International Historians Research Articles

The Ustica Tragedy in 1980 Italy: War in the Mediterranean?

On June 27 1980, during the night, a civil airplane (DC-9 Itavia) flying from Bologna to Palermo in Italy blew up and disappeared into the Mediterranean Sea next to Ustica island. All 81 passengers on board died. The most complete inquiry conducted by Judge Rosario Priore concluded in 1999 that the DC-9 accident “occurred following military interception activity”. It did not, however, identify any guilty party. In 2007 Francesco Cossiga, who was Prime Minister in 1980, declared that the DC-9 was mistakenly shot down by a French missile, so leading to the reopening of the case with new international information requests. More recently Giuliano Amato, a PSI leader and Prime Minister in 1992, partially confirmed Cossiga’s words, speaking about a NATO covert action aimed to strike a Libyan aircraft (because of the alleged presence of Qadhafi on board) which was hiding itself under the Italian civil airplane. More than forty years after the events, however, we still do not know exactly what the reasons underlying the tragedy were and which countries were guilty and the Ustica tragedy is still one of the biggest unsolved mysteries of Italy. The aim of the present paper is not, of course, that to reach a complete conclusion as to who is directly to blame for the tragedy. As an international historian, the aim of the author is instead to turn back to the events of that time trying to put together the many pieces of the puzzle and to provide a plausible international framework for the tragedy. It is not possible, in fact, to isolate what happened in Italy on June 27 1980 from the patchwork of international tension of that time (from Afghanistan and Iran to Middle East, North Africa and Malta just to mention the main arc of crisis) as well as from the traditional dual track of Italy’s foreign policy, the Atlantic one and the Mediterranean one. Keywords: Ustica, Italy, Libya, War, Cold War

(In)Gratitude, US Ascendancy and Transatlantic Relations after the First World War

During and after the First World War, the United States provided very substantial amounts of humanitarian and economic aid to war-torn Europe. All compassion aside, international historians have long recognised the strategic and social expectations attached to such foreign aid. US generosity was to build trust, reverence and influence abroad and, by inspiring ‘gratitude’ among recipients, to translate into a foreign policy advantage. But what happened when these expectations were disappointed? This article looks at transatlantic relations after the First World War to explore the role of gratitude in interwar international politics. It shows just how difficult it often was for Europeans to be appropriately ‘grateful’ and how emotionally the US public could react to such displays of perceived ‘ingratitude’. US aid – and the expectations and obligations that came with it – could excite distrust and resentment on both sides of the Atlantic.

ФИГУРА ИСТОРИКА-МЕЖДУНАРОДНИКА В СОВЕТСКОМ МИРОТВОРЧЕСКОМ ДВИЖЕНИИ ВТОРОЙ ПОЛОВИНЫ 1940−1980-Х ГОДОВ

The paper examines the role of international historians within the Soviet peacekeeping movement from the sec-ond half of the 1950s to the 1980s, with a particular focus on the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Af-fairs. By analyzing published materials and archival documents from the Archive of the Russian Academy of Scienc-es, the study explores the intellectual contributions of international historians to the organizational, rhetorical, and ideological aspects of the peacekeeping movement formation. The authors focuses on prominent figures, such as V.M. Khvostov, a historian of diplomacy, V.G. Trukhanovsky, a British Studies scholar, E.M. Primakov, an expert in Arab Studies, G.A. Arbatov, an Americanist, A.N. Glinkin, a specialist in the Latin American Studies, and A.M. Vasiliev and V.B. Kokorev, Africanists. The research challenges the notion that historical symbols played a signifi-cant role in Soviet peacekeeping rhetoric, highlighting instead that international historians primarily acted as analysts of contemporary international relations, rarely drawing on the past as a symbolic resource. The figure of an interna-tional historian performing a diplomatic mission reflects the specifics of the Soviet disciplinary structure, where in-ternational relations have been integrated into historical disciplines since the time of Stalin. Khvostov personified this tradition. The authors trace the evolution of themes discussed at the Pugwash conferences and how Soviet representa-tion within these conferences changed depending on this. While the early conferences focused on the threat of nucle-ar war and the prospects for disarmament, the range of topics expanded noticeably in subsequent years. For example, since the mid-1970s, African problems have gained increasing prominence in the activities of the Pugwash move-ment, requiring the involvement of relevant specialists. The paper demonstrates the evolution of Soviet analytics of international relations presented at the Pugwash conferences, transitioning from ideologized techniques and analyti-cal structures in the spirit of the 1940s to a more modern and pragmatic approach. This shift indicates an increasing level of expertise among Soviet historians of international relations.

