B. Trencsényi, M. Kopeček (eds), Discourses of collective identity in central and southeast europe

Tamás Scheibner

pp. 245-247

in: Tamás Demeter (ed), Trends and traditions of intellectual history writing, Studies in East European Thought 62 (2), 2010.

Abstract

The 2005 failure of a European ‘Constitution’, one might say, served as a catalyst for academics and public intellectuals dealing with European history. The issues ‘what is it to be European?’, ‘where are the borders of Europe?’, and ‘how can one speak of a common history and culture in such a diverse region?’ were raised again, and considerable efforts have already been made for building a common European historical framework. However, such an endeavor requires a serious revision of long established methods of historiography: the current lively dialogue between comparative, and entangled or transnational history is closely linked to this process of rethinking European history. Further, there are more and more intellectual and historiographical forums that address the necessity of including also the historical experiences of Eastern Europe in this planned common framework, and not only as illustration or as some exotic curiosity, but in a way that challenges the long-standing Western...