call for papers, ISSEI, Utrecht, 1996 (fwd)

Timo Ala-Vahala (talavaha@clinet.fi)
Fri, 31 Mar 1995 10:21:23 +0300 (EET DST)


Date: Fri, 31 Mar 1995 10:21:23 +0300 (EET DST)
From: Timo Ala-Vahala <talavaha@clinet.fi>
To: H-VERKKO@sara.cc.utu.fi
Subject: call for papers, ISSEI, Utrecht, 1996 (fwd)

Tiedoksenne.

Terv. Timo Ala-Vahala

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 22:58:36 -0400 From: H-Ideas Co-editor (David Bailey) <ideas@hs1.hst.msu.edu> To: Multiple recipients of list H-IDEAS <H-IDEAS@UICVM.BITNET> Subject: call for papers, ISSEI, Utrecht, 1996

Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 14:58:14 -0800 (PST) From: Harry Ritter <harryr@gonzo.cc.wwu.edu>

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: harryr@henson.cc.wwu.edu

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.