Key research themes
1. How have shifting historical-temporal paradigms influenced the conceptualization and narrative of 'Fin de la Historia' in historiography and philosophy?
This theme investigates the intellectual transformations in the understanding of history and temporality that underpin philosophies of history and historiographical approaches associated with the notion of 'Fin de la Historia.' It matters because it reveals the contingency and evolution of historical thought, the conceptual breaks that shaped modern historiography, and the implications these have for claims about historical teleology or its 'end.' This area draws on conceptual history, philosophy, and critical theory to reassess the foundations of historical knowledge and temporality.
2. In what ways do historiographical methods and media, including documentary film and historiographic metafiction, revise, reconstruct, or challenge official historical narratives associated with pivotal moments such as the Malvinas War or colonial/postcolonial histories?
This theme centers on the methodological and medium-specific innovations that allow historians and cultural producers to interrogate, complicate, or subvert official or dominant historical narratives. Documentary films and historiographic metafiction operate as forms that engage testimony, memory, archives, and narrative form to reveal alternative perspectives on traumatic or contested historical events (e.g., the Malvinas War, colonial histories, memory of marginalized groups). This is crucial for understanding how history is negotiated in public memory, identity formation, and political discourse.
3. What are the methodological and epistemological challenges and opportunities posed by the history of the present and its intersection with postmodern critiques in understanding ongoing historical processes?
The history of the present (or 'Historie du Temps Présent') confronts the unique challenges of studying very recent or ongoing historical phenomena. This subfield grapples with access to sources, historiographical objectivity, the dissolution of metanarratives, and the influence of postmodern thought that emphasize fragmentation, plurality, and skepticism towards totalizing histories. This theme explores these methodological difficulties and the potential for new narratives and scales of analysis that bridge micro and macro histories.