Abstract

These three books position themselves within Atlantic studies, but despite significant differences in conceiving that frame, they all, to some extent, conflate the Atlantic world with the US. I suggest that this reflex contraction bears out the regular complaints that the field is prone to Eurocentricism, and dominated by northern, anglophone perspectives. Moreover, as the unequal distribution of academic prestige is reflected in our professional culture and its productions, it is worth attending to the effects of global disparities on writers, journals and scholarly organizations, and their responses to them. For Europeans, studying certain issues on the other side of the Atlantic can be a way to avoid facing them at home; meanwhile, the appearance of an African center for studying the US is hailed as a decolonizing event. Yet both manifest the westward pull of research attention that is so often evident in Atlantic studies, including in these books.There is an important difference … between exploring one’s worldliness and mistaking oneself for the world. Each of the reviewed texts could be charged … with sailing an American ship under an Atlantic flag.

中文翻译：

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跨大西洋噪声

摘要

这三本书将自己定位在大西洋学的研究范围内，但是尽管在构想该框架方面存在显着差异，但它们都在一定程度上使大西洋世界与美国融合在一起。我认为这种反射性收缩经常会引起人们的抱怨，即该领域倾向于以欧洲为中心，并且受到北部英语环境的支配。此外，由于学术威望的不平等分配反映在我们的专业文化及其作品中，因此有必要关注全球差异对作家，期刊和学术组织的影响，以及他们对它们的回应。对于欧洲人来说，研究大西洋彼岸的某些问题可能是避免在家中面对他们的一种方式。同时，非洲研究美国中心的出现被誉为非殖民化事件。然而，两者都体现出研究关注度的向西拉动，这在包括这些书在内的大西洋研究中常常是显而易见的。在探索一个人的世俗性与为世界误解之间存在着重要的区别。每条经审查的文本都可能会受到指控……在大西洋船旗下航行一艘美国船。