DOCSLIB.ORG

"That Theory of Races" Henri Pirenne on the Unfinished Business of the Great War1

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
"That Theory of Race " Henr" #"re!!e o! the $!f"!" hed &$ "!e of the Great 'ar1 ()#HI*+,*+(CH-*#,RI./*R2 0000000000000000000000000000000- oc"ate #rofe or of H" tory 1 #e!! (tate 2!"3ers"ty *xact5y one year after the e!% of the 6"r t 'or5% 'ar, on Nove7ber 11, 1919, the ne9 acade7"c year 9a opene% at the 2!"3er "ty of Ghe!t. Hera5%"!: the re $7pt"on of c"e!t"f"c e!%ea3our after four year of Ger7a! 7"5"tary occupat"on, the e3ent ca55e% for o5e7!"ty. It a5 o ca55e% for "nter- pretat"on 1 a7ply prov"de% by the com7e!ce7ent a%dre of the ne9 rector, Henr" #"renne. The decept"3e5y 7ode t t"t5e of hi peech, "La nation belge et l'Allemagne: quelques réflexions historiques", be5"e% "t a7&"t"ous content; #"re!ne< addre a"7e% hi:h. It ought to tra! ce!% the pre3a"5"!: 7ood, 9hich 9a one of 5"!:er"!: "!%":nat"on o3er Be5:"$7< pa t $ffer"!: at the ha!% of the '"5he57"ne *7p"re, coup5e% 9"th &e9"5%ere% re e!t7ent over *nte!te :over!7ent < perce"3e% "!:rat"t$%e for Be5:"$7< contr"&ut"on to the 9ar effort. #"re!!e< peech proffere% a! overarch"!: "nterpretat"on of the 9ar 1 one that deft5y brought out the part"c$5ar re5e3a!ce of Be5:"$7< part "! "t. #"re!!e def"ne% Ger7a! a::re "on 3" -=-3" other tate a!% the"r c"t">e! a ha3"!: been, at heart, a! aberrat"on ca$ ed by rac"a5" t th"!?"!:; "if the &ar&aric 7a!!er with 9hich the Ger7a! co!%$cte% the"r 7"5itary operatio! hoc? $ to%ay, later :e!erat"o! 9"55 7ar3e5 e3e! 7ore at ho9 the"r race theory le% the7 a tray". If, dur"!: the 9ar, Ger7a! author"t"e a!% Ger7a! troops ha% how! a par- t"c$5ar "%" re:ar% for p"ty a!% @$ t"ce", &5a7e 7$ t be attr"bute% A$are5y to "that theory of race , the 7ost fa5 e &$t a5 o the 7o t per!"c"ou e3er". -ccor%"!: to #"re!ne, a! "nfat$at"on 9"th Ger7an-ne a!% co!com"ta!t conte7pt for other peop5e ha% progre "3e5y encroache% upon '"5he57"ne 1. *ar5"er 3ers"o! of th" te4t 9ere pre e!te% at the "!ternat"o!a5 co!fere!ce "The 2!f"!" he% Bu "!e of 'ar a!% Re3o5$t"o!; *$rope, 181B-1818" C)&erl"! Co55e:e, ,epart7e!t of H" tory, Darch 13-14, 2008EF at the Do%ern H" tory Co55oA$"$7 of the ,epart7e!t of H" tory at the #e!! y53a!"a (tate 2!"3ers"ty (No3e7&er 3, 2008EF a!% at the Gco5e %e Ha$te Gt$%e e! (c"e!ce (oc"a5e , #ari , o! Day 1H, 2010. I tha!? 7y co55ea:$e for the"r 3ery 3a5$a&5e co77e!t , "! part"c$5ar ,rs. (tIpha!e -$%o"!-Ro$>ea$, .e! -U9e G$ette5, -5a! Jra7er, Chr" tophe #rocha o!, a!% the a!o!y7o$ re3"e9er of th" @o$rna5. If th" te4t reta"! fact$a5 errors a!% errors of "!terpretat"o!, the re po! "&"5"ty " o5e5y the a$thor< . 2. Corre po!%e!ce co!cern"!: th" art"c5e ho$5% &e a%%re e% to (oph"e ,e (chaep%ri@3er: c%10Kp $.e%$ BTNG | RBHC, XLI, 2011, 3-4, pp. 533-552 c$5ture, re!der"!: attac? upon overe":! tate conce"3a&5e to &e:"! 9"th, a!% the! @$ t"fy"!: the7 after the fact. "- peop5e< c$5t of "t o-ca55e% race con c"ousne ," he c5a"7ed, "%oom "t f"r t to 7ora5 " olat"on a!% before 5o!: to mora5 deca%ence". #"re!ne 7ade hi ca e 9"th reference to the Ger7a! "!3a "on of ne$tra5 Be5:"$7 "! -$:$ t 1914, and, pec"f"ca55y, to the e! $"!: Ger7a! %" cour e of @$ t"f"cat"o! 1 a %" cour e that ha% ought to defe!% the "!3a "on by deny- "!: the "!3ade% country a!y c5a"7 to nat"onhood, a!% he!ce, "7pl"c"t5y, a!y r":ht to overe":! tatehood. -7on: '"5he57"ne 5"terat", a chor$ of acade7"c a!