The end of reason in history? Historians, historiography, and feminist movement in Germany (1970s-1980s)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Ralph Jessen
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2015 to 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 271350928

This project investigates the formation and development of women and gender history in the Federal Republic of Germany during the 1970s and 1980s. Although history as a political argument and concepts of historical research played an important role in debates about gender relations during that period, the topic has not yet been the subject of historical investigation. Gender as a meaningful category of historical analysis was discovered in a process that connected professional historians and their academic environment and the political and social movement of feminism as well. A heterogeneous and fragile coalition of scholars, students, and feminist activists started to discuss questions of historical knowledge and truth along the lines of gender relations, thereby challenging the order of gender relations in academia itself. They did not only raise methodological and epistemic questions, but also criticized and subverted the professions common practices on an institutional and social level. The study focusses on the complex negotiation processes and practices constituting the new field of knowledge and on its struggle for academic credibility. Inspired by recent approaches in historiography and history of science based on theories of practice, it analyzes how these practices affected the production of knowledge in historical research as well as the legitimacy and acceptance of a feminist research agenda. On the one hand the study examines the communication practices of participating scholars. This entails research on networks and channels of communication both within academic organisations and the growing feminist infrastructure with its publishers, special archives and educational projects. Special attention is paid to transnational relations with historians from the United States, which had a crucial impact on German debates and practices. On the other hand, the project examines the strategies applied by scholars of women and gender history to enhance both academic and political credibility, thus focussing on performative and aesthetic dimensions of academic practices.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants