CFP: The Persona of the Historian: Repertoires and Performances, 1800-2000
26-27 January 2017, Leiden University
What does it take to be a good historian? This conference, scheduled to take place at Leiden University on 26-27 January 2017, reexamines the history of nineteenth- and twentieth-century historical scholarship through the prism of scholarly personae. It seeks to enrich existing literature by exploring the “psychagogical” dimensions of historical studies – how did historians mould their scholarly selves? – as well as to challenge the conventional view that such approaches succeed each other like generations. Specifically, the conference addresses three questions:
- What were the most important, the most neglected, and the most contested scholarly personae in nineteenth- and twentieth-century historiography?
- How did such personae function (as models to be imitated, as embodiments of virtues, as educational templates, as stereotypical objectified images, as shorthand for historiographical schools or traditions)?
- If personae are like repertoires, to what extent then do they allow for a rewriting of the history of historiography, not in terms of “succession,” but in terms of “sedimentation” (a gradual enrichment of available repertoires, with layers of possibilities that grow over time)?
The conference will feature Ian Hunter (Queensland) as a keynote speaker. Other confirmed speakers include Monika Baár (Leiden),Michael Bentley (St Andrews), Elise Garritzen (Helsinki), David N. Myers (UCLA), and Edward Q. Wang (Rowan).
There is space for a maximum of ten additional papers that address any of the three questions listed above. While the conference focuses on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, there are no geographical limitations – papers dealing with non-European historiography are especially welcome.
Please submit 300-word abstracts with relevant contact details by 15 June 2016 to Herman Paul at h.j.paul@hum.leidenuniv.nl. Notification of acceptance will be given by July 1, 2016.
For further information, please click here.
