070028 VO Cultural History of the Euro-Atlantic Region in the Global Context (2024S)

Cultural history is both a conceptual chameleon and a broad field of concepts in which every historian now moves differently. Originally created as a field dedicated to all of humanity's cultural achievements, its inventors in the Enlightenment intended it primarily as an ode to high culture (especially ancient architecture, art and literature). Later, with the development of modern nation states, the focus shifted to the history of peoples and the emergence of advanced civilisations. However, it was not until the 20th century that cultural history became a broad stream in terms of method and content, not only dealing with art and science, but also focussing on other areas such as social structures, languages and other sign systems, customs and traditions or the manifestations of different religions. In the 1990s, the concepts of cultural history were once again set in motion under the influence of postmodernism: Not only did the methodological boundaries of the individual disciplines fall; the new cultural history also brought with it new perspectives, such as focussing on symbolic forms of the past or signs, political languages or rituals in all their forms. The latter was a double-edged sword, because on the one hand it brought new impetus to previously traditional historical disciplines, but on the other hand it also brought with it a certain arbitrariness: anyone could suddenly call themselves a cultural historian without really being familiar with the methods or the genesis of their subject areas. However, the vitality of the discipline is unbroken, as demonstrated by the current debate on colonialism, queer studies or the influence of social media and AI on society. The aim of the lecture will be to approach the history of European and North American cultural history, to take a close look at its pioneers, main and secondary currents and to analyse selected texts.

Method:

The contents of the course are taught in the lecture (1.5 h/session) and through supplementary self-study (4 h/session). The individual sequences are analysed in three blocks: A characterisation on structures and events and actors, the methodological spectrum and as well as through selective in-depth study based on selected texts.

The aim of the lecture is:

- A general overview of the various developmental disorders in cultural history since the Enlightenment: What is cultural history and what is it not?
- In-depth probes into the specific historical context of these developments and the researchers who initiated them.
- Using selected keywords (e.g. object - fact - truth, contingency - discontinuity - coincidence; language - narrativity) and concepts (e.g. the cultural history of the political, gender and queer studies, microhistory and the history of mentality) that characterise our perception of history today, introduce different cultural-historical methods.
- Learn to read and understand key texts on cultural history.