Rural History Network Panel at the ESSHC 2018 in Belfast

Since the middle of the 1990’s rural societies have increasingly attracted the interest of historians. A great number of new institutions promoting and practising rural history have been founded and numerous new networks were established on a transnational level (i.e. CORN, COST-Progressore, the Rural Network within the ESSHC and EURHO). In less than a quarter of a century the once unfashionable topic of rural history has been transformed into an attractive and vibrant object of investigation for young scholars. Rural history, in short, is now an important part of substantial conferences that take place every year, enabling rural historians to meet and discuss their research interest.

The advances achieved to date find expression in a variety of new sources, which have been made accessible, the new methods and conceptual perspectives which have been applied and the growing number of publications. In light of what has been achieved, the panel intends to review these developments, addressing, for example, questions such as:

- What exactly do historians of today have in mind when they speak of “rural history”, “rural society” and “rurality”?
- What impact did the rise of rural history have on the development of agrarian history? Has agrarian history become an integral part of rural history or has it been further marginalised by the proliferation of the latter?
- What impact did the expansion of rural history have on the “general” historical narratives in the different epistemic cultures?
- How did English as the lingua franca of the “new” rural history influence the writing of rural history in the Non-English speaking cultures?

Case studies are welcome as well as comparative approaches. Proposals (ca. 250 words) should be sent to peter.moser@agrararchiv until 23 April 2017.