KNHG

From August 18 through August 20 K.U.Leuven will host the conference ‘Longing for the Present. The History of History Education and the Temptations of Modernity (1600-2000)’.
History education will relate to the modern age – or there will be no history education: this appears to be the rule for most Western societies. In the humanistic educational tradition, the past served to present pupils with concrete exempla for decent behaviour in contemporary society. And ever since history became a separate subject in secondary education in most European countries, from the late 18th century onwards, the present has functioned as a form of social security for history education. The history lesson is supposed to guard against errors from the past and offer insight into the attainments of contemporary society. But does the present also throw sand in the eyes of educational historians? The longing for up-to-date history education is so powerful that it seems to colour historians’ views. They do not always succeed in placing this longing in a historical perspective. Did enlightenment thinkers have in mind the same sort of focus on the present as the architects of the nationally organised history education of the late nineteenth century, for example? Or how have the two world wars affected the longing for modern history education in the twentieth century? And has the period since the 1960s seen unprecedented use of history education to serve the needs of contemporary, post-colonial democracy? How has each of these longings been translated into a specific, time-related history education?

The 21st International Congress of Historical Sciences will be held in Amsterdam from August 22 through August 28.
The Congress is jointly organized by the Netherlands National Committee, Koninklijk Nederlands Historisch Genootschap (KNHG), the University of Amsterdam (UvA), the National library of the Netherlands (KB) and the International Institute of Social History (IISH).
The International Congress of Historical Sciences takes place every 5 years. This Congress provides an ideal venue for extensive reports, papers, debates, exchanges and meetings reflecting historical research in action. It is the meeting place for the global community of historians.
The Congress’ themes were adopted by the General Assembly of the CISH of 2007. In 2006 the Secretary General issued a call for theme/session proposals.

From August 23 through August 27 Utrecht University will host the 29th annual conference of the European Society of the History of Human Sciences (ESHHS).