Who is permitted to speak about the past? Public debates concerning the past and the predominance of a presentist optic, the very essence of historical knowledge finds itself at the center of intellectual polemics. Digitalisation, globalisation, and shifting cultural paradigms lead to a clash of different modes of perceiving time, calling into question classical models of historical representation and demanding reflection on which narratives about the past are possible today, and which are not.
The key problem upon which the section focuses in lies in the fundamental rupture between the past as «reality» and its representation in historical scholarship. This rupture is determined by regimes of historicity – temporal dispositions (historicism, presentism, and radical historicism) that dictate how the present constructs its relationship with the past and the future. Historicism views time as a linear vector oriented towards a goal; presentism, as a static eternal present; and radical historicism, as a heterogeneous field where the future, as the possibility of rupture, operates within the present. Existing methodologies often fail to recognise these regimes as an independent object of study, leading to methodological confusion and the uncritical reproduction of temporal models in historical works.
The objective of the section is an attempt to critically analyse the regimes of temporality that structure contemporary historiography. We aim not only to identify the existence of different approaches (neither it is historicism nor presentism) but also to bring up their theoretical foundations, apply the concept of «regime of historicity» to specific interdisciplinary research practices, and outline the contours of a possible dialogue between them.
We plan to conduct the panel in three stages:- The first part will consist of a debate between proponents of (radical) historicism and its critics. This dialogue will raise key questions concerning the possibility of access to the historical past.
- The second block will be dedicated to theoretical-methodological problems. It will examine the ways in which historical statements are formed, considering the subsequent possibility or, conversely, impossibility of publicly articulating the resulting statement. Furthermore, a theoretical understanding of regimes of temporality will help specify the spectrum of possible forms of historical representation.
- The third block will focus on practical case studies. Participants will present concrete research demonstrating how working with different regimes