Power in History

As a PhD candidate interested in how participative design practices can support social-political struggles, particularly in relation to the question of Palestine, I attended the presentation of Professor Emeritus Bernard Wasserstein with professional interest. For many years I have been working with Palestinian artists, designers and artisans and co-organised workshops with cultural and educational institutes in places like Ramallah, Birzeit, Bethlehem, Jerusalem and in 2015 in Gaza and Khan Younis. These experiences have provided an existential insight into the history, violence and impact of the occupation, as well as the continuous forceful silencing of Palestinian narratives.

The lecture of prof. dr. Bernard Wasserstein painted a broad historical picture of the political and geopolitical events underlying the Israeli-Arab conflict. In many ways the lecture followed the familiar patterns on how in introduction courses at the (under)graduate level (bachelor’s or master’s degree in Belgium) in universities and colleges around the world, the subject is, and has been, taught.

Op donderdag 16 mei gaf prof. Bernard Wasserstein op uitnodiging van het Instituut voor Joodse Geschiedenis, het Centrum voor Stadsgeschiedenis, Power in History en de Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte, een lezing getiteld "Israel/Palestine: Two States or One? A Historical Perspective. Na de lezing, die een ruim en gevarieerd publiek trok, ontspon zich een geanimeerde maar respectvolle discussie, die ook nadien werd verdergezet. Vier masterstudenten geschiedenis schreven een kritische tekst over de lezing, die wij graag integraal publiceren.

Born just a whisper away from Bosnia's war-torn past, I've always been captivated by its tales. As an academic, I developed a soft spot for complex questions. So when I heard Professor Dr. Amra Sabic-El-Rayess would be lecturing about Bosnia at our university, I was curious. Would her lecture resemble the powerful stories I grew up with, or would it be a challenging academic presentation, packed with data and charts? To my delight, Amra delivered both: through her storytelling she illuminated the cost of war and hate, through her research she reaffirmed the importance of education, and through it all she showed her immense strength and resilience ...

M’as-tu-vu. According to the Larousse dictionary, the French phrase can be used as both a noun or adjective wherein an individual's ostentatiousness, pretentiousness or even vanity is indicated. It is a manner of speaking I often think of when I spend my time scrolling down my Instagram-feed in a mindless search for travel content. And it seems I am not the only one. Ostentatious travel pictures on social media that scream 'Look where I have been' ...

Het Departement Geschiedenis van de Universiteit Antwerpen organiseerde op vrijdag 9 februari ‘Het Groot Geschiedenisdebat’. De initiatiefnemers, Marnix Beyen en Bert De Munck, wilden met dit initiatief een antwoord bieden op de discussies die sinds de afgelopen twee jaar woeden over de verwevenheid tussen geschiedenis, geschiedschrijving en (politieke) processen van identiteitsvorming. Door het succes van een tv-programma als Het Verhaal van Vlaanderen, publicaties over woke,en de Canon van Vlaanderen, worden historici vandaag meer dan ooit uitgedaagd om na te denken over de manier waarop zij hun métier uitoefenen, en de mate waarin zij daarin (moeten) beantwoorden aan de verwachtingen van verschillende sectoren en belangengroepen in de maatschappij ...