8.0046 CFP: Time Perception in Historical Writing (1/44)
Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Sun, 5 Jun 1994 21:51:25 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 8, No. 0046. Sunday, 5 Jun 1994.
Date: Thu, 2 Jun 1994 18:53:58 +0100 (GDT)
From: Edoardo Tortarolo <storstor@rs950.cisi.unito.it>
Subject: Call for papers: Time Perception in the Historical Writing
Notions and concepts of time belong to the core of history writing:
without recurring to some form of time reckoning and time shaping no
historiography is possible at all. Therefore, historians have always
conceptualised the succession and connection of events according to their=
idea of time. A consistent concept of time characterises the historical
writing as such, even if it is seldom made explicit in the narrative. The
choice of events and situations deemed appropriate to be narrated in a
historical text depends to a very great extent indeed on the prevailing
notion of time. It is clear that different cultures have elaborated
different and sometimes extremely heterogeneous concepts of time. The
notion of time is of paramount importance in the formative stages of a
historiographic tradition when a canon is set and the underlying notion
of time assumes a normative function which subsequent historians are
likely to abide by. From the interpretation of the time structure a
historiographic tradition derives its peculiarity as an expression of a
cultural setting and its legitimacy as a means of collective identity.
Some questions therefore arise. What is the dominant notion of time
expressed in a historiographical tradition? What is the connection
between the beginning of a narrative and its conclusion? Is the
prevailing time structure entirely progressive or is the narrative based
on a cyclical, genealogical, or ecological time? Is the historiographical
tradition open-ended or is the narrator's age seen as the conclusion of
a time process? What is the connection between the notion of time
operating in the historiographical text and its religious, political, and
cultural setting?
We invite scholars interested in these topics to submit papers to the
journal AEStoria della StoriografiaAE (Dipartimento di storia, Universita
di Torino, via S. Ottavio 20, 10124 Torino, Italy;
storstor@rs950.cisi.unito.it). A monographic issue on Time Perception in
the Historical Writing is due to appear in 1995. Contributions dealing
with Ancient Greece and with the Chinese, Japanese, African, Islamic, and
Latin American historiographical traditions are particularly welcome.
The editors
Georg G. Iggers Edoardo Tortarolo