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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.
“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
Acknowledgements
Introduction: The Ethos of History
Stefan Helgesson and Jayne Svenungsson
Chapter 1. Towards a New Ethos of History
Aleida Assmann
Chapter 2. The Vampire, the Undead and the Anxieties of Historical Consciousness
Claudia Lindén and Hans Ruin
Chapter 3. History, Justice and the Time of the Imprescriptible
Victoria Fareld
Chapter 4. Narrating Pasts for Peace? A Critical Analysis of Some Recent Initiatives of Historical Reconciliation through ‘Historical Dialogue’ and ‘Shared History’
Berber Bevernage
Chapter 5. Psychoanalysis and the Indeterminacy of History
Joan W. Scott
Chapter 6. Does Time Have a Gender? Queer Temporality, Anachronism, and the Desire for the Past
Kristina Fjelkestam
Chapter 7. ‘The One Who Should Die Is the One Who Shall Live’: Prophetic Temporalities in Contemporary Colonial Brazil
Patricia Lorenzoni
Chapter 8. Radical Time in (Post)Colonial Narratives
Stefan Helgesson
Chapter 9. Engaged History
Marcia Sá Cavalcante Schuback
Chapter 10. Speakers for the Dead: Digital Memory and the Construction of Identity
Alana M. Vincent
Chapter 11. History Begins in the Future: On Historical Sensibility in the Age of Technology
Zoltán Boldizsár Simon
Afterword
Hans Ruin
Index