Alltagsgeschichte: Writing the History of Modernity

Part of the Centre for Modern Studies' Ordinary / Everyday / Quotidian series

Alltagsgeschichte was developed in the 1980s by German historians Alf Luedtke and Hans Medick.  Its name comes from the German words Alltag, which means 'everyday', and Geschichte, which means 'history'.  Although it was initially formulated to answer questions about 'everyday history' in the Third Reich, its roots reached back to the sort of 'microhistory' practised by Carlo Ginzberg in his celebrated book The Cheese and the Worms (1976).  More recently it has further been used to examine 'everyday history' in the former East Germany.  It is an approach uniquely adapted to treating the modern and the contemporary, but its spread to other national traditions has been uneven.  Holger Nehring is a contemporary (post-1945) historian who has trained in Germany, London, and Oxford, and who is particularly interested in questions of comparative methodology.  Some of the questions he will address include: Why has Alltagsgeschichte not been more eagerly adopted by historians outside Germany?  How does it interact with French interest in the everyday as outlined by Michael Sheringham?

A drinks reception will follow the lecture.  Both events are open to all.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Benjamin Madden, Lawrence Rainey, and Alex Beaumont