1st INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR REGIONAL HISTORY CONFERENCE
ISRH WEBINAR, 21-22 SEPTEMBER 2023
The new regional history focuses on obscured points in traditional historiography. A growing number of scholars in the humanities and social sciences have turned their attention to space as a means of understanding historical processes. History-oriented scholars have deliberately included such terms as “region”, “space” and “territory” into the focus of historiography, too. There are many different interpretations of regional history in literature, today. The old regional histories under the German label Landesgeschichte and the history of Heimat still have lively traditions. Equally so the regional studies activities in the United Kingdom since the mid-20th century. Its historiography, globally viewed, still requires a more robust and clearer direction.
Many regional scientists define regions as a level between local and national. This conception has also been adopted by some historians. The new regionalism has given new importance to the histories of areas. Much attention has been given to the territories that cross state (demarcated) borders, ethnologic borders, and linguistic borders. Such phenomena as divided cities, the economic and cultural micro-regions, and the contemporary history of so-called potential states can be studied under the label of regional history. A border can also have mental nature. Such themes as immigration, linguistic minorities, and the multifaceted sense of belonging to a place and community can be interesting themes from a historical perspective. Regional history may study artificial regions too: that may never have had a historical identity but could still be reasonably restricted by some meaningful research criteria. An entirely different meaning for regional history has been developed in the research of international macro-regions. Such phenomena as globalisation and international business draw attention to the level of continents and free trade areas. This concept is commonly used by economic historians and globalisation researchers. The first ISRH Webinar “Regions from a historical perspective” will present (introduce) the broad variation in regional history. All contributions that connect temporality to any kind of regional body are welcome.
Sub-themes:
- Transnational regions / Regionalism and History
- Historical constructions of regions
- Social History and regions
- Regional cultures in History
- Regional history and economic development
- The regional local histories
- Identity and regions
- Ethnicity
- Gender in regional history contexts
- Cross border regions