Narrative and Narratology in Pre-modern Historiography, Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, November 3–4, 2022
The aim of this workshop is to bring together PhD students and early career scholars who work with issues of narrative and narratology in pre-modern historiography. We wish to share and discuss different approaches, examine theories and methodologies, and – above all – encourage dialogue between students and scholars working on different periods and different cultures, from antiquity onwards and beyond. Questions and topics could include, but are in no way limited to:
- How should we approach issues of factuality and fictionality in historiography?
- How can postclassical narratology be useful for the study of historiography?
- To what extent are concepts such as worldmaking, possible worlds, and storyworlds useful for the study of historiography?
- How can narratology help us explore power dynamics, subalternity, and minor characters in historiography?
- How do historians negotiate the conflicting demands of teleology and experientiality?
The workshop format is designed to facilitate interaction between the participants, especially that between senior and junior scholars. The 2-day workshop will have ca 12 participants, who will be asked to pre-circulate their papers; at the workshop, short introductions by the authors (15 minutes) will be followed by responses from designated discussants (10 minutes) and a general discussion. The workshop will close with a roundtable discussion introduced by Eva von Contzen, Jonas Grethlein, and Karin Kukkonen.
Convenors: Aske Damtoft Poulsen, Matthew Kinloch, Ingela Nilsson