Frank-Landes
Debate
"ReOrient"
vs. "The Wealth and Poverty of Nations"
Andre Gunder Frank and David Landes, in a debate at 450 Dodge Hall, Northeastern University on Wednesday, December 2, 1998, argued the merits of their contrasting approaches to modern world history, as presented in their books ReORIENT: THE ASIAN ECONOMY IN THE GLOBAL AGE (Frank), and THE WEALTH AND POVERTY OF NATIONS (Landes). Nearly 200 people attended this very lively session sponsored by the World History Center.
Be sure to visit the Photo Gallery.
A very special thanks is due to Xochitl Kountz of Northeastern University for excellent work in transcribing this debate.
Pat Manning: Well good afternoon and welcome. Welcome to this extraordinary debate between two senior scholars who will argue the merits of their contrasting approaches to the economic history of the modern world. I am Pat Manning. I am the director of the World History Center which is the sponsoring organization for this extraordinary episode in our regular bi-weekly world history seminar. This session is co-sponsored by the Department of Economics and by the College of Arts and Sciences of Northeastern University. Before introducing our panelists, I would like to introduce the coordinator of the World History Center, Jeffrey Sommers who did so much to organize this session. Jeff...
Jeff Sommers: Thanks... I want to thank you all for attending. When I actually asked David Landes to come, I sent him a fax and I asked him if he would speak to our graduate students. I was an organizer in a former life before becoming a graduate student. And, so I decided that I was going to organize my own education here, a little bit by bringing in speakers who I was interested in. So, I sent David a fax and I said that we had Andre Gunder Frank and Noam Chomsky and other august members of the academic community here to speak. And he responded about the fax saying that, “Well if you had them speak, you're in serious need of a corrective. When do I come over?” So, I really appreciated his good humor and took him up on his offer to have him come in and speak to our graduate students. And I just want to thank both him and Andre Gunder Frank. Gunder has just been really tremendous in terms of making himself available to our graduate students. And, you know, with no recompense. He has done it because he is interested in the field of world history developing and he is matched in this good deed by David Landes. And I just want to thank them both very, very much. And I'll turn the microphone back over to Pat Manning.
Pat Manning: So it's my pleasure to be able to introduce our two speakers and to introduce the moderator of the session this afternoon. Introducing them in alphabetical order and with reference not so much to their distinguished education, but to a few of their key publications. Let me begin with Andre Gunder Frank, an emeritus professor at the University of Amsterdam, whose publication career in books began with Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America in 1967 which extended the coining of the phrase development of underdevelopment so closely associated with him and his work. He followed that up with among other works, another key one was World Accumulation-1492-1789 which appeared in 1978: a summary of capitalist development on a global scale. That was followed in 1992 by The Centrality of Central Asia and then by a major co-edited work in which he was also a contributor along with he and Barry Kay Gills were the editors of World Systems-Five Hundred Years or Five Thousand that appeared in 1993. And now of course the volume under discussion today - Reorient the Global Economy in the Asian Age. David Landes, emeritus professor of history and economics at Harvard University first published Bankers and Pashas in 1958: that is the study of imperialism and international finance in Egypt. In 1969, he published Unbound Prometheus: a study of technology and economic growth in Europe since 1750. His Roman Revolution in Time: a study of clocks and their impact in the modern world appeared in 1983. And now the book that is under discussion today, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, published this year. Our moderator, Doctor William Fowler, a former professor and chair of the Department of History at Northeastern University, and now the director of the Massachusetts Historical Society. He is well-known as the historian of colonial and early modern US, particularly known for his studies of American naval history. And Bill Fowler will introduce the rules of the game and then direct the question and answer. Bill...
William Fowler: Thank you Pat. I must confess that as the director of a local historical society, I feel somewhat inadequate amidst this glittering galaxy of world historians. But none the less. My task is to bring order to this tiny world this afternoon. I suspect it will be a very easy task. Each of the participants will begin with a ten minute opening statement. Following that opening statement, they will then have the opportunity to respond to questions from the other participant. These questions have been submitted in advance and I will be reading the questions. Each questioneer will have seven minutes to respond, and the respondent will then have seven minutes. At the end, we will try to leave sufficient time for audience questions and then at the conclusion of audience questions, there will be a few moments for each of the participants, if they wish, to make some concluding remarks. So let me begin then and ask for the first opening statement from Professor Gunder Frank.
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