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Traces the history of the category of race in history & historiography from ancient Egypt to the present. It is observed that the extreme ethnic heterogeneity & ethnocentrism of ancient Egypt began to change around 500 BC, when darker pigmentation became associated with ugliness & slavery. At this point, blackness increasingly became associated with Muslims, who were generally reviled in the Christian world. Modern racism is described as beginning from the first 15th-century contact between Europeans & Africans in the context of the system of slavery. Modern historiography since the 17th century is shown to have been conditioned by the context of slavery & racism to exclude Africans & African history from the pantheon of great historical events. It is concluded that contemporary historians would do well to focus on the interaction & mixture of the races rather than their isolation if they are to develop responsible & accurate historical accounts of the past & present. D. M. Smith

Considers the conflation of history with sophistication in the class & gender politics of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (1972 [1818]) as an example of proto-Victorian negotiations of these issues. Austen's method is read as a process whereby refinement is manifested as particularization, in that characters who make distinctions automatically have conferred on them the distinction of being sophisticated. This is shown to be particularly true in the character Catherine's judgment of the Gothic novels she reads. Contrary to Nancy Armstrong's (1987) interpretation of this movement in the novel, which describes it as a singular shift from history to sophistication, it is argued that history is only submerged, not erased, from the novel. It is indicated by Austen's novel that, if the classification of fiction becomes more sophisticated, raising the novel's cultural stock, these changes are due to the fact that novels take historiography as their model rather than erase it from their pages. Based on this reinterpretation of the relation between history & sophistication, it is contended that the novel displays a sense that upper-middle-class sophistication might turn every upper-middle-class male body into a nauseating body. Austen's contempt for this male body is interpreted in the context of a social order that denies Austen all other forms of power except the power of style. D. M. Smith

Traces the development of nationalism in European history since the early Middle Ages. It is observed that the basis of Roman society was citizenship, a concept that linked individuals to the state & that was usually based on ethnic categories. Nationalism evolved in the early modern period through a dynastic system in which warring factions in a territory competed for supremacy. Modern nationalism is traced to 18th-century wars between various European powers, wherein, it is suggested, the dynastic conception of nationalism was transformed into a more basic & instinctive feeling & propelled forward after the French Revolution. This period is described as one of state nationalism in which the cohesive nation-state became understood as the most advanced & hopeful institution for internal order & material prosperity. Out of this form of nationalism grew the system of imperialism in which vast territories were claimed & conquered. The recent movement toward ethnic nationalism is discussed in the context of this larger history of European nationalism. D. M. Smith

An analysis of migration in modern European history points out problematic aspects of research on where people lived "then" & where they live "now." It is maintained that "local" migration occurs within a geographically contiguous labor, land, or marriage market; "circular" migration involves movement to a destination for a distinct purpose & return to the place of origin after a specific interval; "chain" migration involves the movement of sets of related people from one place to another through social arrangements; & "career" migration involves moves in response to career opportunities within large structures. It is suggested that in the age of industrialization the general character of European migration shifted from local & circular migration toward longer-distance, more definite chain & career migration. Migrants have traditionally moved short distances in response to changing employment opportunities or demographic imbalances; however, there has been an increase in both average distances moved & the definitiveness of breaks with the place of origin. The need to rethink the relationship between industrialization & mobility is emphasized. J. Lindroth