World Systems w/ Ariel Salzmann

Mar 11, 2022

Join Professor Ariel Salzmann, an expert in Islamic and world history from Queen's University, as she unpacks world systems theory and its implications. She critiques Eurocentric views of capitalism, shedding light on Asia's pivotal role prior to 1700. The conversation navigates the entwined relationships between climate, culture, and economic practices, emphasizing the 'capitalocene' concept. Salzmann also discusses the historical influence of sea power and the evolution of global hegemony, calling for a holistic approach to history that can inspire equitable change.

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INSIGHT

Reorienting Global Origins

André Gunder Frank reframes world history by pushing origins of global economic integration far earlier than Eurocentric accounts.
This challenges the idea that capitalism and Western dominance began solely with the Industrial Revolution.

INSIGHT

Core, Periphery, And Moving Cores

World-systems theory locates shifting cores, semi-peripheries, and peripheries across long time spans.
The core moves as concentrations of capital shift, producing unequal extraction from peripheral zones.

INSIGHT

Eurocentrism Shapes Capitalism Debates

Critiques of Eurocentrism pushed scholars to integrate non‑European histories into capitalism debates.
Extending the timescale forces rethinking whether 'capitalism' is a single, bounded origin story.

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A fascinating intelligence briefing on world systems theory, some of its thinkers and, some of the debates within the field! This episode will hopefully help us in considering HOW we think about history, and how we analyze the driving force of events in the world. We're joined by the esteemed Professor Ariel Salzmann, historian of Islamic and world history.

Ariel Salzmann is a professor of Islamic and world history at Queen's University, and her research addresses theories of state formation, histories of Mediterranean communities and Muslim societies, the transformation of market systems and the making of global capitalism. Her new book, The Exclusionary West: Medieval Minorities and the Making of Modern Europe,will be out in September: https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/the-exclusionary-west/

Guerrilla History- Intelligence Briefings will be roughly a twice monthly series of shorter, more informal discussions between the hosts about topics of their choice. Patrons at the Comrade tier and above will have access to all Intelligence Briefings.

Your hosts are immunobiologist Henry Hakamaki, Professor Adnan Husain, historian and Director of the School of Religion at Queens University, and Revolutionary Left Radio's Breht O'Shea.

Follow us on social media! Our podcast can be found on twitter @guerrilla_pod. Your contributions make the show possible to continue and succeed! Please encourage your comrades to join us, which will help our show grow.

To follow the hosts, Henry can be found on twitter @huck1995, and also has a patreon to help support himself through the pandemic where he breaks down science and public health research and news at https://www.patreon.com/huck1995. Adnan can be followed on twitter at @adnanahusain, and also runs The Majlis Podcast, which can be found at https://anchor.fm/the-majlis and the Muslim Societies-Global Perspectives group at Queens University, https://www.facebook.com/MSGPQU/. Breht is the host of Revolutionary Left Radio, which can be followed on twitter @RevLeftRadio cohost of The Red Menace Podcast, which can be followed on twitter at @Red_Menace_Pod. You can find and support these shows by visiting https://www.revolutionaryleftradio.com/.

Thanks to Ryan Hakamaki, who designed and created the podcast's artwork, and Kevin MacLeod, who creates royalty-free music.