% e5f-appointe% expert of a55 tr"pe ha% prompt5y for7e% to %" 7" Be5:"$7 a a! <art"f"c"a5 tate<, a @$ t5y doome% a7a5:a7 of <Lat"!< 'a55oon a!% <Ger7a!"c< 65e7"!: . Th" rhetor"c pre ent5y ca7e "! for ome arca 7; "'hat pa7phlet , 9hat &oo? , 9hat !e9 paper a!% @o$r!a5 artic5e o! th" Leitmoti3N COE ($ch %o::e%!e "! %e7o! trat"!: to $ that 9e %"% !ot e4" t!". Ha3"!: thus "7pl"c"t5y tate% the robu t e4" te!ce of <$ < 1 hi 5"?e-7"nde% a$%"ence !ee%e% no further aff"r7at"on 1 #"re!!e 9ent o! to dep"ct the "!3ader < ethn"c-e ent"a5" t per pect"3e a funda7e!ta55y f5a9ed, "nce the 7a@or"ty of Be5:"a! had, after a55, ref$ e% to counte!ance any outcome of the 9ar hort of the re torat"o! of !at"ona5 "!depende!ce. I! hi conc5$ "on, he ret$rne% once a:a"! to a :enera5 per pect"3e on "that theory of race ", e!%"!: hi peech on a !ote of r"!:"!: opt"7" 7; Ger7any' defeat "! the 9or5% 9ar pe5t the e!d of race theory and a retur! to huma!" t+3"e9 . "-!% th" , $re5y, COE " o!e of the happier re $5ts of th" 9ar 9h"ch ha co t o 7$ch &loo% a!% o 7a!y tear . 6$ture :e!eratio! 9"55 :ro9 $p "! a! atmo phere p$rifie% of !o4"o$ f$7e ." Th" fond hope+9a , howe3er, fo55o9e%+&y a ca3eat;+#"renne+%ry5y announce% that he har%5y expecte% "the ha5f-e%ucate% a!% the do:7at"c to "77e%"ate5y ope! up to the 5":ht of e3"dence" a!% that 7any, "ndeed, 9oul% cont"!$e to aff"r7 the"r be5"ef "that race deter7"!e peop5e < 7enta5"ty, 5a!:ua:e, ent"7ent a!d pote!t"a5"+C#"re!ne, 1919, 5-24, c"tat"o! 18, 16, 7, 20E. It 9a hi:hly ymbol"c that #"re!!e he5% h" peech i! the aula of that 3ery $!"3er "ty that, $!%er the pa t 7"5"tary occupat"on, ha% bee! a foc$ of the occupat"on author"t"e < 7o t concerte% effort to re%ra9 the bou!%ar"e of Be5:"$7< "7a:"ne% com7$!"t"e . The 5ar:e5y francophone 2!"3er "ty of Ghent ha% c5ose% "t %oor under the occupat"on. I! 1916, "t ha% bee! reopene% a a ,$tch-5a!:ua:e "! t"t$t"o! on order of the Ger7a! 7"5"tary author"t"e . That refor7 9a part a!% parce5 of the occupat"on re:"7e< effort L534M (. ,* (CH-*#,RI./*R to ee? fa3our 9"th the 65e7" h publ"c "! order to both e ta&5" h "t ow! 5e:"t"7acy a!% ap the &a " of the Be5:"a! tate. -5though thi "65e7" h pol"cy" CFlamenpolitikE ha% 7ade ome "nroa% "! 65e7" h 7"5"tant opi!"on, "t ha% fa"5e% to :a"! 9"de tract"on %$e to the repre "3e nat$re of the re:"7e, 9hich 9a e pec"a55y 7arke% "! hea3"5y-occupie% Ghent. - a conseque!ce, the occ$pat"on a$thor"t"e ha% turne% to a top-dow! approach a!% crac?e% dow! on re " ter . #"re!ne hi7 e5f, a e3erybody "! the a$%"ence a!% a 5ar:e part of the e%$cate% p$&5"c 9or5%9"%e ?ne9, 9a %eporte% to Ger7any "! 1916 Ctogether 9"th h" fe55ow 7e%"e3a5" t #a$5 6reder"cAE a!% he5% there unt"5 9ar< end. -fter hi return, he 9a 5"on" e% a a! e7&5e7 of nat"ona5 re " tance. H" 9or? on the 9ar, from the 1919 com7e!ce7ent peech to the 7ono:raph La Belgique et la Guerre Mondiale, pub5" he% 9"th the Car!e:"e 6oundat"on "! 1928, "!terprete% the Ger7a! occupat"on of Be5:"$7 e e!- t"a55y a a! a a$5t $pon a 5"bera5-5ea!"!: pol"ty 9"th a 3oluntar" t 3"e9 of nat"onhoo% by a! author"tar"a! re:"7e :$"de% by a "per!"c"o$ race theory", 9"th the <B": Bertha< of Flamenpolitik Chi "7"5eE a ca e "! poi!t C#"renne, 1919, 22E.3 That th" pol"cy had fa"5ed to s9ay the 5ar:er c"t">e!ry a!% that the theory underp"!!"!: "t 9a 3a!A$" hed, $nder cored, for #"re!ne, the e en- t"a55y re:re "3e and therefore doomed nature of $ch an a a$5t. Dea!9h"5e, P"re!!e< Nove7ber 1919 speech wa he5%+"!