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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.
Key finding: This paper articulates Reinhart Koselleck’s concept of Sattelzeit (c. 1750–1850) as a decisive conceptual rupture ushering in modern historicity characterized by the singular notion of 'History' and linked philosophies of... Read more
Key finding: Vargas’s analysis detects a modern crisis of historical reason characterized by despair, fragmentation, and loss of transcendent foundations following the Cartesian turn and the failure of modern sciences to grasp ultimate... Read more
Key finding: As a critical response to Francis Fukuyama’s thesis of 'End of History,' this review outlines Fontana’s historiographical challenge emphasizing that history, as a human and contingent process, defies teleological closure. It... Read more
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.
Key finding: This study foregrounds Jorge Denti’s 1983 documentary as an early cinematic articulation of the Malvinas War from the Argentine perspective which integrates testimonial narrative and archival footage to construct a... Read more
Key finding: Through the genre of historiographic metafiction, Carme Riera’s novel destabilizes the boundary between history and fiction, revealing official history as a subjective construct shaped by power interests and political... Read more
Key finding: This conference proceeding elucidates the persistent and intrinsic interplay between historical writing and fictionality, emphasizing that historical practice has always incorporated mythical, legendary, and narrative... Read more
Key finding: The paper examines the cultural phenomenon of la Movida Madrileña as a transformative yet contested flashpoint in post-Franco Spanish history. By tracing its representations and cultural production through contested... Read more
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.
Key finding: This paper foregrounds the inherent tensions and virtues in doing the history of the recent past, addressing issues like source availability, epistemological uncertainty, and the influence of postmodernism’s skepticism... Read more
Key finding: Through the analysis of myth and legend as enduring sources of authority within historiography, this study elucidates how historical narratives of the recent and present past are always embedded within constructed meanings... Read more
Key finding: This collection engages with foundational questions regarding the use and status of scientific knowledge in historical and philosophical inquiry, emphasizing the indispensability of mathematics for scientific explanation, the... Read more