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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:
Jolanta T. Pekacz
Department of History and Classics
2-28 Tory Building
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Alberta
CANADA, T6G 2H4
fax: (403) 433-9125
email: [log in to unmask]
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