Formation and Creation of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijani SSR (1920–1945) in the Works of Azerbaijanian and Foreign Scientists

In this article the author examines the historiography on the problem of formation and creation of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1920-1945. The aim is to summarise the available literature on the subject, to analyse the works on the history of the foundation and the first years of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan and to show the development of the research interest in this field. This article examines the works of Russian, Soviet, and international historians of science. Soviet historiography was based on communist methodology. Soviet publications were characterised by the use of a large number of published documents and statistical materials. The issues of the development of science, the scientific intelligentsia, scientific personnel, research work; the activities of public organizations of the intelligentsia; the organization of science in various branches and periods of the development of Soviet society were actively studied. Particular attention was paid to the system of Party and state management of science, policy in the field of its organisation, the attitude to the old scientific intelligentsia, the composition of scientific employees and the conditions of their work were analysed, and changes in their socio-political position were noted. During the Perestroika and post-Soviet periods, the tasks of studying the history of the organisation of science in the USSR expanded, new documents were introduced into academic circuit, many facts, events and names were restored, and the methodology and methods of research were improved. The author shows that post-Soviet Azerbaijani historiography of the formation and establishment of the Academy of Sciences, although it inherits the Soviet one, in many ways offers not only new approaches to understanding the history of its foundation, but also a new research topic. By the quantity and quality, time range, geography of publications by Azerbaijani, Russian and international historians, it can be argued that the problem of the formation of the Academy of Sciences is one of the areas of Azerbaijani historical scholarship.

Promising Directions in the Studies of the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902)

In November 2022, the Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, hosted an international academic conference “Researching the Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902: The Practice and the Future”. The event marked the 120th anniversary of the end of the first major armed conflict of the 20th century. The goal of the conference was to help stimulating dialogue between Russian and international historians who study the Anglo-Boer War. About a hundred people attended the conference both in person and online. Seventeen Russian and South African researchers presented their papers. The participants considered the main aspects of the historiography of the Anglo-Boer War in the XX–XXI centuries. The Anglo-Boer War studies in Russia and South Africa were analysed. The Russian involvement in the Anglo-Boer War in the historical context of the Russian volunteers’ participation in military conflicts was reviewed, as well as the study of the influence of the experience of this war on subsequent military conflicts. It was concluded that there was the potential for a more robust study of the Anglo-Boer War and for exploring new themes. The participants discussed some of the most promising directions in the Anglo-Boer War studies.

Savremenici o habzburškim političkim težnjama i planovima za vojnu okupaciju Bosne i Hercegovine 1787-1875

The paper presents an overview of the most important aspirations and plans of the Habsburg Monarchy for the occupation of the Bosnia and Herzegovina, from the historic 1787 agreement between the Russian Empress Catherine II and the Habsburg Emperor Joseph II on the division of geopolitical spheres of interest in the Balkans to the start of the uprising of Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the summer of 1875. Based on the accounts of first-hand witnesses of these events (Boué, Spencer, Arbuthnot, Stillman) and research of relevant Serbian (Popović, Stojanović, Ekmečić, Petrović, Berić, Šljivo, Tatić) and international (Spaits, Marriott, Sumner, Harris, Rupp, Taylor, Burns) historians, the paper introduces only those political aspirations and plans that openly indicate unambiguous military occupational tendencies of the Vienna government towards the most far west Ottoman province in the Balkans and in Europe.

Hungarian and International Russian Studies in a Modern Academic Journal: Overview and Trends

Russian studies have a decade-long tradition in Hungary. As part of a professional renewal following the change of the regime, new forums were established, including the Eötvös Lóránd University Russian Studies Institute, which later became a centre, and then was replaced by the Centre for the Research and Methodology of Russian Studies. In the meantime, Russian studies workshops were launched at other universities in Pécs, Szeged, Eger, Szombathely, and Debrecen. Research in Russian studies covers a broad spectrum in Hungary both in terms of time and topics, applying a multidisciplinary approach to Russian history and culture. The Russian Studies Hu periodical has undertaken to provide this multi-layered cultural and academic community with a medium and, along with it, a unique opportunity to present their most recent research findings in Russian studies. Representing a broad scholarly perspective, the periodical also promotes cooperation with international researchers studying Russian history and culture. The composition of the editorial board and the content of the issues published so far reflects this approach, with recognised international historians among the authors whose works have been published in the journal between 2019 and 2022. The issues of Russian Studies Hu provide an overview of the trends in modern Russian studies (after 2000). The periodical covers a wide range of historical genres and views and is strongly connected to historiographical approaches. This is especially true of the issues published after 2021, which we will pay particular attention to in our study.

