The teaching of the Global History of Early Modernity Chair aims to address broad and geographically diverse issues, but always centered on the period between 1400 and 1800. This approach runs counter to the methodological nationalism that still tends to dominate among historians today. The themes chosen each year are framed in their historiographical contexts, often in relation to authors and texts that are considered highly important on a global scale, but sometimes unfamiliar to the French public. In each course, we endeavor to present textual and visual documents to illustrate and develop aspects of the theme, be it urban history, the "general crisis of the ^17th century", courtesan life, or the workings of merchant networks.

Teaching is based on the Chair's current research in economic, social, diplomatic and cultural history. Prof. Subrahmanyam always draws on a wide range of archives and texts, in several Western and non-Western languages. The worlds of the Indian Ocean and the Iberian empires are fairly well represented in his lectures and research. While the methodology of "connected history" is used in these courses, more traditional comparative history is also employed, both in the courses and in the thematic study days. The study days provide an opportunity to hear lectures by leading researchers in their fields, sometimes invited from abroad.