Preliminary Programme

Wed 12 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Thu 13 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Fri 14 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00
    16.30 - 18.30

Sat 15 April
    08.30 - 10.30
    11.00 - 13.00
    14.00 - 16.00

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Friday 14 April 2023 16.30 - 18.30
H-12 THE08 Public and Mediated Histories
B33
Network: Theory Chair: Aad Blok
Organizers: - Discussants: -
Mathias Albert, Zoltán Boldizsár Simon : Historical Change in Society and Nature
This paper explores both pitfalls and the opportunities that arise from the transposition of Earth System science categories and geochronologic units to societal change.
While there is a by now a widespread recognition of the Anthropocene both as a planetary condition and a societal predicament, its fundamental implications for society and ... (Show more)
This paper explores both pitfalls and the opportunities that arise from the transposition of Earth System science categories and geochronologic units to societal change.
While there is a by now a widespread recognition of the Anthropocene both as a planetary condition and a societal predicament, its fundamental implications for society and history still pose a range of difficult questions. Two of these seem particularly pertinent: the question of scale and the question of periodization. First, the implication of society in a natural-cum-social Earth System raises issues about possibilities and limits of system demarcation, and particularly the issues of situating the scales of natural and societal change. The paper will explore the intricate questions that arise in this context both in relation to pertinent systems theories, but also regarding scalar delimitations of Earth System history against historiographical approaches that work on large timescales. Second, we will explore whether the highly differentiated categories of stratigraphy might actually provide useful analogies when accounting for historical change. We argue that there are limits to such an analogy, but they can still provide a useful heuristic if related to the change of clearly defined reference systems. (Show less)

Jukka Kortti : Mediated and Institutional Memory in Historical Culture: War, Identities and Public Historical Consciousness
This presentation makes use of history documentary films to examine mediated historical culture and memory narrated by media. It particularly focuses on transgenerational dimensions of memory in media representations – the idea of how collective memories are transmitted through media to a second generation of people who did not directly ... (Show more)
This presentation makes use of history documentary films to examine mediated historical culture and memory narrated by media. It particularly focuses on transgenerational dimensions of memory in media representations – the idea of how collective memories are transmitted through media to a second generation of people who did not directly experience the actual events but who nonetheless have often been exposed to the traumatic tensions of the first generation. The speech first asks how mediated memory provides different views on war in historical culture. Second, it discusses how the memory of war is negotiated in the contemporary institutional historical culture of a democracy. The presentation demonstrates that since the role of the state in public remembrance is no longer as clear-cut as before, at least in democratic countries, historical culture is a more appropriate and precise concept than either civil society or even public history for analysing the importance of memory in society. The presentation also confirms the notion that it is difficult, if not even impossible, to separate media-narrated memory into the collective and private spheres of life. The empirical body of research consists of three Finnish history documentary films on WWII screened or broadcasted in 2017, when Finland celebrated its 100-year anniversary.
In terms of identity, the presentation obviously discusses the demarcation between private and collective identity, as well as the questions on national identity. When it comes to the history writing, the presentation is interested in the relationship between popular forms of history and academic history. (Show less)

Pia Lundqvist : Arctic Highways: Contemporary Indigenous Art, History and Identity
At the international art exhibition Documenta 14 (2017) contemporary works by indigenous artists from the arctic regions attracted attention, not least seven artists from Sápmi, the traditional Sámi region covering northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. They shared the experience of origin in borderless cultures, and colonial oppression ... (Show more)
At the international art exhibition Documenta 14 (2017) contemporary works by indigenous artists from the arctic regions attracted attention, not least seven artists from Sápmi, the traditional Sámi region covering northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. They shared the experience of origin in borderless cultures, and colonial oppression that remains today.
Indigenous peoples have for a long time been fighting for their rights of preserving their culture and traditions. Beside struggles in the political arena, contemporary art has today taken a prominent position in indigenous peoples’ struggles for self-determination and resistance against exploitation of land by nation states and commercial actors. Indigenous voices uncover colonial patterns with deep historical roots, at the same time as they claim public space and present visions of decolonization, in what has been called “artivism” or decolonization art.
Sámi artivism has shaped a discourse around Scandinavian colonialism during the last decade. Art has worked as a way of resistance, for example against mining exploration. The forms, expressions, and motives touch on subjects such as identity, mythology, the relation to nature, environmental deterioration, and climate change. Furthermore, the art often refers to tradition, heritage, and history. Works of art express experiences of oppression and humiliation in the past. In the first half of the 20th century, the Swedish State Institute for Race Biology did “research” on the racial traits of the Sámi population, measuring and photographing human bodies. This has been studied by historians and other academics. However, academic research has not paid much attention to what memories and traces this treatment left behind among those who had been subjected to these examinations. The Sámi artist Katarina Pirak Sikku explored the Sámi encounter with Swedish race biology by making herself and her ancestors subjects, not objects, in a narrative formerly told by others.
My paper will pose the question what role the concept of history plays in contemporary indigenous art from the arctic, and how history and indigenous identity is connected. The study will be based on interviews with the artists who take part in the current exhibition Arctic Highways, which focus on indigenous cultural connections throughout the circumpolar regions and collects twelve artists from Sápmi, Alaska and Canada and is on tour in the US, Canada, Norway, and Sweden 2022–2025. I will also interpret their works of art. How does the art refer to or use the past? Which historical processes and events are represented? Are narratives and perspectives that have been neglected in academic historical research presented in art? How do the artists themselves reflect on the significance and meaning of history and identity in their works? The collected source material will be analyzed within the theoretical framework of historical consciousness, comprising connections between past, present, and future prospects. (Show less)

Zurab Targamadze : Perception of the Origin of Georgian State on the Light of Georgian Historiography
The collective memory of the people, especially those who have an ancient history, usually contains references to the origins of their state. Such narratives have a significant impact on the formation of ongoing policy.
For example, Georgia and the Georgian people have ancient roots and historical memory, however, conceptual equalization between ... (Show more)
The collective memory of the people, especially those who have an ancient history, usually contains references to the origins of their state. Such narratives have a significant impact on the formation of ongoing policy.
For example, Georgia and the Georgian people have ancient roots and historical memory, however, conceptual equalization between the political perceptions of the present and the past times, makes Georgians imagine that they have nothing to learn from the others and that others should learn from them. On the one hand, it “facilitates” stay away from unwanted or difficult changes and, on the other hand, it hinders political reflection.
This time, we are going to study the Georgian case by observing the secondary Georgian sources.
The research has shown that in the Soviet era the Georgian historians concentrated on shifting the center of gravity of the historical analysis from the present time to the past, in such a way, that, in parallel to criticism of feudal relations, the fact of Sovietization of Georgia would have been presented positively.
Herewith, the formation of Georgian statehood and its perception were connected to the past, in particular, to the medieval Georgian kingdom and even the ancient kingdoms of Kartli and Kolkheti. Likewise, in the light of this background, the annexation of Georgia by the Russian Empire was covered as a positive event, as a kind of continuation of a feudal tradition, according with, Russia did not conquer Georgia, but objectively united the Georgian kingdoms and by that way, the Russian monarchs were handed over a historical mission from Georgian monarchs. (Show less)



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