Living under Stalin's Rule in Kazakhstan

Living under Stalin's Rule in Kazakhstan Mekhmet Volkan Kaşıkçı (bio) Zh. B. Abylkhozhin, M. L. Akulov, and A. V. Tsai, eds., Zhivaia pamiat´: Stalinizm v Kazakhstane—proshloe, pamiat´, preodolenie. 332 pp. 2ndexp. ed. Almaty: Dajk-Press, 2020. ISBN 13 978-6012901108. Published in English as Stalinism in Kazakhstan: History, Memory, and Representation, trans. Simon Pawley and Anton Platonov. 212 pp. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2021. ISBN 13 978-1793641625. $100.00. Roberto J. Carmack, Kazakhstan in World War II: Mobilization and Ethnicity in the Soviet Empire. 272 pp. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2019. ISBN 13 978-0700628254. $50.00. Allen J. Frank, Gulag Miracles: Sufis and Stalinist Repression in Kazakhstan. 153 pp. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2019. ISBN 13 978-3700183341. $33.00. Maksim Kim, Karaganda: Zhizn´ liudei v gorode uglia, 1931–1941 gg. ( Karaganda: People's Lives in a Coal Town, 1931–1941). 216 pp. Moscow: R osspen, 2017. ISBN 978-5824321623. For the first time, Stalinist rule in Kazakhstan has attracted much attention beyond the field of Central Asian studies thanks to Sarah Cameron's book on the Kazakh famine of 1930–33. 1Cameron's book has won several prestigious book prizes in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian studies. The horrible famine of 1930–33 was the most important event that shaped the Soviet Kazakh experience. Whereas the Ukrainian famine is now widely recognized [End Page 905]as the "Holodomor," however, the Kazakh famine is still largely unknown in the rest of the world. Although Cameron's book has been vital in introducing Kazakhstan's Soviet experience to a wider audience, its reception as the first scholarly account of the Kazakh famine has created an image of a completely stagnant field that does not do justice to all the other historians, both local and international, who have made significant contributions to the study of famine and other issues in the history of Soviet Kazakhstan. The goal of this review essay is to introduce the main debates on Stalinist rule in Kazakhstan and to acknowledge contributions from both local and international historians. Including books published in Kazakhstan, Russia, Europe, and North America serves this purpose well. Stalinism or Stalinist rule here does not merely refer to repression, although that is an inseparable aspect of this period. Instead, I bring together works on repression (including famine, the anti-Islamic campaign, the Great Terror, and ethnic deportations), religion, social policies, mobilization, and the war experience. In contemporary scholarship, we are usually stuck with two separate histories of Soviet Central Asia. On the one hand, we have a history of violence and repression in which collectivization, anti-Islamic destruction, and the Terror occupy a central place. On the other hand, we have a history of social and cultural development in which Central Asian intellectuals, politicians, artists, or women activists create a new culture and society in which violence and repression are rarely taken into account. This duality significantly limits our understanding of the Soviet experiment in Central Asia. Although the edited volume Zhivaia pamiat´is specifically devoted to repression, the other three books help us overcome this duality. In his social history of Karaganda, Maksim Kim understands the establishment of the Karaganda basin as a study of forced modernization which interweaves the formation of social policies and a draconian state apparatus. While Allen Frank focuses on the suppression of Sufi circles, he also shows continuities in Muslim culture and how even these suppressed religious figures were eventually integrated into the Soviet project. Roberto Carmack's book shifts the focus from the 1930s to the role of World War II in the formation of Soviet identities and the Sovietization of the republic's political and economic system. ________ Almost all aspects of Soviet Kazakh history are understudied; the famine is no exception. Yet it is hard to disagree with Catriona Kelly, who writes in [End Page 906]her introduction to Zhivaia pamiat´that the cover description of Cameron's book as "the first scholarly account of the murderous famine of 1930–33" by a leading historian of modern Central Asia is a bizarre comment (10). It is difficult to understand why the book is presented as...

