Political scientist Samuel Huntington, who was well-known for his theory of the "clash of civilizations," argued that post-Cold War conflicts are fueled primarily by competing cultural and religious identities. His theory resonated beyond the academic world among Americans concerned about terrorism or immigration.

But they didn't resonate with Sucheta Mazumdar, associate professor of history at Duke. From an East Campus office crammed with books in several languages, she challenges the very premise that civilizations are clashing. "We are eating, breathing global beings," she says. "It makes no sense to cling to a 19th century view of clashing civilizations."

Mazumdar, a historian whose interests range from Chinese and Asian-American history to the global flow of commodities and people, says "the ‘clash of civilizations' is often a way of saying we really think we're better than they are. It's a kind of shorthand for the superpowers' game."

In a new book of essays, she looks at the evolution of the modern concept of "civilization."

Last month, she and fellow Duke historian Vasant Kaiwar, along with Thierry Labica of the University of Paris, published From Orientalism to Postcolonialism: Asia, Europe and the Lineages of Difference, exploring how supposedly distinct civilizations are actually connected in multiple, sometimes surprising, ways.

In her own section, Mazumdar argues that the very idea of civilization didn't begin to emerge in its modern form until the time of the American Revolution.

"During the pivotal decades between the 1750s and the 1790s, when every familiar aspect of the known world was recast through revolutions and war, a spectrum of new ideas was attached to ‘civilization,'" she writes. Over succeeding decades, the concept evolved along with how Americans and others saw their place in the world.

Mazumdar helps her students understand the deep linkages among countries by asking them to analyze the labels in each other's garments, which are far more likely to come from Asia or Latin America than from the United States. She also asks them to study the foods they eat in Duke dining halls and at Thanksgiving dinners, noting that even crops such as sweet potatoes that grow abundantly in North Carolina originated elsewhere.

Mazumdar's own global perspective was shaped by a childhood in India and subsequent study in China and other countries, and she rejects the insularity she sometimes sees in these countries just as firmly as she calls on Americans to embrace their global identity. People in China are not a special "yellow race" that evolved apart from the rest of the world, she says. Rather, citing the work of geneticist Li Jin and others, Mazumdar points out that "all Asians, like everybody else, are from Africa originally. The only ancestor I acknowledge is Lucy from Olduvai Gorge. We're all mixed peoples. Civilizational models only contribute to sustaining artificial boundaries of difference."

"Professor Mazumdar is an outstanding scholar of China and beyond, with a sweeping understanding of historical processes on a global scale," says Duke Provost Peter Lange. "Her work as a scholar, teacher and mentor contribute greatly to our programs on China and its place in the historical world and make her an important contributor to our campus programs."

In her classes on China, Asia, globalization and history, Mazumdar urges students to look beyond familiar notions of nations and civilizations.

"The whole idea of East and West gets us nowhere," she says. "I want a richer history. We are made of global stuff."

As might be expected, Mazumdar welcomes the expanding international focus of the university, which now welcomes students from more than 90 countries, sends nearly half of its undergraduates to study abroad and has launched programs to promote everything from global health to international business. Simultaneously, though, she cautions Duke students and others to view their international experiences as more than a break from their American lives.

"We have to think not only about us going ‘there' but also recognize that the ‘there' is here every day," she says.