Reading Workshop

Syllabus: Summer semester 2020

• 14.05.2020 - The History of Everyday Life – Lüdtke, Alf: The History of Everyday Life, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995, pp. 3-40.

• 28.05.2020 - Post-History – Hartog, Francois: Regimes of Historicity. Presentism and Experiences of Time, New York, NY: Columbia University Press 2015, pp.xiii-xix/. Anderson, Jenny: The Future of the World: Futurology, Futurists, and the Struggle for the Post Cold War Imagination, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018 pp. 14-29. 

• 11.06.2020 - Carl Schmitt - Schmitt, Carl: The concept of the political; translation, introduction and notes by Georg Schwab, foreword by Tracy B. Strong, Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1996 (orig. 1932).

• 25.06.2020 - Quo Vadis Microstoria? - Ginzburg, Carlo/Poni, Carlo: Il Nome e Il Come:  Scambio Ineguale e Mercato Storiografico, in: Quaderni Storici 40 (1979), pp.181-190./Ginzburg, Carlo: Microhistory: Two or Three Things I know about it, in: Critical Inquiry 20 (1993), pp. 10-35.

• 09.07.2020 - Historicizing Trauma - Young, Allen: The Harmony of Illusions: Inventing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Princeton: Princeton University Press 1995.

FAQ

As we often get the same questions regarding the Reading Workshop, we decided to collect them here, maybe you can find the answer to your question among them. 

Do I have to study in Berlin to take part? - Absolutely not! Our Reading Workshop is Berlin-based, but everybody willing to join can do so any time. However, you will need a Moodle-Account to access the readings and get notifications on availability of texts, forums et cetera. Once you're logged in look for "Reading Workshop History and Theory", enter "BucketList" for the password (spelled exactly like this), and you're good to go!  

Do I have to study history to join the sessions? - Absolutely not! We strongly believe in the need for interdisciplinary approaches in the discipline. Although we're all history students, the texts we discuss are often written by academics from other disciplines, such as sociology, anthropology, philosophy, ethnology, literature studies and many more. An interest (and a tolerance for the way historians think and operate) is advised. 

Where and when do the sessions take place? - Sessions take place every second Thursday, from 6.00 pm to 7.30 pm on Zoom. Participants will receive a link to the meetings before each session, so please check your emails before joining sessions (information valid for the summer semester 2020).

Where and when can I suggest texts for the syllabus? - In the first session, everyone willing can present suggestions for this semester's syllabus, upon which we'll vote afterwards. If you'd like others to see your suggestions before, you can also post them in a forum we created on Moodle (it should be accessible from the landing page of the Reading Workshop on Moodle).

Can I suggest any text? - As long you think that the text has some applicability to or relevance for the discipline of history, you're welcome to pitch your text! However, please make sure that your text is available in English, and that you will be able to provide a digital copy of the text. Furthermore, we ask you to limit the reading for the session to 30 pages if possible. Don't just let people read the whole book, a choice of chapters will do. After all, this is an uncredited course, and we have all also other things to do. 

How are the sessions structured? - We usually begin with a short introduction of the text we are reading every week. This is done by the person who suggested the text. The sessions are then followed by an open discussion. Now, if you have had any online classes so far, you probably realised that discussions via video chats follow different rules than discussions in real life. After some consideration, we decided that our sessions we will go with a moderator every session. If you would like to say something, just write that in the livechat, the moderator will then add you to the speaking list. Now, we all know that this code of conduct doesn't really allow for interventions, reactions and additions. Thus, the moderator will also give the possibility for impromptu statements of any sort. 

Do I have to prepare anything in advance? - The Reading workshop is supposed to be a forum for discussion. Thus, please come with the texts prepared for each session if you'd like to participate. In case you're the one who suggested the text we are discussing, please come to the session! We also ask those who suggest a text to give a short presentation of text and author. However, there are no rules for that, and we usually also do some research ourselves to assist those presenting (not guaranteed though, that also depends on our workload).

Where do I find the readings?  All our readings will be made available via the Humboldt-University's E-Learning platform Moodle (https://moodle.hu-berlin.de/login/index.php). If you study at the HU, you should already be familiar with that platform. However, you can still access Moodle, even if you don't study at the Humboldt-University. In case your university is using a different platform, you can still access our texts. There are two ways to do so: 

•  Either, you can create a guest account on moodle. On the log-in page, just scroll down to "Create New Account", at the very bottom of the page. The next page will walk you through all the necessary steps to set up your account. Once you've managed to get your HU-Account, go to "Search Courses" in the top bar, select "Quick Search", look for "Reading Workshop History and Theory", enter "BucketList" for the password (spelled exactly like this), and you're good to go!  

• In case you don't want to have another account, you can also access our courses as a guest without an HU-Moodle-Account. Again, on the log-in page go to "Log in as a guest". So far so good, but instead of creating your own account, you can also look for "Reading Workshop History and Theory" with the search bar on the next page. The page will then take you to the enrolment of our course. At the very bottom, you'll see "Guest access". Enter "BucketList" for the password (spelled exactly like this), and you're good to go as well. However, this way of accessing moodle will give you only limited options, e.g. you won't be able to post on our forums or etherpads. 

Do I have to come to every session? - We'd love to see you every time, but you obviously don't have to come to every session. If you can't make it  (or just can't stand an author in particular), we totally understand. 

Can I bring others along as well? - Of course, the more the merrier! Just tell them to write us an email and we'll add them to the mailing list in a second, you won't even be able to spell "deconstructivist" in time.

If your question was not included in any of the above, feel free to contact us!