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THE
STATE OF THE ART IN HISTORICAL STUDIES:
PUTTING
THEORIES INTO PRACTICES
July 26-August 6, 1999
Course Directors:
Jörn Rüsen (Kulturwissenschaftliches-Institut, Essen)
Sorin Antohi (CEU)
Resource Persons:
F.R.Ankersmit
(Rijksuniversiteit van Groningen)
Robert Braun (Budapest University of Economics)
Ewa Domanska (University of Poznan)
Daniel Fulda (Universität Köln)
Rebekka Habermas (Universität Frankfurt/Main)
Friedrich Jaeger (Universität Bielefeld)
Jürgen Kocka (Freie Universität Berlin)
Zenonas Norkus (University of Vilnius)
Falk Pingel (Georg-Eckert-Institut, Braunschweig)
Christian Schneider (Sigmund-Freud-Institut, Frankfurt/Main)
Jacob Tanner (Universität Zürich)
Irmgard Wagner (George Mason University)
Hayden White (University of California at Santa Cruz)
Dorothee Wierling (Kulturwissenschaftliches-Institut, Essen)
Course Description
Historical studies have been devastated
by the long decades of state communism throughout the former Soviet bloc.
Ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the study, writing, and teaching
of history in this region still bear the scars of at least half a century
of Party control and instrumentalization, of isolation from the international
developments and theoretical debates. While alternative history textbooks
are being published throughout the 'Region', their methodological, philosophical,
and pedagogical standards remain quite often very low. While 1989 witnessed
a certain societal interest for the 'True' National History -- especially
for recent and contemporary history --, the quick recycling of the Party-inspired
historical narrative into a new version of the traditional historical vulgate
resulted in the revival of historical mythologies, and ultimately in ideological
manipulation that alienated post-communist audiences once more. New research
of high quality is being conducted, despite widespread scarcity of resources,
often with international support, but the cleavage between theory and practice
in historical studies remains deep.
This course attempts to bridge the East-West
gap in historical studies, by bringing together respected Western and Eastern
historical theorists for two weeks of debates, and by engaging history
professors from around Eastern and Central Europe in this exchange. Applicants
who are interested in methodological and theoretical problems are especially
welcome. However, participation in the course is not limited to those who
actually specialize in historical theory. High English language skills
are critical; knowledge of German is recommended.
The course directors have compiled a
minimal reading list including only books and articles in English. A course
reader will be prepared and sent to all successful applicants. Reading
assignments for each class, and a comprehensive list of post-course
recommended readings will be circulated.
Course agenda
Day 1: (a) Presentation of participants
and organization of the course(Antohi)
(b) History after 1989: Re-Thinking or Re-Writing? (Antohi)
Day 2: (a) History and Philosophy (Norkus)
(b) History as Text (Fulda)
Day 3: (a) History and Psychoanalysis
(Schneider)
(b) History and Anthropology (Antohi)
Day 4: (a) Social History and Societal
History (Kocka)
(b) Historical Culture (Wierling)
Day 5: (a) History and Economics (Norkus)
(b) History and Linguistics (Wagner)
Day 6 & 7 (Saturday & Sunday):
Individual research at the CEU Library and at theOpen
Society Archives.
Day 8: (a) Historical Anthropology and
Microhistory (Habermas)
(b) Women's History (Habermas)
Day 9: (a) Intellectual History (Jaeger)
(b)Teaching History (Pingel)
(c) From Weltgeschichte to Intercultural Comparison (Rüsen)
Day 10: (a) Cultural History (Tanner)
(b) History and Political Theory (Ankersmit)
(c) Historical Representation (White)
Day 11: (a) The Public Uses of History
(Braun)
(b) The History of Historiography (Domanska)
(c) Historical Studies After Postmodernism (Rüsen)
Day 12: Final Colloquium: "History and
Historians After Communism: Theoretical Challenges and Civic Responsibilities".
Course participants and resource persons.
Prospective participants are required
to accompany their application with a research paper of their own, related
to both the course agenda and their scholarly work. According to subfield,
methodology used, or topic, the research papers will be assigned to the
competent resource persons. The latter will have individual consultations
with the papers' authors. Class participation will be evaluated by each
resource person. An overall evaluation of the participants will be prepared
by the course directors.
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