This is a selective guide to books, articles, courses, research groups, journals and digital collections concerned with world knowledge.
The emphasis is not only on works that attempt to describe the whole world. Many of the strongest studies follow a particular route or contact zone - the Mediterranean, trans-Saharan Africa, the Indian Ocean or the Silk Roads - or trace a text, instrument, object, technique or musical practice as it moves between societies. The collection is intended to grow.
Circulation, Translation and Exchange
Ideas and approaches
Foundational works on circulation, communication, translation, brokerage and the transformation of knowledge in motion.
Connected regions
Studies organised around seas, trade routes, languages and scholarly networks rather than isolated civilisations.
Fields of knowledge and culture
Resources in mathematics, science, architecture, art, music, literature, philology and medicine.
Projects, Courses and Collections
Scholarship in progress
Research centres, journals, teaching initiatives, manuscript projects, digital collections and scholarly archives.
The entries have been selected for scholarly seriousness, usefulness to a broad interdisciplinary audience and relevance to the movement of knowledge across cultural or geographical boundaries. Inclusion does not imply endorsement of every argument in a work. Suggestions for further resources are welcome.