What is EuropeDebate?
Between the persistence of methodological nationalism on the one and the rise of global history on the other side: What are European history’s contributions to understanding the past – and the present? In what ways has the field developed within the last decade in research institutions all over Europe? What are its challenges at present, and what critical themes can be raised within the near future? Such questions, surprisingly, have never been discussed between historians from all parts of Europe, and only to an even more limited extent beyond its borders.
EuropeDebate aims to provide a platform for a new dialogue about European history. We have invited contributors from a wide range of European historiographies to comment upon both the present state and future avenues in the field. Based on the observation that challenges vary according to historical epochs, we have decided to focus the debate on contemporary European history in a broad sense.
EuropeDebate brings a wide geographical breadth to the debate about European history, as we are convinced that the place from which history is written matters. Institutional structures, national publics and political contexts in European societies shape the way historians conceive of and do European history. We have thus invited participants whose work is shaped by different historiographical contexts, who have experiences with different institutional structures, and whose research interacts with different national historiographies.
EuropeDebate is an ongoing project. Readers are welcome to comment upon the articles on Twitter. The participants of the first round (fall 2020) have written their contributions largely in parallel. On March 15, 2021, the second round of our debate started, with new contributors from a wide range of geographical, historiographical and institutional contexts. Participants in this second were able to react and comment upon earlier contributions – and many of them did so – at the same time they introduce a wide range of new arguments and perspectives.
In 2020 and 2021, we focused on bringing together a plurality of perspectives from various parts of Europe. In 2022, contributions focus on doing European history from beyond Europe and on Europe’s entanglements with the ‘globe’. Furthermore, we have introduced the ‚Forum‘ as a new category of EuropeDebate, offering a space for a variety of new contributions that engage with EuropeDebate’s aims, with the questions raised in the debate so far. The ‚Forum‘ thus broadens EuropeDebate‘s horizon and offers more flexibility for including new perspectives and arguments.