The Globalization of the Ancient Past: Exploring the interplay between premodern history and global historical theory

Dear colleagues,

The “Islands in a Sea of Sand” project team are delighted to share with you the call for papers for our upcoming workshop “The Globalization of the Ancient Past”. It will be held at the Stord campus of the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences from the 21st to the 23rd of October 2026.

Global history and related approaches such as world history, transnational history, connected history, and entangled history, to name but a few, have become powerful currents in the writing of history in recent decades. In common to these approaches has been a challenge to the traditional notion of the nation as the frame for historical analysis, seeking instead to take a broader view of the human past. In particular there has been an emphasis on comparisons, as a mean of identifying deeper structures, and on connections, which both shaped and were shaped by individuals, groups and communities.

Yet works on global history has tended emphasise the early modern and modern periods, and in particular European colonial empires and industrialization has been in focus. The premodern world, by contrast, remains marginal. As such this workshop asks how theories and approaches from global history and related fields can inform studies of the premodern world, but also how premodern history can inform and challenge ideas within global history. The workshop will also have a didactic component, asking what role, if any, premodern global history could and should play in the teaching of history.

To lead this discussion, we are delighted to have three distinguished keynote speakers:

• Dr. Erica C D Hunter, University of Cambridge
• Dr. Matthew Cobb, University of Wales Trinity Saint David
• Jens Age Poulsen, HistorieLab – Nationalt Videncenter for Historie- og Kulturarvsformidling

The “Islands in a Sea of Sand” project team would like to invite any contributions addressing these themes and trying to relate global history and related fields to the premodern world.

In particular, we invite contributions addressing one of the following questions: 

• How can global history or related approaches inform the study of premodern history?
• How can premodern history inform and/or challenge ideas within global history or related fields?
• What role can global premodern history play in education? 
• We would also like to invite concrete case studies touching upon any of the above questions. 

Submissions

We welcome proposals for 20-minutes papers on relevant topics, from both established and early career researchers. Abstracts of no more than 300 words, along with the author’s name, title and institutional affiliation, should be submitted to SilkRoMo@hvl.no no later than the 10th of May, 2026.