The Limits of Decolonisation in India’s International Thought and Practice: An Introduction

This special section responds to the call for renewed attention to the international implications of decolonization with a particular focus on India and the South Asia region. The section offers insights into historical continuities and ruptures in Indian internationalism, interrogating divides between colonial and postcolonial as well as between national and international. In turn, it de-centres histories of global order-making in the twentieth century, building on the work of a growing chorus of international historians, political scientists, and international relations scholars seeking alternative visions of the international in an increasingly multipolar world order. In challenging the binary rupture of India's international outlook in the pre- and post-independence period, this special section forces us to reconsider the temporal landscape of India's decolonisation moment. Through an avowedly international outlook, many of the papers introduce new spaces, connections, and entanglements through which Indian independence was realised, and in turn through which the scales of the international can be scrutinised. This brief introduction introduces the papers, teasing out the wider themes that link them, and their connections with the broader purposes of the special section itself.

8. Mémoire de la destruction du cimetière juif de Thessalonique : quand un passé longtemps enfoui refait surface

The history of the destruction of Thessaloniki’s Jewish cemetery is now well documented. Thanks to the work carried out by Greek and international historians, it is indeed established that German occupiers destroyed the immense Jewish necropolis of Thessaloniki in early December 1942 at the instigation of the local Greek authorities, including the municipality of Thessaloniki and the Governor-General of Macedonia-Thrace, who had long wanted to claim the several-hundred-acre area for themselves, claiming that it hindered the “natural” expansion of the city to the east. In the hours and days following the demolition order given by Max Merten, head of the Kommandantur of Thessaloniki, at the suggestion of local politicians, dozens of municipal employees razed the old Jewish cemetery. The tombstones, the oldest of which dated back to the 15th century, were then left to be pillaged. As a result, many funerary materials were scattered throughout parts of the former “Jerusalem of the Balkans” and are still visible today.Aside from providing a few essential reminders to help readers understand the circumstances under which the largest Jewish cemetery in the Sephardic world was destroyed during the Second World War, this draft article will not examine the history of this event, but rather the way—or more precisely, the ways—it is remembered, which is separate from the Final Solution in occupied Greece.We plan to address the following questions in our article : what were the conditions surrounding the way in which the destruction of Thessaloniki’s Jewish cemetery was remembered in post-war Greece? Why has this record been kept almost exclusively by Thessaloniki’s Jewish community for decades? Conversely, who were the non-Jewish groups who kept this history alive in Greece? What exact role did certain Thessalonian writers, such as Giorgos Ioannou (1927-1985), play in the emergence of this history at a time when this event in particular and the Holocaust in general were met with a deafening silence in Greece (late 1940s-late 1970s)? Beginning in the early 1990s, what evidence have Greek and international historians used to tell the story of the demolition of the Jewish cemetery in Thessaloniki? Finally, can it be said that the history of the destruction of a graveyard tied to the centuries-old presence of Sephardic Jews in the “Jerusalem of the Balkans” is now inscribed in the collective and/or cultural memory of the inhabitants of Thessaloniki?After a brief historical review of the circumstances that led to the destruction of the Jewish cemetery in the former “Mother of Israel,” we will look at why this event was almost entirely forgotten in post-war Greece (mid-1940s to the end of the Regime of the Colonels). We will then discuss why the event’s history gradually reemerged at the same time as the first historical works on the Holocaust were being published in Greece (1990s and 2000s). Finally, this article will explore the weight of the memory that the destruction of the old Jewish cemetery now holds among the citizens of Thessaloniki. Will the commemorative ceremonies that have been held since November 2014—at the initiative of the city’s Jewish community and Yannis Boutaris, then mayor of Thessaloniki—be enough to perpetuate its memory among the younger generations? This is the question that we will attempt at least in part to answer.

