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(Dis)orientations: History and Narrative in uncertain times – A three-cornered conversation
By katherine.wallace.20, on 18 March 2025
Image: Giovanni Battista Piranesi The Round Tower (detail), 1761. Public Domain.
Presenters: Raphaël Gani Gani (Université Laval), Stéphane Lévesque (University of Ottawa) and Arthur Chapman (UCL).
Raphaël Gani’s attendance at the seminar is made possible by a mobility grant from Université Laval enabling a week of collaborative work with Arthur Chapman at UCL during the last week of March 2025.
Date / Time: Wednesday 26 March 2025, 5.30-7.00pm GMT, Zoom and face-to-face. Please register here.
Abstract:
We are living in an era marked by profound uncertainty, shaped by rapid changes, global crises, and shifting social, political, and technological landscapes. The famous observation that the “future ain’t what it used to be” could not be more appropriate as we look at the acceleration of change taking place around the world. And this in a context of contested narratives and even, now, of narratives crafted by non-human agencies.
Education is always essential to democratic citizenship, but in times of uncertainty, it becomes even more critical. In a world filled with alternative facts, propaganda stories, and deepfake technology, students must learn how to analyze, question, and evaluate competing narratives that vie for their allegiance. Questions of “narrative ethics” also arise – for example, through the question, ‘What kinds of stories should we tell and share?’ Can history education help us address these challenges? If yes, how?
This seminar will take the form of a three-cornered conversation between three researchers interested in these questions. The speakers will explore the implications of the current uncertainties of our world for history education for using narrative as a critical lens and pedagogical tool to empower students to construct and deconstruct narratives and to nurture students’ narrative responsibility.
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