The initiative is dedicated to young PhD students and PhDs: proposals will be accepted by May 15th
Applications are now open for the selection of a series of analyses, coming from the Italian peninsula and abroad, which will be proposed by the University of the Republic of San Marino next September in the context of an international conference entitled “The historian and his sources – problems and methods of historical research”.
The initiative curated by the University's Higher School of Historical Studies, open to in-depth studies by young PhD students and PhDs who obtained their degree no earlier than the 2018-19 Academic Year, will address an area on which the available technologies are increasingly impacting: "If on the one hand traditional sources, such as archival, archaeological and iconographic ones, continue to be the heart of historical research - we read in the document with which the selection was opened - on the other hand digitalization, the growing importance of immaterial sources and the proliferation of new types of documentation pose new epistemological, methodological and ethical challenges".
Hence a series of issues that include, for example, digital sources: their use “raises questions about perishability, accessibility and reliability, but also about the potential for manipulation, as in the case of the spread of fake news”.
The international conference therefore aims to contribute to the promotion of "critical, conscious and innovative research", to "collect and stimulate the reflections of PhD students and researchers who approach the topic from different disciplinary perspectives and with a broad view, from the ancient historiographical panorama to the contemporary one".
"History - we read further - is traditionally identified with the reconstruction and interpretation of the past based on documents, testimonies and finds. It is based on two cardinal principles, inseparable from each other and in continuous interaction: the scholar and the sources, of various nature and typology, which contribute to recomposing eras more or less distant". Given the episodes in which the sources have been "manipulated and distorted for ideological purposes, it is essential to ask how the historian can maintain a critical approach to the data at his disposal".
The scientific and organizational committee of the initiative involves academics such as Laura Barletta, Luciano Canfora, Franco Cardini, Luca Gorgolini and Massimo Mastrogregori.
The main lines of research of the interventions "may be placed in the most varied fields of study, from philology to economic, social, cultural, military, political, religious, gender, institutional, environmental and scientific history".
The deadline for submitting research is May 15. The application procedures are described online on the conference page. Alternatively, they can be requested by writing to convegnolostoricoelesuefonti@outlook.com