How the Cold War Ended and What Followed. Reflections on a New Book by Russian and International Historians (The End of the Cold War in the Perception of Contemporaries and Historians. 1985–1991 / eds O.V. Pavlenko, V.I. Zhuravleva. Moscow, 2021)

How the Cold War Ended and What Followed. Reflections on a New Book by Russian and International Historians (The End of the Cold War in the Perception of Contemporaries and Historians. 1985–1991 / eds O.V. Pavlenko, V.I. Zhuravleva. Moscow, 2021)

Another World? East Africa, Decolonisation, and the Global History of the Mid-Twentieth Century

AbstractThis article proposes that there is a gap in our current understanding of the globalising and deglobalising dynamics of mid-twentieth-century East Africa, one that might be addressed by consolidating and taking forward recent developments in the historiography of decolonisation. Recent work by international historians has recovered the connected world of the 1940s to 1960s: the era of new postcolonial states, the ‘Bandung moment’, pan-African cooperation, and the early Cold War. Yet East Africa is less prominent in these histories than we might expect, despite the vibrancy of current work on this period in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Bringing these two fields into dialogue, through an explicitly regional East African framework and with a particular focus on individual lives, expands our understanding not only of the ‘globalisation of decolonisation’ but also of the deglobalising dynamics of the following decades that are frequently reduced to a history of global economic crisis.

BETWEEN MANAGERIALISM AND THE LEGAL COUNTERCULTURE: THE YALE PROGRAM IN LAW AND MODERNIZATION IN THE HISTORY OF THE GLOBAL 1970S

Often described as a period of seismic shifts in world history, the 1970s bear the definitive marks of a conflictual era. Focusing on the unraveling of the postwar liberal consensus, historians of the United States have portrayed this decade as nothing short of an “Age of Fracture,” during which larger narratives about American democracy, the relationship of the individual to the whole, and the relationship between state and society came undone.[1] International historians point to a dramatic reconfiguration of the international order during the same decade, which saw the completion of a society of nominally equal sovereign states, once aspiring to produce a New International Economic Order but eventually defeated by the 1973 oil crisis and the rise of neoliberalism.[2] The microcosm of the Yale Program in Law and Modernization illuminates the overlapping themes of protest, disruption, disillusionment and backlash that characterized the 1970s. Established with a significant grant from USAID, the Program, in the years of its operation between 1969 and 1976, was designed as a space of research on America’s legal modernization projects in the global periphery. Soon enough, a diverse cast of characters, united in their interest in the Third World but otherwise quite contrasting in terms of their backgrounds, goals, and aspirations, inhabited this space. Some had direct policy experience working for the American government, while others became interested in the Third World through oppositional politics and a deep suspicion about the possibility of improvement through legal reform. While originally presented as a vessel for designing sound policy-making under the aegis of the USAID and aiding the Third World through managerial socio-legal engineering, the Program unexpectedly transformed into the breeding ground for what would eventually become Critical Legal Studies, and was soon terminated.

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE OF PALMYRA BEFORE AND AFTER THE WAR IN SYRIA

In the article there is example of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, the article examines the problems of loss and preservation of the world historical, cultural, archaeological and architectural heritage in the context of modern local military confl icts. During the periods of Antiquity and the middle Ages, a complex of monuments, unique in composition and size, was formed here, combining ancient Eastern, Roman, Byzantine and Arab elements. During the ongoing acute armed confl ict in Syria, because of the purposeful actions of religious terrorist-extremist organizations, defi ned by the author as an "international historian of cultural terrorism", hesuffered catastrophic damage. An analysis of the scale of this damage, as well as the effectiveness of the efforts of the Syrian authorities, international organizations and the world community, shows that the preservation and restoration of Palmyra's heritage is possible because of painstaking, complex, joint work of all interested parties. Thus, the example of Palmyra showed the military confl icts in the Middle East, along with the actual destruction of entire states, the death of a huge number of people, the economic crisis, millions of refugees, was an attack on the heritage of ancient civilizations, which caused unprecedented loss of world cultural heritage in modern history. Now the world community faces a long and comprehensive joint effort to determine the damage, restore, and prevent further destruction and looting of the cultural heritage of Palmyra and Syria.

The Polish Rider: CH Alexandrowicz and the reorientation of international law, Part II: declension and the promise of renewal

Abstract This article is the second of a two-part analysis of the work of the international legal historian, CH Alexandrowicz. Part II analyses Alexandrowicz’s narrative of the decline of international law represented by 19th-century positivism and the scramble for African territory, where legal principles such as the protectorate became mere tools for acquisition, and treaties bereft of obligation. It traces his sympathy for the post-independence ‘new states’, his hope for the renewal of international law, the Romantic narrative imbuing his secular, modernist eschatology, and his continuing engagement with Indian Constitutional development.

