Grever - Why Historical Consciousness? Epilogue

Religion Compass, 2009

The rise of the historical consciousness' represents a grand narrative that is closely linked to other meta-histories, especially modernization and secularization. The idea that critical thought about history arose uniquely in a certain place ( Europe, particularly Germany) and at a certain time (the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century) is widespread and powerful. As an ideology this notion, which is also known as historicism, actually operates in two principal directions. First, it poses a direct challenge to other powerful epistemological systems of the West, especially those supporting the establishments of science and religion. Second, historicism is a key element in the imperialism, cultural and otherwise, by means of which European and American societies have dominated the rest of the world in the capitalist age. Finally, this dual operation of historicism means not only that it has come in for much criticism, especially in recent decades, but that such criticism has come from both ends of the very wide spectrum in contemporary cultural politics. Rather confusingly, historicism remains both the darling and the bête noire of both 'conservative' theological apologists and 'radical' postcolonial critics.

Critique d’art, 2017

História da Historiografia, 2013

This article investigates the nature of historical consciousness-conceptualizations and constructions of the past outside academic history-and the way in which this has changed in parallel with developments in historical theory in recent decades. With the increased constructivist questioning of historical narratives as somehow objectively true, academic history is seen to have lost some of its authority regarding the past. It is argued that, in becoming more aware of its nature as interpretation as well as more sensitive to its motives and consequences, history now has the potential to become more pragmatic and presentist. At the same time, some theoretical discussions have turned to the less strictly historical questions of memory and presence, thus evading the call to responsibility. By examining historical consciousness in relation to these debates, the article suggests that, in line with the liberation of the past from the constraints of academic history, historical consciousness no longer needs to be as focused on the interpretations and knowledge provided by the institution of history but can be increasingly determined by popular understandings and the needs of consumers.

The aim of this article is substantially devoted to explore which factors have, and have had. an impact on the way history is actually explained. The main topics are: 1. The fundamental passage from a monological interpretation of history to a "plurality of voices", linked to post-modern culture. The complex debate about Post-modern culture is significantly marked by the disappearance of the monology (a great cultural uniting discourse) and by the emergence of different interpretations and visions. This process has a clear influence on the way history is now explained and the way the "official history" has been substituted by different narratives. 2. The meaning of collective memory. The role of collective memory has acquired a renewed significance today, scholars belonging to different disciplines have underlined its importance in the nation-building processes or in the re-affirmation of identity. For example, ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the passing of time is producing peculiar interpretations and alterations about the recent history of the former socialist countries. The history of these new democratic societies has been re-written, not in the oriented and "orwellian" way. followed by the previous regimes, but through the subtle, complex and spontaneous work of the collective memory. 3. The political and ideological action oriented to "create" or to "erase" historical events, which can be functional to the elites legitimisation. Elites need a symbolic background to support their political action and to maintain the consensus of society. They are able both to create new myths or partisan visions that can undermine the legitimacy of a political system and to support real democratic societies. 1 Some friends have preciously supported me in this work. Therefore, I have to express my thanks to my parents for sharing their memories with me, to Vaclac Belohradsky for his useful criticisms, to Emilio Cocco for his detailed confrontation regarding the case of foibe, to Paolo Roseano for his suggestions about memory, to Anna Maria Boileau and Mitja Velikonja for their attentive remarks. Catherine Poidevin has been essetial for her linguistic sensibility and support. Last but not least, many thanks to Franco Zorzon, young sophisticated book-lover and bookseler, whose passion for books has allowed me the access to forgotten memories.

EuroClio, 2024

In several post-colonial countries, the war on monuments and cultural traditions has been given impetus by the Black-Lives-Matter movement and is further fuelled by racist hate messages on social media. Teachers grapple with heated debates on these issues in their multicultural classes. They have a tremendously difficult task in dealing with students' emotions about contested pasts. Sometimes teachers are also confronted with violence outside the classroom. That happened to French history teacher Samuel Paty in 2020, when he was brutally beheaded in front of his school by a young extremist Muslim. In this polarized atmosphere, how can teachers organize a meaningful historical conversation that recognizes students' interpretative traditions without freezing these traditions? Several researchers have pointed to the need for more intercultural orientation in history education. In the context of current tensions, it is therefore invaluable to consider in depth the different interpretative frameworks of student responses. My paper focuses on this problematic by using a holistic approach to historical culture that encompasses three interactive levels of analysis: historical narratives; mnemonic infrastructures; conceptions of history. The third level offers the opportunity to historicize the concept of historical consciousness and to deconstruct its possible, implicit Western assumptions. I then discuss some aspects of the hermeneutic process of meaning-making in relation to conducting a conversation. I will illustrate my argument with two sensitive topics from the Dutch practice of history education.

History and Theory, 2009

European Review

When the political needs of governments, political parties, armed groups, etc., demand the making up of a past that justifies their specific present, their respective organs often seek to propagate a discourse that permeates the national social structure and allows the memory of the causes of past violence to be reinvented, through a strong perversion of history. In these situations, a trend known as historical presentism tends to emerge, i.e., the malformation of history and historical knowledge in the service of totalitarian projects, such as those of the Nazi and Soviet regimes in twentieth-century Europe, or identity-based nationalisms, sponsored by violent guerrillas, as in the case of the FARC-EP in Colombia. Two scenarios that exemplify singular manifestations of historical presentism in Europe and Latin America are given.

International Relations, 2015

Although most attempts to foster interdisciplinary dialogue are located outside mainstream International Relations (IR), this article seeks to problematize how the two dominant paradigms of IR theory, realism and liberalism, think historically. The argument proceeds by examining how the disciplines consider what historical knowledge is useful for, that is, how they think historically or are historically conscious. This constitutes a shift away from the dominant dialogue over how to ‘do history’ in IR. Historical consciousness is defined as the understanding of the temporality of historical experience or how past, present and future are thought to be connected. The analysis is set up to explore the extent to which both disciplines share a similar historical consciousness beyond merely treating history as instructive. To do so the article first examines the canon of European historiography to identify three genres of historical consciousness: history as teacher, history as narrative, ...

This is a brief study of the importance of historical consciousness in the context of identity construct and self determination.