Inaugural lecture Ms Prof R.M. Esser: Borders and the writing of history

Inaugural lecture: Ms Prof R.M. Esser

Title: Borders and the writing of history

Chair: Early modern history

Faculty: Arts

Changing borders necessitate the rearrangement of the narrative of the past, both chronologically and spatially. Historiography, was and is one way of coping with change and providing an interpretation of events of the immediate and more distant past for the needs of the contemporary world. The lecture discusses the different coping strategies in times of change in early modern societies which provide us with an inventory of past experiences.

It also addresses the borders of the writing of history through an assessment of the challenges and opportunities that less textual-based disciplines might bring to the study of the past.