Summer Seminar 2017, August 21-23
‘What the Humanities Contribute to the University’

Expanding our horizons: History and the Thinkable

Maartje Janse
Leiden University, Netherlands


Abstract

What is the value of history for the university and society at large? Based on her research of the first large-scale social movements in the nineteenth century, Maartje Janse will explore the way historical (and other) knowledge can shape people’s expectations and actions, thereby influencing the course of history itself. History can produce self-fulfilling prophecies. At the same time it will always suggest alternative explanations and trajectories, as it expands what is thinkable for scholars and citizens alike.

Brief bio

Maartje Janse is lecturer of History at Leiden University. Her research focuses on popular participation in politics in Europe and the United States in the 19th century. Her publications include books and articles on topics such as the origins and political implications of reform movements; abolitionism as a transnational phenomenon; and the development of protest repertoires. She has held visiting fellowships at Harvard and at the Netherlands Institute of Advanced Study and coordinates the Global Abolitionisms Network.


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