[perspectives from] transfer history
Explanation:
I can find no references to transfer-historical being used in EN, but 'transfer history' seems to be a new methodology in Germany for approaching comparative historical studies. Hence I do not give it as an adjective, but suggest you render it in the way I suggest or something like it.
It seems that it is used ascertain whether certain socio-political, socio-economic or social structures occurring in one country in a given set of circumstances - say under fascism, whence the term seems to have come (see my links), occur in another country, when a similar set of circumstances pertain.
"War der Mechanismus der Privilegierung der „Volksgenossen“ und der Ausplünderung, Aushungerung und Ausmerze der Ausgeschlossenen ein allgemeines Kennzeichen faschistischer Regime? Transfergeschichtlich ist zu fragen, inwiefern entsprechende Konzeptionen der Sozial- und Wirtschaftspolitik zirkulierten und welche Austauschprozesse zwischen den einzelnen Regierungen oder Einheitsparteien bestanden.
http://www.beitraege-ns.com/band21.htm
Dennis Wrong (1961) has also highlighted Mills as a representative of a
historicist stance, and therefore also of diachronic, and dialectical thinking
against achronic and so-called eristical thinking of structural functionalism.
Whereas the former takes into consideration historical transformation and tries
to capture a conflict perspective where questions lead to ever new questions to
be asked, the latter, on the contrary, is locked in a model of society where
conflict is toned down and where questions asked by the social scientist are
becoming oblivious with the arrival of an answer. To Mills it is the job of the
sociologist to make historical comparisons (Mills 1959a) and to look to new
horizons in the quest for knowledge and understanding. His sociology was
clearly informed by the Weberian idea of trans-historical studies and
comparisons. A sociology worth its name is never satisfied with the initial
answers popping up occasionally but keeps looking ever harder in order to find
either forgotten, neglected or hidden connections. Therefore Mills is also a
bigwig and an exponent of a conflict perspective in sociology (Strandbakken
http://www.socsci.aau.dk/sociologi/castor/Arbejdspapirer/nr-...
Fascism, thus understood, can serve as the category through which to apply the methodological innovations of Transfergeschichte to the study of the German and Italian dictatorships. As the name suggests, "transfer history" is concerned with the concrete processes by which "transfers"--of "concepts, norms, images, and representations" (p. 17) and, I might add, people, money, and diseases--actually take place. Enriching historical comparisons with an approach that examines "reciprocal influences and processes of change" is urgently to be demanded, "for otherwise possibly important explanations for divergences and convergences of the units of comparison will be overlooked" (p. 18). In the case of fascism, then, it is well known that the young Adolf Hitler admired Benito Mussolini and that crucial aspects of the National Socialist movement and party were modeled on the Italian example. But little work exists on the specific individuals and institutions through which this process happened, or on what effects it had on developments in the two countries.
Two contributions here are specifically interested in the idea of "transfer." Wolfgang Schieder's detailed study, "Faschismus im politischen Transfer. Giuseppe Renzetti als faschistischer Propagandist und Geheimagent in Berlin 1922-1941," chronicles the propaganda activity on behalf of Italian fascist ideology that this "shadow ambassador" (p. 29) carried out in Weimar Germany. Demonstrating the extraordinary access that Renzetti had to Hitler and other Nazi leaders, as well as to powerful German industrialists, Schieder argues that Renzetti was a main conduit for the transmission of fascist ideological concepts, in particular ideas about corporatist social policy, from Italy to Germany, as well as the most important middle-man between Hitler and Mussolini. This exhaustive study, which includes a chart detailing all of Renzetti's frequent meetings with Hitler, shows that Renzetti played an important role in bringing together German conservatives, from the Stahlhelm, the DNVP, and the NSDAP, through institutions such as the "Society for the Study of Fascism," or through evenings at his apartment on the Kurfürstendamm, hosted by his glamorous German-Jewish wife Susanne. Schieder does not show directly what Renzetti succeeded in teaching Nazis about fascism, nor is it clear that Renzetti, who had more access to Hitler than any other non-German
http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=13257
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Note added at 6 days (2009-01-27 11:43:16 GMT) Post-grading
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Well, I'll be watching out for those transfer historians - a very rarified bunch by the sounds of it - from now on. Glad to have helped and thanks for the points, Casey.
| Helen Shiner
United Kingdom
Local time: 07:59
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 34
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peer agreement (net): +1