+6rench on5y, i! a c"ty 9here !one &$t the e%ucate% e5"te poke 6rench, a!% 9here, e3er "nce the -r7" t"ce, a%3ocate for 5"!:$" t"c eAua5"ty ha% bee! 3"5"f"e% a 5atter-day recr$"t of Flamenpolitik &y %"ehar% promoter of the dom"nance of 6rench i! Be5:"a! pub5"c c$5t$re.4 The e e5f- er3"!: %" tort"o! of #"re!ne< 3" "on need not deta"!+$ here, sa3e to poi!t out that they complete5y pa ed over hi core ar:$7ent re:ar%"!: the e e!t"a5 %"fference &et9ee! the pa t occ$pat"on re:"7e a!% the pre e!t, re tore% pub5"c phere.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Henri Pirenne / L
    BE-A0510_007177_006947_DUT Inventaris van het archief van Henri Pirenne / L. De Mecheleer Het Rijksarchief in België Archives de l'État en Belgique Das Staatsarchiv in Belgien State Archives in Belgium This finding aid is written in Dutch. 2 Henri Pirenne BESCHRIJVING VAN HET ARCHIEF:................................................................................7 Raadpleging en gebruik.................................................................................................8 Voorwaarden voor de raadpleging en reproductie...........................................................8 Taal....................................................................................................................................8 Toegangen.........................................................................................................................8 Geschiedenis van archiefvormer en archief...................................................................9 Archiefvormer...................................................................................................................9 Naam.............................................................................................................................9 Biografie........................................................................................................................9 Archief..............................................................................................................................11 Geschiedenis...............................................................................................................11
    [Show full text]
  • Pirenne and Fredericq Historiographical Ambitions Around 1900
    Pirenne and Frederic Hi!"#ri#$rap%ica& am(i"i#n! ar#)nd 1900 *+ T+LL,B,,-1 ................................ Pr#/e!!#r #/ Cu&")ra& Hi!"#ry 1 2ni3ersi"0 #/ Le)3en Henri Pirenne and Pa)& Frederic 4ere 3er0 c&#!e acquaintance! /#r /or"0 0ear!.2 T%e "4# 'en'! acade'ic career! !"ar"ed a" 3ir"ua&&0 "he !a'e "i'e. 7/"er a career a! a "eac%er, a" "%e a$e #/ 8)!" 29, Frederic $ained %i! appoin"'ent in 1879 a! e:"raordinar0 pr#/e!!#r ;and a! ordinar0 pr#/e!!#r /r#' 1882) a" "he uni3er!i"0 #/ Li=$e, 4here %i! d)"ie! inc&uded "eac%ing >)"c% &i"era")re, conte'porar0 hi!"#r0 and "he hi!"#r0 #/ Be&$i)' and 4here he 8oined hi! #&d /riend /r#' !"udent da0!, Gode/r#id -)r"%.3 7'on$ %i! !"udent! 4a! Pirenne, hi! 8unior (0 12 0ear!, 4%# had arri3ed in Li=$e in 1880.4 In 1883, Frederic recei3ed an appoint'ent in Ghent, a$ain /or a c#'bina"ion #/ &i"erar0-hi!"orica& and hi!"#rica& !)(8ec"!.? Pirenne5! career !"ar"ed another "4#60ear!6&a"er in Li=$e, where he64a! entr)!"ed wi"%6"eaching pa&ae#$raphy and dipl#'a"ic! in 1885. 7 0ear &a"er, he 8oined Frederic in Ghent, /ir!" a! an e:"raordinar0 pr#/e!!or, "%en a! an ordinar0 pr#/e!!#r /r#' 1889. T%i! occ)rred 4i"% Frederic 5! !uppor", a&"%#)$% i" 4a! a&!# acc#'pa- nied (0 a di!pu"e be"4een "he "4# re$arding "he di3i!ion #/ "eac%ing dutie! ;L0on, 1974, 71-78).
