Encountering the Global in Early Modern Germany: Microhistories of Mobility, Materiality, and Belonging

Global history has come of age but has had little impact on the historiography of early modern Germany. This volume seeks to bring a global perspective to the history of Central Europe by addressing understudied global and colonial entanglements. Exploring the impact of these interactions on court life and home towns, labor migration, material culture, and religious communities, the microhistories presented here reveal the myriad ways in which connections and disconnections underpinned early modern Germany. The authors engage with contemporary debates about global history in general, taking its lacunae as a cue for substantial methodological revisions.

Anne Sophie Overkamp is, as of October 2024, Associate Professor for the History of Science and Technology at the University of Wuppertal. Her research interests include German social and economic history with a particular focus on consumption history and material culture, as well as the history of botany in global and imperial contexts.

Simon Siemianowski is Assistant Professor at the University of Tübingen. His research focuses on global history and the history of language and cultural translation in the early modern period.