Reading Workshop: History and Theory - Detailseite

Although the necessity to coordinate theoretical reflection and empirical research is often stressed, in practice the links between the two aspects are often neglected.  Research is often marked by a divide between “detached” theoretical debates on the one hand, and “anecdotal” empirical studies on the other. The reading workshop confronts this weakness by providing an informal forum for rigorous discussion of the theoretical foundations of research in the humanities.

Modelled after a course at the University of Freiburg, we meet every second week. In our meetings we discuss different theories of importance for historians and try to assess their value for historical studies. Themes will be chosen at the beginning of every semester.

Latour, Bruno: We have never been modern, Cambridge 1993.

Benjamin, Walter: Theses on the Philosophy of History, in: Arendt, Hannah (ed.)/ Benjamin, Walter: Illuminations: essays and reflections [transl. by Harry Zohn], New York 1968.