    [Show full text]
  • Paul Mansion and the Scientific Approach of Randomness Laurent Mazliak
    What would be Belgium without probability and probability without Belgium ? Paul Mansion and the scientific approach of randomness Laurent Mazliak To cite this version: Laurent Mazliak. What would be Belgium without probability and probability without Belgium ? Paul Mansion and the scientific approach of randomness. 2019. hal-02044340 HAL Id: hal-02044340 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02044340 Preprint submitted on 21 Feb 2019 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. 1 What would be Belgium without probability and probability without Belgium ? Paul Mansion and the scientific approach of randomness 1 Laurent Mazliak Abstract The present paper studies how the Belgian mathematician Paul Mansion became interested in probability theory. The Belgian mathematical environment, in which probability was present more than in many other countries at the same time appears to have been favorable but also the fact that Mansion, a declared and militant Catholic, found in probability a source of reflection about determinism and randomness in the context of the “modernist crisis” in the Church. Mansion’s activity developed on the background of the scholar wars and the foundation of Catholic institutions such as the Institute for philosophy in Louvain, of the consolidation of mathematical education in Belgium as well as of a new interest for probabilistic results in science.
    [Show full text]
  • PIRENNE EN FREDERICQ Over Historiografische Ambities Omstreeks 1900
    PIRENNE EN FREDERICQ Over historiografische ambities omstreeks 1900 Jo Tollebeek Henri Pirenne en Paul Fredericq hebben elkaar veertig jaar lang van zeer nabij gekend. 1 Hun beider academische carriere startte haast gelijktijdig. Fredericq werd, na een loopbaan als leraar, in 1879 op amper negentwintigjarige leeftijd buitengewoon (vanaf 1882 gewoon) hoogleraar aan de Luikse Rijksuniversiteit, waar hij onder meer met het onderwijs in de Nederlandse letterkunde, de hedendaagse geschiedenis en de geschiedenis van Belgie werd belast en waar hij zijn oude studievriend Godefroid Kurth opnieuw vervoegde.2 Onder zijn studenten bevond zich ook de twaalf jaar jongere Pirenne, die in 1880 in Luik arriveerde.3 In 1883 werd Fredericq benoemd in Gent, opnieuw voor een com­ binatie van literair-historische en historische vakken.4 Nog eens twee jaar later startte de carriere van Pirenne in Luik, waar hem in 1885 het onderwijs in de paleografie en de oorkondenleer werd toegewezen. Een jaar lateral vervoegde hij Fredericq in Gent, eerst als buitengewoon, vanaf 1889 als gewoon hoogle­ raar. Dat gebeurde overigens met de steun van Fredericq, maar ging ook gepaard met een conflict tussen heiden over de verdeling van de leeropdrach­ ten.5 Zo hadden in amper achtjaar tijd, tussen 1879 en 1886, zowel Fredericq als Pirenne de zo begeerde universitaire positie gekregen, in beide gevallen eerst in Luik, daarna in Gent. Voor biografische gegevens over Pirenne: B. Lyon, Henri Pirenne. A biogra­ phical and intellectual study (Gent 1974) en de portretten van B. Ebels-Hoving, 'Henri Pirenne (1862-1935)', in: A.H. Huussenjr., E.H. Kossmann en H. Renner ed., Historici van de twintigste eeuw (Utrecht- Antwerpen- Amsterdam 1981) 26-40 en M.
