2018-19 Series

The Theory and Practice of History at Wesleyan University provides information about a seminar series, talks, and other local endeavors connected to the theory and philosophy of history as well as issues of historiography and its history, including the methodology, style, and form of historical research and writing. Its aim is to stimulate reflection on these subjects within the university and the region and to help to channel and accelerate wider discussion of these topics.

First, however, it is the home of the Wesleyan Seminar on the Theory and Practice of History, supported by Wesleyan’s Center for the Humanities and the Department of History.

The 2018-19 seminar series will meet four times across the year, usually on Thursdays, and will feature an exciting international and interdisciplinary line up of scholars.

For further information or a copy of the papers once they become available, contact Gary Shaw at gshaw@wesleyan.edu. Here are the dates and current topics. Seminars will be in Boger Hall.

Starting time for all sessions is 4:30.

September 27: Sumit Guha, University of Texas at Austin, “The Social Frames of Historical Narrative. A Comparative Approach”

October 25:  Gabrielle Spiegel, The Johns Hopkins University: “The Limits of Empiricism: The Utility of Theory in Historical Thought and Writing”

February  7: Anna Krylova, Duke University: “The Human Actor, Agency, and Historical Analysis”

April 4:     Andrea M. Frisch, University of Maryland: “The Inhumanity of Universal History: Agrippa d’Aubigné and the Question of Historiographical Neutrality”.