org Reviewed by Jie Gao, Murray State University (c) 2018 The Middle Ground Journal, Number 16, Spring, 2018. http://TheMiddleGroundJournal.org See Submission Guidelines page for the journal’s not-for-profit educational open-access policy.
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