Dissertation Project

The Becoming of the Subject in Museums. On the Dialectic of Historical Culture and Personal Identity (working title)

The dissertation project focusses on the question, how historical identity emerges in relation to the dialectic between manifestations of historical culture (objects) and individuals (subjects) and whether one could talk of a mutual influence or even an entanglement between these two poles. Within the discipline of German history didactics, the term “historical identity” is well-established. In this project, the term should be theoretically positioned between the two fundamental concepts of German history didactics, historical consciousness and historical culture. The process of potential co-construction of historical identity is exemplified through a preoccupation with historical exhibitions: With poststructuralist theories from the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan and the cultural historian Michel de Certeau, the potential of identity related co-construction between subject (visitor) and object (exhibition) is clarified. The objects analyzed in this project are historical exhibitions on the occasion of the so-called German peasants war’s anniversary, while the subject-side will be analyzed via interviews with visitors of these exhibitions. An approach to the relational construction of historical identity thus takes place from both sides. Only in this way can the planned work contribute to further clarifying the relational position of historical identity between historical consciousness and historical culture.

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Holger Thünemann