Laura J. Mitchell
Laura J. Mitchell is a social historian who teaches African and world histories at UC Irvine. Her published work explores the colonial history of South Africa and the contours of world history as both a teaching subject and research enterprise. Her first book, Belongings, walks readers through rugged landscapes and complicated family relationships as it explains deep connections between natural resource use and cultural formation. Her current research investigates an 1825 slave rebellion in the Western Cape. She has published more than 20 scholarly articles and book chapters and co-authored four other books, including Panorama: A World History. She is a past president of the WHA and co-chaired the AP World History test development committee. She edits the Journal of World History.
University of California, Irvine
Session
What does it mean to write and teach world history in the 21st century? This plenary session brings together historians whose work spans Africa, Asia, the Indian Ocean world, and China in a global context, this plenary examines the methodological and pedagogical challenges of narrating the past beyond the nation-state. Drawing on their diverse regional and thematic expertise, the panelists will discuss how historians balance what analytical scales best illuminate historical connections and how global history can be taught and written about in ways that remain both rigorous and accessible in an era of renewed nationalist storytelling.