CALL FOR PAPERS

6th International Conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas (ISSEI) at the University of Haifa, Israel, 16-21 August 1998

"Twentieth-Century European Narratives: Tradition and Innovation"

Workshop on

WRITING HISTORY FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: TRADITION AND INNOVATION

The traditional model of history as a study of the past that results in a representation of that past "as it was" has been undermined from numerous directions. These include the traditional perception according to which history, as opposed to myth, was associated with the real and rational; a perception based on the assumption of the existence of the reconstructible past.

It has been argued, for example, that knowledge of the past is simply an ideological construction and history a series of myths establishing or reinforcing group interests. Historical knowledge is merely a form of linguistic convention, a form of discourse. Historiography is thus an aesthetic pursuit, a literary product in which the historian does not produce a representation of the past but a substitute for it in which style is all-important; historical differences are therefore differences of style.

Recent assaults rendered problematic the belief in progress, the modern periodization in history, the nature of historical truth, objectivity and the narrative form of history.

This session will address issues related to the current controversies about the status of historical knowledge; history's relationship to scientific truth, objectivity, postmodermism and the politics of identity.

Please submit an abstract by 1 SEPTEMBER, 1997, to:

Copyright ©1996-2002, H-Soz-u-Kult · Humanities · Sozial- und Kulturgeschichte

Termine 98