International Conference

FACULTY OF HISTORY AND ARTS

Erasmus University Rotterdam

in collobaration with Utrecht University (OGC),

Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)

and

the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW)

BEYOND THE CANON

HISTORY FOR THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

at  the Rotterdam Historical Museum and Municipal Archive Rotterdam

June, 16-17 2005

Brief outline of conference theme

Although it would be exaggerated to proclaim the end of the nation in the near future, it cannot be denied that nations have become porous and contested. Consequentially, the practices of cultural transmission and education based upon them have likewise become precarious. After a half-century of de-colonization, migration and post-coloniality, feminism and the gendering of historical discourse, the received canon of national history and political thought no longer commands the 'natural authority' it once possessed.

Even so, we have to confront the paradox that, despite the vast amount of criticism leveled at it, the canon is still being recycled over and over again in textbooks and publications aimed at a broader public. Educators and public moralists frequently recommend the canon as the only alternative to the postmodernist maze of relativism and contingency.

This conference sets out to discuss various dimensions of this paradox of de-canonization, such as equality and the Enlightenment, gender, post-coloniality and migration, situating them in the shifting balance of national, European and World History. It will investigate the feasibility of revised, multiform and more open 'canons', and the role they might play in cultural transmission in the twenty-first century.

PROGRAM

Thursday June, 16

09.00 Registration participants conference

09.45 Welcoming remarks, dean of the faculty prof.dr. Max Sparreboom

10.00 Title session Do We Need a Canon to Frame our Histories?

chair dr. Ed Jonker (the Netherlands UU)

prof.dr. Maria Grever (the Netherlands EUR), Beyond the canon. What remains of history

prof.dr. Peter Seixas (Canada UBC Vancouver), Who needs a canon?

Discussion

11.30 tea/coffee

11.45 Title session Postcolonial History and the Deconstruction of National Narratives

chair prof.dr. Susan Legêne (the Netherlands UvA)

prof.dr. Udah Singh Mehta (USA), In/exclusion of colonial history in the liberal narrative of the nation

prof.dr. Alex van Stipriaan Luïscius (the Netherlands EUR), Disrupting the national canon: perspectives of the Caribbean

Discussion

LUNCH 13.15-14.15

14.15 Title session Enlightenment, Equality, and Modernity's Multiple Histories

chair prof.dr. Wijnand Mijnhardt (the Netherlands UU)

prof.dr. Siep Stuurman (EUR), Equality and the inclusion of other voices in history

prof.dr. Kirstie McClure (USA UCLA), John Locke, anti-Whig history: can you still teach that?

Discussion

15.45 tea/coffee

16.00 dr. Bettina Alavi, Teaching history in a multicultural world (Germany)

(not yet confirmed)

16.30 prof.dr. James Wertsch (USA), Epilogue (not yet confirmed)

Discussion

18.00 Buffet dinner for the speakers and organizers

Friday June, 17

09.30 Title session Return of the Canon: Citizenship and Identity

chair prof.dr. Peter Seixas (Vancouver)

Dr. Ed Jonker (the Netherlands UU), Balancing Acts: Humanities between Intellectual Integrity

Dr. Hendrik Henrichs (the Netherlands UU), Traces or Relics? Heritage and Historical Museums between Critical Knowledge and Political Correctness

Discussion

11.00 coffee/tea

11.15 Title session Gendering the Canon / Canonizing Gender?

chair prof.dr. Susan Legêne

dr. Karen Offen (USA Stanford University), Making an International Museum of Women: a counter canon?

dr. Berteke Waaldijk (the Netherlands UvA), Deconstructing the canon: visualising gender and the colonies

Discussion

12.45-13.45 LUNCH

14.00 Title session Comparing National Canons and the Teaching of History

chair prof.dr. Maria Grever (EUR)

dr. Kees Ribbens (the Netherlands EUR), Comparing history teaching across national borders

prof.dr. Christine Counsell (UK Cambridge), Teaching history in the UK

Discussion

15.30 tea/coffee

15.45 Title session Paradoxes of De-Canonization in History: The Nation, Europe and the World

chair prof.dr. Siep Stuurman (EUR)

Joke van der Leeuw (EUROCLIO), The enlargement of Europe and the canon in history

prof.dr. Wijnand Mijnhardt (UU), The uselessness of history

prof.dr. Peter Lee (UK), From National Canon to Historical Literacy: Understanding, Orientation and Usable historical frameworks

Discussion and final debate

17.45 Closing of the conference and drinks for all participants