Ph.D. Program in Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Languages presents

‘Rejuvenated images of the past’. The Memory vs. History Debate

by Prof. Joan Ramon Resina, Stanford University

Friday, February 13, 6:00 p.m.

Room: C205

(Free and open to the public)

The German theologian and historian Johann Martin Chladenius, one of the founders of historicism, argued for the importance of taking into consideration the historian’s point of view. The scholar, working by means of language, creates “rejuvenated images”, that is, artificially invigorated or even cosmetically improved representations of a bygone time. By contrast, contemporary attacks on “historical memory” in the name of “critical history” neglect the hermeneutic lessons that stand at the origins of modern historiography.