European University of the Seas

Background:

In July 2021, Kiel University started to extend the cooperation between the partner universities in the field of Public History. Ever since it became a topic of academic discussion in the early 1970s, Public History has been mainly focused on national history. Therefore, public presentations of history, e. g. in museums, through monuments or memorials, tend to showcase the history of Croatia, France, Germany, or Poland, but rarely try to educate the public about the transnational, shared history all those countries hold together.

The last 70 years saw an ever-continuous expansion of transnational relations within the framework of the EU. This working group aims to look beyond each country´s individual history and focuses on the shared history between several European countries.

The working group:

Four SEA-EU universities are involved in the project. Every university provides different expertise to create a unified, century-spanning well of knowledge:

• Kiel University (CAU) provides a history education perspective on the topic of Public History, particularly including public engagement with disability history: Department of History Education / Didaktik der Geschichte

• The history department of the University of Western Brittany (UBO) and their Masters “Cultures, civilisations, sociétés” focus on the Middle Ages:
  Faculté des lettres et sciences humaines Victor Segalen ;
  Parcours Histoire – Géographie ;
  Parcours Histoire – Sciences politiques et sociales ;
  Parcours Civilisations, Cultures et Sociétés

• The Faculty of History at the University of Gdansk (UG) adds their vast experience in the field of historical tourism as well as the (current) media presentation of history, e.g. in computer games:
  Faculty of History / O Wydziale Historycznym

• The Department of History at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Split, University of Split is organized through two departments – the Department of Ancient and Medieval History and Methodology of Historical Science and the Department of Modern and Contemporary History.
  The Department is focused on history, art and culture of the Adriatic: Department of History
  

Our goal is to initiate a network to work on the relationship between national and European Public History.

Timeline – past, present & future:

4-5 november 2021, the working group has produced their first digital workshop to discuss common goals and approaches for the project. A short summary of the results can be found here:

During 2021, the working group met approx. once per month.

The first physical workshop is planned to take place in Kiel in March 2022 which will attempt to discuss first tangible implementation ideas for a European Public History.

For more info, contact:

Jan-Christian Wilkening (jcwilkening@histosem.uni-kiel.de)