Overview

Since its founding in 1921, the Institute of Historical Research (IHR) at the University of London has seen students and teachers come together, socially and intellectually, to engage in lively academic seminars. But for what purpose and with what value? Talking History provides a defence of the seminar as a central element in historians’ teaching, research and sense of community. Covering a range of the IHR’s long-running seminar series, the book presents the seminars as a local, national and international hub for scholarship that emerges from and is sustained by the ongoing learning practices of historians as scholars and people. It bears witness to a seminar culture of evolving, multifarious synergies between teaching, researching and learning, historiography and participation – intertextual, interpersonal, intergenerational and intercultural. Viewed as such, the seminars constitute a living tradition, stimulating and incorporating dynamic change over time to contribute not just to the development of historiography but to intellectual life more generally, often in conversation with major political events and cultural phenomena. This original and significant book delivers fresh insight into the evolution of historical research and its role in wider society today.

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9781915249043

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Reviews

‘Together, the contributors to this excellent book trace the evolution of the IHR's seminars across a hundred years, describe and evoke the ‘seminar culture’ that has always been so vivid and vital part of its purpose and mission, and candidly recognize the challenges that such a ‘seminar culture’ faces today. This is a very timely and very important work.’ — David Cannadine, President of the British Academy (2017–21) and Director of the Institute of Historical Research, University of London (1998–2003) ‘All historians, no matter what their career stage or area of research, will be enriched and stimulated by reading a volume that shows how historical topics arise and shift alongside the composition of the profession, its political and economic contexts and social conventions. The authors offer a distinctive perspective on both history and historiography. Historians have to start from their own times: Talking History helps us understand the past of our field; it offers inspiration and hope for the future.’ — Ludmilla Jordanova, Emeritus Professor of History and Visual Culture at Durham University, UK. Author of History in Practice (3rd edition, 2019)

Author Information

David Manning is a historian at the University of Leicester, UK. His expertise pertains to the history of Christian thought and culture in Britain and the wider English-speaking world, c.1600–c.1800, and the history of historiography.

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