Cross-Cultural Interactions and Periodization in World History
Author(s)
Bentley, Jerry H.
Abstract
Jerry H. Bentley begins a discussion of periodization in world history by declaring that historians who pursue comparative and cross-cultural themes must confront the challenge of identifying the periods of time that are both meaningful and coherent across the boundary lines of societies and cultural regions. He proposes cross-cultural interaction – the participation of the world’s peoples in processes that transcend individual societies and cultural regions – as a foundation for just such a periodization scheme. Bentley argues that processes of cross-cultural interaction had large-scale repercussions in pre-modern as well as modern times, and he focuses particular attention on the effects of mass migrations, campaigns of imperial expansion, and long-distance trade. On the basis of these cross-cultural interactions and their results, he sketches six major periods of world history. In developing his periodization scheme, Bentley recognizes that a global periodization based on cross-cultural interactions cannot encompass all of the world for all of time, and he acknowledges that local periodizations remain significant for efforts to understand the development of individual societies. Nevertheless, he maintains that large-scale periodizations can suggest pertinent contexts for understanding local and regional experiences, and declares that efforts to identify large-scale patterns of continuity and change are essential for historians examining the past from comparative, cross-cultural, or global perspectives.