Between Resistance and Repatriarchalization. Women’s Activism in the Bay of Kotor in the 1990s

Abstract The author offers an account of women’s activism in the Bay of Kotor in the 1990s, thereby filling a gap in the academic literature on antiwar and peace activism in Montenegro during the Yugoslav wars. Although the Bay of Kotor saw regular antiwar and peace initiatives organized and led by women, these were unregistered grassroots activities. They went largely unnoticed by the media, which effectively erased them from the view of Montenegrin citizens and hid them from domestic and international historians and social scientists. The author compares the work of two non-governmental organizations, the ANIMA Centre for Women’s and Peace Education in Kotor, and RIZA–Bijela. She explores how the two organizations understood the place and role of women in the processes that took place in Montenegro in the 1990s. She assesses the similarities and differences of their respective approaches, and the effects of their work.

Environmental nationalist: Andrew McNaughton and Canada–US relations in the Cold War

Prior to 1945, General Andrew George Latta McNaughton had already made a name for himself as an army general, engineer, inventor, and cabinet minister. After 1945, McNaughton occupied a number of key international roles for Canada: at the United Nations, on the Permanent Joint Board on Defence, and on the International Joint Commission. Even though he became one of Canada’s most important diplomatic actors during the early Cold War period, this aspect of his career has been mostly ignored by international historians. This article examines McNaughton’s key involvement in the evolution of a number of Canada–US water megaprojects, arguing that his nationalism underpinned his approach to bilateral relations, which combined deep technical expertise with a willingness to publicly assert the Canadian national interest. McNaughton’s approach should be studied not only to better understand North American environmental diplomacy in the Cold War but also to draw from it several lessons for contemporary times.

An Examination of American Diplomacy During the Tehran and Yalta Conferences

Since the end of World War II, the United States has been a leading proponent of liberal internationalism and Western democratic values around the world. Modern historians generally agree that the post-war order, which produced multi-national institutions and promoted democracy, free trade, and peace, was largely shaped by the United States and the other two Allied powers, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. This paper explains how the Tehran and Yalta Conferences served as early examples of President Franklin Roosevelt’s vision for international cooperation and American global leadership. Specifically, this essay analyzes how Roosevelt used these conferences to unite the other Allied powers in an effort to end World War II and establish the foundations for the liberal international post war order. To demonstrate the significance of these conferences and their role in the development of the liberal post-war order, conference minutes between the leaders of the Allied powers and their respective foreign policy experts are analyzed. Academic writings from military and international historians are also used to evaluate the execution and outcomes of the agreements reached during these conferences.

'Research sharing' using social media: online conferencing and the experience of #BSHSGlobalHist.

In February 2020, the British Society for the History of Science hosted its first entirely digital conference via Twitter, with the dual goals of improving outreach and engagement with international historians of science, and exploring methods of reducing the carbon footprint of academic activities. In this article we discuss how we planned and organized this conference, and provide a summary of our experience of the conference itself. We also describe in greater detail the motivations behind its organization, and explore the good and bad dimensions of this relatively new kind of conferencing. As the climate crisis becomes more acute and, in turn, the pressure to reduce the carbon footprint of academic activities increases, we argue that digital conferences of this style will necessarily become more central to how academia operates. By sharing our own experiences of running such a conference, we seek to contribute to a rapidly growing body of knowledge on the subject that might be drawn on to improve our practices going forward. We also share some of our own ideas about how best to approach digital conference organization which helped us to make the most of this particular event.

The archival geographies of twentieth-century internationalism: Nation, empire and race

This paper argues that more explicitly geographical methodologies are required to study twentieth-century internationalism, which invite different conversations between international historians and historical geographers. We show how the form and location of international archival records is itself evidence of multiple, interlocking modes of internationalism which unevenly intersected with national, imperial, and pan-national pasts. This is explored through three case studies: the archive of the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation (IIIC), located in the UNESCO headquarters in Paris; the Maharaja Ganga Singh Archive in the Indian city of Bikaner; and the papers of Lydia Brown in New Bedford, Massachusetts, a translator and interpreter at the Second Pan-African Congress. We argue that bringing the archives of large international organisations into dialogue with a wider overlooked field of international archival evidence offers new perspectives on what internationalism was, where it happened, and to whom it mattered.