    [Show full text]
  • Zaalteksten En.Indd
    city and university since 1817 ENgallery texts downloadable from www.stamgent.be please drop me in the box as you leave city and since 1817 university October 9th 1817 saw the ceremonious opening of the university in Ghent. Since that day back in 1817 the university has become firmly embedded in the city and is now an unmissable part of the street­ scape. Students live here, hurry by bicycle from one building to another and also take advantage of the university city’s vibrant nightlife. Campuses are expanding and a fourth tower has appeared on the skyline, the Book Tower. The exhibition looks back at the inter­ action between city and university over the last 200 years. It also looks to the future. ‘City and University. Since 1817’ is a STAM exhibition about the university, the city and above all about their coexistence — yesterday, today and tomorrow. 2 1 ] a university The Belgian Revolution in August for ghent 1830 was the start of a chaotic period. Two of the four faculties In 1817 Ghent acquired were scrapped and Orangist Ghent a university. At the time Ghent feared for its university. The uncer­ — like the rest of what is tainty came to an end in Septem­ today Belgium — was part ber 1835: Ghent would retain of the United Kingdom its university, with four faculties. of the Netherlands. In 1815, at the beginning of 1.01 ] The early days the newly created United Kingdom of the university of the Netherlands, education in the south was in a sorry state, On November 3rd 1817 classes having been badly neglected.
    [Show full text]
  • Henri Pirenne
    bmgn - Low Countries Historical Review | Volume 131-4 (2016) | pp. 71-92 Henri Pirenne Historian and Man of the World sarah keymeulen 71 Henri Pirenne (1862-1935) is generally recognised as one of the most influential European historians of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century. The combination of his scholarly activity with the social mission that he set himself earned him an extraordinarily successful career and a double reputation: at least in Belgium, he was regarded not only as a ‘father of history’, but also as great citizen. Although his influence was unmistakably large, there is no consensus about the existence or the nature of a ‘Pirennian persona’. He combined the ideal collection of skills, values and standards required of historians with very specific personal characteristics. At the same time he was inextricably linked to a certain era and a certain Belgium that died with him. Pirenne therefore, did not so much represent a new type of scientific persona as the prestige of an idealised, long-vanished Belgium and its corresponding academic culture. Henri Pirenne. Historicus en man van de wereld Henri Pirenne (1862-1935) wordt beschouwd als één van de meest invloedrijke Europese geschiedschrijvers van de laatnegentiende en vroegtwintigste eeuw. Het verband tussen zijn wetenschappelijke activiteit en de maatschappelijke taak die hij voor zichzelf zag weggelegd, leverde hem een uitzonderlijk succesvolle carrière en een dubbele reputatie op. Pirenne staat, althans in België, immers niet alleen geboekstaafd als een ‘vader van de geschiedenis’, maar ook als een groot staatsburger. Hoewel de invloed van Pirenne onmiskenbaar groot is geweest, is er geen consensus over het bestaan of de aard van een ‘Pirenniaanse persona’.
