This may be of interest to some on the list:
CALL FOR PAPERS
Workshop on "Memory and Historical Method"
Fifth Conference of the International Society for the Study of European
Ideas (ISSEI), 19 -24 August, 1996.
University for Humanist Studies, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Dear Colleagues: You are cordially invited to submit proposals
and abstracts for the workshop on "Memory and Historical Method," to be
held in conjunction with the Fifth Conference of the International Society
for the Study of European Ideas, August 19-24, in Utrecht, The
Netherlands. (The conference's general theme is "Memory and History:
European Identiy at the Millennium.") Abstracts of 150-200 words should
reach the workshop chair and the co-chairs of the conference by 31 October
1995 at the latest. Between seven and twelve proposals can be accepted.
Final papers should not exceed 3000 words or ten double-spaced pages, and
should be presented rather than read. Completed papers should reach the
workshop and conference chairs no later than 31 May 1996. The workshop
chair is responsible for selecting papers to be presented. A description
of the workshop's focus follows:
Memory and Historical Method
The need to maintain a clear distinction between history and
memory--i. e., between the "historical" and the "remembered" pasts--has a
firm tradition in historiography. While it is widely assumed that we
have a sense of the past because we have a memory, historians are,
almost by definition, wary of memory's reliability as evidence.
Moreover, according to R. G. Collingwood, history and memory are
radically different mental processes: "history is a certain kind of
organized or inferential knowledge, and memory is not organized, not
inferential, at all" (_The Idea of History_ [New York], 1956], p. 252).
Nevertheless, "memory" has become something of a vogue word in recent
historiographical usage, partly, perhaps, on the premise that both memory
and history are "present-centered" social constructs, partly because
issues of history and historical consciousness impinge on current
interest in "collective memory," social traditions as constructs,
narrativity, political cultures and _lieux de memoire_, and the politics
of "identity" (commemoration of the French Revolution,; the Holocaust,
the forthcoming ISSEI conference on "Memory and History: European
Identiy at the Millenium," etc.). Other factors may be involved.
What are the implications of such recent trends surrounding the
issue of memory for the writing of history? To what extent (if any) are
current linkages of history and memory significantly innovative and
methodologically useful, and to what degree are they, perhaps, the result
of careless usage, naive or misleading analogy, and/or an overintrusion
of politics into scholarship? How are such problematic concepts as
"memory," "commemoration," "memorability," "collective memory,"
"tradition," and "historical consciousness" related to one another and,
in turn, related to historical knowing? This workshop seeks to explore
the relationships between memory and history in light of older views and
newer trends, in order to assess their implications for the practice of
history.
Please send proposals and abstracts no later than 31 Oct. 1995 to:
Workshop Chair: Prof. Harry Ritter, Department of History, Western
Washington University, Bellingham, Washington 98225, USA. Tel:
360-650-3053. Fax: 360-650-4837. E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Conference Co-Chairs:
Prof. H. P. Kunneman, Research Institute, University for Humanist
Studies, P. O.; Box 797, 3500 AT Utrecht, The Netherlands. Tel: 31 30
390100. Fax: 31 30 390170.
Prof. Ezra Talmor, Dept. of Philosophy, Haifa University, Mount
Carmel, Haifa 31905, Israel. Tel: 972 3 9386445. Fax: 972 3 9386484.
Ross B. Emmett, Augustana Univesity College, Camrose, Alberta
CANADA T4V 2R3 voice: (403) 679-1517 fax: (403) 679-1129
e-mail: [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
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