Periodization in World History: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

Starting with the premise that the historian’s effort to manage time—to make change and continuity over time both more intelligible and more manageable—is a scholarly choice, open to discussion, Stearns systematically works through a tentatively proposed world historical framework aimed at developing critical thinking skills through debate over world history periodization. He argues that the basic themes of each period need to be made explicit in comparative relation to one another, while the periodization framework selected must not be too intricate or complicated. This open-ended approach aims to foster fresh, creative and hopefully improved approaches amid ongoing debate over world history periodization.