Theory of History I

The course Theory of history discusses the conditionality of historical research and the epistemological issues that were particularly clearly set by Marc Bloch in his Apologie pour l'histoire ou métier d'historien (1949). It theoretically opens up the background to individual historiographical issues, especially those dealing with the following thematic groups: history – memory, history – politics, historian – judge, historian – witness, history – gender. It acquaints the students with the latest historiographical debates in the field of researching and writing national history (also of the multiethnic and border regions), the gender determination of national history, its public use and the criticism it receives within national and cultural studies. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the central concepts of a nationally profiled historiography (nation, national history, national identity, ethnic territory, multiculturalism), ethnocentric paradigms and orientalism. Their theoretical orientational function and their empirical use is problematised.