    [Show full text]
  • First Thesis: the Construction of Pirenne As a Prominent Historian and As
    “CECI N'EST PAS UN HISTORIEN”. CONSTRUCTION AND DECONSTRUCTION OF HENRI PIRENNE Walter Prevenier Ghent University The first ambition of this article is to find out which type of professional approach and which form of socializing Henri Pirenne was supposed to have constructed in order to become one of the greatest scientists of his generation and a succesfull societyman. My second question is: did he himself, or did his contemporaries, construct that icon? First thesis: the construction of Pirenne as a prominent historian and as the “founding father” of the Ghent historical school is a perfect example of a succesfull mythologization The American historian Gray Boyce (1940, 449-64), from Berkeley, a student of Pirenne in the 1920’s, conferred the paternity of the Ghent school international brilliance in his study on “The Legacy of Henri Pirenne” from 1941. In fact he corroborated a format and an image that had been constructed by Pirenne’s students and colleagues in the “laudationes” on occasion of each of the honorary meetings, from 1926 on1. A strong symptom of the aim of defining Pirenne as their iconic father is the collective oath by all his alumni at Pirenne’s funeral in 1935 to prepare a “liber alumnorum” and two solid volumes of “hommages” and memories2, but, even more importantly, to reject firmly the edition of a similar “liber” for themselves in the future, a decision that most of these alumni indeed respected. Hans Van Werveke, however, remembered in 1966 that Pirenne’s paternity of the Ghent school was not the original concept. In the years 1880 it was a common opinion that Paul Fredericq had the ambition to become the numero uno in 1 Mélanges d'histoire offerts à Henri Pirenne (1926).
    [Show full text]
  • Commemorative Practices in the Humanities Around 1900*
    Advances in Historical Studies, 2015, 4, 216-231 Published Online June 2015 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ahs http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ahs.2015.43017 Commemorative Practices in the Humanities * around 1900 Jo Tollebeek Faculty of Arts, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium Email: [email protected] Received 27 May 2015; accepted 27 June 2015; published 30 June 2015 Copyright © 2015 by author and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution International License (CC BY). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Abstract Around 1900, the humanities underwent a metamorphosis which led to the emergence of modern disciplines. This transformation was accompanied by another process, the building of scientific communities. The central question addressed in this essay was how these new disciplinary com- munities in the humanities were strengthened by commemorative practices. Those practices could be highly diverse, ranging from the dedication of a book and the circulation and collection of photographs to the organisation of tribute events, attending of funerals and writing of obituaries. The forms that these practices could take were mapped out in this essay using material drawn from the archives of three prominent (literary) historians from Belgium and the Netherlands: Paul Fredericq, Robert Fruin and Jan te Winkel. Keywords Discipline-Formation, Community-Building, Collective Memory, Commemorative Practices, Academic Remembrance Culture 1. Introduction The practitioners of the humanities today are still striving to fulfil the role acquired by their disciplines in the *A first draft of this article was presented at the workshop ‘Disciplining Mind and Body: Virtues and Practices of the Modern Humanities’, Roskilde University (Denmark), 14 September 2012.
    [Show full text]
  • The Practice of Philology in the Nineteenth-Century Netherlands
    HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND SCHOLARSHIP IN THE NETHERLANDS HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND SCHOLARSHIP IN THE NETHERLANDS Edited by Van Kalmthout & Zuidervaart Van by Edited This volume offers a new perspective on the development of philology in Dutch scholarly culture of the nineteenth century. Until that period, this field of the humanities had far reaching implications on disciplines such as theology, chronology, astronomy, history, law and other domains of knowledge. Several fundamental changes occurred during the nineteenth century. Texts in the vernacular and national perspectives attracted attention; comparative approaches were introduced and several subfields grew into more-or-less independent (sub)disciplines in the humanities. This complex, but fascinating process of differentiation, specialization and professionalization redesigned the landscape of philology radically. Ton van Kalmthout and Huib Zuidervaart are senior researchers at the Huygens Institute of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Science in The Hague. Nineteenth-Century Netherlands in the of Philology Practice The Edited by Ton van Kalmthout & Huib Zuidervaart The Practice of Philology in the Nineteenth-Century Netherlands ISBN: 978-90-8964-591-3 AUP.nl 9 789089 645913 The Practice of Philology in the Nineteenth-Century Netherlands History of Science and Scholarship in the Netherlands, volume 14 The series History of Science and Scholarship in the Netherlands presents studies on a variety of subjects in the history of science, scholarship and academic institutions in the Netherlands. Titles in this series 1. Rienk Vermij, The Calvinist Copernicans. The reception of the new astronomy in the Dutch Republic, 1575-1750, 2002, isbn 90-6984-340-4 2. Gerhard Wiesenfeldt, Leerer Raum in Minervas Haus.
