Historija isprepletanja danas: teorijska polazišta i istraživačke perspektive

Abstract

Considering the increasingly potent process of globalization, entangled history today functions as an appropriate research framework for scrutinizing the various phenomena of entanglements. This paper examines the epistemological underpinnings of entangled history, which are based on different theories of transculturalism, the theoretical legacy of “spatial turn” and postcoloniality, as well as the recognition of different interconnectedness processes. The paper also explains the development of entangled history, which grew out of a critique of comparative history, and the achievements of related paradigms: transnational history, histoire croisée, borderland history and global history. It recommends two examples of research practices from German historiography within entangled history: the current project EGO (Europäische Geschichte Online) and a multiperspective study that examines the complexity of the process of entanglements (Verflechtung) at three levels (network, texture, rhizome). Given the openness of entangled history to different qualitative and quantitative analytical approaches, the paper examines its epistemological compatibility with historical network analysis. In addition to describing the basic concepts and parameters used in the application of this approach, the paper explains the development of historical network analysis within social network analysis, and since the mid-1990s within the revival of quantitative history in digital humanities. The authors question the research potential of historical network analysis and its applicability in the future of entangled history, emphasizing the broad possibilities for research at different levels of spatial, social, and temporal scaling. Finally, the paper highlights two examples of research practice in the application of historical network analysis inside entangled history: the project “Seshat: Global History Databank” and the substantial research done by Austrian historian Johannes Preiser-Kapeller.