Alltagsgeschichte: Writing the History of Modernity

A Centre for Modern Studies' Ordinary / Everyday / Quotidian research strand event

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.

Please note the change of the time of this lecture to 6.30pm.  This is to accommodate those who also wish to attend the Lightning Rods event 'Theory Has Never Been Secular', which will finish by 6.15pm. 

At 1.15pm the following day, Wednesday 21st November, Dr Nehring will offer a workshop in the Treehouse, Berrick Saul Building. All are welcome to attend.