The AHA Research Division has proposed a new publication series on the subject of “Regions and Regionalisms in the Modern World” to be edited by Prasenjit Duara (National University of Singapore) and Sebastian Conrad (Free University of Berlin). They have developed the following description and call for proposals:

Regions and the concomitant phenomenon of regionalisms are increasingly receiving attention as an object of historical study. For a large number of issues and questions, regions – understood as more or less integrated arenas of historical interaction that reach beyond the nation-state – appear to be the appropriate level of historical analysis. They promise to mediate between the local and national on the one hand, and global dimensions on the other.

The interest in the history of regions corresponds with the return of political, cultural, and economic projects of regionalism that in several cases had appeared in the 19th century. Contrary to widespread belief, globalization has not rendered more circumscribed entities and regional ties obsolete. Indeed, it has frequently fostered, if not produced, new forms of regional alliance, cooperation, and imagination as we see in Europe, NAFTA, Mercosur, maritime Asia, and elsewhere.

To what extent did regional ties survive and shape the way in which people and societies were integrated into the modern world? And to what extent are regions new creations, produced under the impact of global interaction? Questions such as these will be at the core of the series that presents a wide variety of interpretations, on many different levels, of the role of regions in history. These essays will be especially useful to college and secondary school teachers who are engaged in teaching world history in a comparative format.

Prospective authors may want to consider including in their articles the challenges that teachers and researchers working in the field encounter, as well as the current state and future prospects for the field of history. Manuscripts should be up to 60 typed pages (double-spaced) or about 15,000 words, with no more than 90 endnotes.

Proposals of about 300 to 600 words, may be e-mailed by October 1, 2010 to regionalism@historians.org or mailed to Publications Department, American Historical Association, 400 A Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003-3889.

This post first appeared on AHA Today.