The Ethos of History: Time and Responsibility

Published by Berghahn Books 2018

The Ethos of History

Time and Responsibility

Edited by: Stefan Helgesson and Jayne Svenungsson

Volume 34 in the series Making Sense of History

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781785338854

Overview
Contents

About this book

At a time when rapidly evolving technologies, political turmoil, and the tensions inherent in multiculturalism and globalization are reshaping historical consciousness, what is the proper role for historians and their work? By way of an answer, the contributors to this volume offer up an illuminating collective meditation on the idea of ethos and its relevance for historical practice. These intellectually adventurous essays demonstrate how ethos—a term evoking a society’s “fundamental character” as well as an ethical appeal to knowledge and commitment—can serve as a conceptual lodestar for history today, not only as a narrative, but as a form of consciousness and an ethical-political orientation.

Author / Editor information

Stefan Helgesson is Professor of English at Stockholm University. He is the author of Writing in Crisis: Ethics and History in Gordimer, Ndebele and Coetzee (2004) and Transnationalism in Southern African Literature (2009), has edited volume four of Literary History: Towards a Global Perspective (2006), and is co-editor (with Pieter Vermeulen) of Institutions of World Literature: Writing, Translation, Markets (2015).

Jayne Svenungsson is Professor of Systematic Theology at Lund University. She is the author of Divining History: Prophetism, Messianism, and the Development of the Spirit (2016), and has edited (with Alana M. Vincent and Elena Namli) Jewish Thought, Utopia and Revolution (2014) and (with Jonna Bornemark and Mattias Martinson) Monument and Memory (2015).

Stefan Helgesson is Professor of English at Stockholm University. He is the author of Writing in Crisis: Ethics and History in Gordimer, Ndebele and Coetzee (2004) and Transnationalism in Southern African Literature (2009), has edited volume four of Literary History: Towards a Global Perspective (2006), and is co-editor (with Pieter Vermeulen) of Institutions of World Literature: Writing, Translation, Markets (2015).

Reviews

“With eleven engaging and well-written chapters, The Ethos of History offers a substantial contribution to contemporary debates about the role of history in our present cultural condition. A diverse group of writers, from junior researchers to established scholars such as Joan W. Scott, Aleida Assman and Hans Ruin, bring a wealth of thoughtful perspectives from philosophy, gender studies, literary and cultural theory.” • Philosophy of History

“This volume offers much and important food for thought by describing the variety of the historical-theoretical debate and pointing out numerous open questions. It suggests focusing especially on concepts of time as well as ontological and epistemological uncertainty in historical thinking and perhaps to learn to appreciate these.” • Geschichte für Heute

“This well-written volume offers plenty of material for cultural and literary studies as it explores how to live with the past, and how the past lives in us.” • Jouni-Matti Kuukkanen, University of Oulu, Finland

“This book is very useful for understanding the relationship between ethos and temporality. In showing how ethical questions blur the boundary between past, present, and future, it represents an important contribution to the literature.” • Harry Jansen, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
INTRODUCTION Situating the Ethos of History Stefan Helgesson and Jayne Svenungsson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
CHAPTER 1 Towards a New Ethos of History? Aleida Assmann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	14
CHAPTER 2 The Vampire, the Undead and the Anxieties of Historical Consciousness Claudia Lindén and Hans Ruin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
CHAPTER 3 History, Justice and the Time of the Imprescriptible Victoria Fareld Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	54
CHAPTER 4 Narrating Pasts for Peace? A Critical Analysis of Some Recent Initiatives of Historical Reconciliation through ‘Historical Dialogue’ and ‘Shared History’ Berber Bevernage Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
CHAPTER 5 Psychoanalysis and the Indeterminacy of History Joan W. Scott Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	94
CHAPTER 6 Does Time Have a Gender? Queer Temporality, Anachronism and the Desire for the Past Kristina Fjelkestam Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	112
CHAPTER 7 ‘The One Who Should Die Is the One Who Shall Live’ Prophetic Temporalities in Contemporary Colonial Brazil Patricia Lorenzoni Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	126
CHAPTER 8 Radical Time in (Post)Colonial Narratives Stefan Helgesson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	144
CHAPTER 9 Engaged History Marcia Sá Cavalcante Schuback Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	160
CHAPTER 10 Speakers for the Dead: Digital Memory and the Construction of Identity Alana M. Vincent Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
CHAPTER 11 History Begins in the Future: On Historical Sensibility in the Age of Technology Zoltán Boldizsár Simon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	192
Afterword Hans Ruin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	210
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	214

Language: English
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Audience: Professional and scholarly;
Pages
- Main content: 230

eBook

Published: June 19, 2018
ISBN: 9781785338854