    [Show full text]
  • Exchange Student Guide
    Exchange student guide A practical guide for Exchange Students at Ghent University Universiteit Gent / Ghent University Member Ghent University Association Academic year 2007-2008 Department of Educational Affairs International Relations Office Exchange Student Guide http://www.international.UGent.be Dear exchange student, I am very glad to have the opportunity of welcoming you to Ghent University. Whether you are staying for a short period or a full-year programme as an exchange student, I hope your experience at our University and in the city of Ghent will be both happy and intellectually fulfilling. When you first arrive in Ghent, you may feel that your new environment is going to take some time getting used to. The Exchange Student Guide is intended to help you with that practical process. It gives you basic ‘survival’ information about the subjects listed hereafter. So please read the guide carefully before you leave home and keep it ready at hand after you arrive in Ghent to help ease the strains of settling in. I sincerely believe that you will be fully satisfied with the academic quality of the University, and also with the way of life in Ghent. The university offers a full academic pro- gramme, while the city provides numerous social, cultural and tourist activities. I wish you an exciting and rewarding stay. Should any problems arise in the course of it, please do not hesitate to contact the International Relations Office. Prof. dr. Paul Van Cauwenberge Rector Universiteit Gent 2 0 0 7 – 2 0 0 8 Table of Contents 1. Ghent University 7 1.1.
    [Show full text]
  • Fathers of History: Metamorphoses of a Metaphor
    251-267-Her Paul (n. 59-60):251-267-Her Paul (n. 59-60) 8-08-2011 15:26 Pagina 251 Storia della Storiografia, 59-60 (2011): 251-267 FATHERS OF HISTORY: METAMORPHOSES OF A METAPHOR Herman Paul ABSTRACT Like all figurative language, father of history metaphors can be analyzed in various ways. Whereas historians of science often focus on the functions performed by “fathers” of a discipline – more concretely, on the legitimization of scholarly practices through mythic genealogies – this article studies the meanings attributed to historians honored as fathers of history. In particular, it focuses on intentional meaning, that is, on meanings those employing the metaphor sought to convey. Focusing, then, on four historians honored as “fathers of history,” I examine how the metaphor meant different things to different historians and underwent a number of significant metamorphoses between the sixteenth and the twentieth centuries. While granting that father figures helped legitimate scholarly practices of various kinds, I try to show that “father of history” has been a particularly rich metaphor, able to be adapted to different situations. Contributing, along these lines, to a historicization of the father of history metaphor, I conclude by commenting on the striking fact that many historians nowadays try to avoid genealogical language in their reflections on the discipline’s past. If this suggests that many historians no longer regard the father metaphor as meaningful, I argue that historians nonetheless still legitimize their work under reference to their predecessors, thereby reiterating one of the functions traditionally performed by the father of history metaphor. When Robert Fruin in 1894 retired from his professorship at Leiden University, in the Netherlands, he was honored as “the father of modern Dutch historiography”1.
    [Show full text]
  • J. Tollebeek (N
    J. Tollebeek (n. 53) 7-05-2008 8:58 Pagina 59 Storia della Storiografia, 53 (2008): 59-73 A STORMY FAMILY. PAUL FREDERICQ AND THE FORMATION OF AN ACADEMIC HISTORICAL COMMUNITY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY* Jo Tollebeek The transformation into a science of historiography in the (late) nineteenth century and the associated ‘academicization’ and ‘professionalization’ are often described in historiography as the result of the success of a ‘disciplinary creed’. Historical writing, as it became clear, then acquired a standardised ‘method’ which united all historians and distinguished the new science both from other sciences and from amateur historiography. This method was codified in treatises such as the Introduction aux études historiques (1898) by Langlois and Seignobos1. Much less attention has been devoted to the daily practices in which the new historical science took shape and which made it so different from the former, ‘spectacular’ historiography. These daily practices – reading, taking notes, corresponding, maintaining academic friendships, exchanging material, correcting proofs – not only involved all kinds of epistemological notions and procedures, but were also interwoven with ethical values and standards which were just as rarely made explicit. This complex praxis needs to be mapped out more extensively. In this essay, the focus will be on the staff of the new historical science and the way in which an academic historical community was formed. This staff consisted not only of professors («either bureaucrats or satraps in an academic empire», said Jacob Burckhardt)2. There were also the librarians, the archivists and – in the archives – the copyists, the professional ‘writers’ who produced correct copies of archival documents, for payment, on behalf of visitors, some of whom were foreign (in 1829 Leopold von Ranke was accompanied every morning by his permanent Schreiber to the Palazzo Barberini in Rome)3.
    [Show full text]