History Club

Winter semester 2024/25

Private attention quickly takes on a political dimension. It is of great significance in many areas of life. Whilst last semester in the History Club we examined issues of border surveillance, self-monitoring and the denunciation of fellow human beings, we are now continuing our exploration of further manifestations of these cultures of vigilance, both past and present. In doing so, we will discuss important questions that have not yet been addressed: What political functions did attention serve in the Assyrian Empire? What is the history of self-optimisation – for example, of one’s own body, body weight or happiness? And what tools did people use to optimise themselves, such as mirrors? How did people monitor unknown or invisible dangers, such as the plague? Does religious vigilance function differently in Islam than in Christianity? And what is the history and contemporary significance of whistleblowers?

In addition to contributions on current historical research, academics from other disciplines will also take part. The History Club is continuing its close and well-established collaboration with the Collaborative Research Centre ‘Cultures of Vigilance’ at LMU Munich, which has been researching various forms of the politicisation of attention from both historical and contemporary perspectives since 2019.

Date: Wednesday, 3.15–4.45 pm at LMU Munich, Department of History, entrance at Schellingstraße 12 or Amalienstraße 52, Room K202 (second floor, old building).

Winter semester 2024/25 // first half of the school year:

1. Session 23. Oct. - Introduction (Arndt Brendecke)
2. Session 6. Nov. - Hitchcocks Fenster zum Hof, ein Film und seine Analyse (mit Alexander Zons)
3. Session 13. Nov. - menschliche Aufmerksamkeit: Attention Studies
   20. Nov. entfällt wg. Buß und Bettag
4. Session 27. Nov. - Benthams Panoptikum: Was ist Überwachung?
5. Session 4. Dec. - Inquisition (mit Sam Kennerley)
6. Session 11. Dec. - Christentum, Kloster und Aufmerksamkeit (mit Julia Burkhardt)
7. Session 18. Dec. - Pest und Feuer. Gefahren in der Stadt der Frühen Neuzeit (mit Brendan Röder)
8. Session 8. Jan. - Spanisches Weltreich: (Arndt Brendecke)
9. Session 15. Jan. - Whistleblowing in der Gesellschaft und bei der Polizei mit dem Kriminologen Ralf Kölbel und Maresa Dudek oder Riccarda Gattinger
10. Session 22. Jan. - Common Informing im England der Frühen Neuzeit (Nina Opgen-Rhein)
11. Session 29. Jan. Conclusion

Winter semester 2021/22

1. Session: Introduction
   Session: Soziale Kontrolle. Gegenseitige Beobachtung in der höfischen Gesellschaft (Benjamin Steiner)
   Session: Mechanismen assyrischer Macht. Vigilanzstrategien und imperiale Kohäsion vom Mittelmeer bis zum Iran. (9.–7. Jh. v. Chr.) (Karen Radner)
   Session: Whistleblowing. Zivilcourage oder Verrat? (Elke Wienhausen-Knezevic)
   Session: Wachsamkeit und Kontrolle im mittelalterlichen Kloster (Julia Burkhardt)
   Session: Die Beichte. Literatur und Theologie (Agnus Rugel und Magdalena Butz)
   Session: Selbstoptimierung (Vitus Huber)
   Session: Fastenpraktiken und Religion (Iryna Klymenko / Kilian Harrer)
   Session: Der Spiegel. Eine Vigilanzmetapher bei William Shakespeare (Tobias Döring)
   Session: Pest in der Stadt (Brendan Röder)
   Session: Islam und Wachsamkeit (Eda Güclü)
   Session: Küstenwache und Schmuggel (Hannes Ziegler)
   Closing session
   

Summer semester 2021

Attention has become an important and contested resource for many people, and not just since social media became part of our everyday lives. Should we feel insecure when we are being watched? Or could it also mean that we are being protected as a result? Is it legitimate to be asked to report a fellow human being to the police? Why do I feel insecure when people stare at me? Am I behaving in the wrong way? And can I prevent this by changing my behaviour? The History Club invites you to discuss these and many other questions in a series of themed sessions. Above all, however, we want to show how this can be explored historically and from the perspective of other disciplines, including law, criminology, ethnology and film studies. That is why the History Club is collaborating with the Collaborative Research Centre ‘Cultures of Vigilance’ at LMU Munich. Since 2019, research there has been examining the various forms of the politicisation of attention, their historical origins, how they are changing, and how they can be assessed.

1. Session: Opening event
2. Session: Film. Das Fenster zum Hof (Rear Window), Alfred Hitchcock, USA 1954 (Alexander Zons)
3. Session: Überwachung an der Grenze zwischen Mexiko und der USA (Evelyn Dürr)
4. Session: "Wenn jemand nur etwas gesagt hätte...". Denunziation um Verbrechen zu verhindern (Felix Grollmann)
5. Session: Inquisition. Das Recht auf Anonymität vor Gericht (Arndt Brendecke)
6. Session: Selbsttechniken I. Das Tagebuchschreiben als Spiegel seiner selbst (Patrick Geiger)
7. Session: Selbsttechniken II. "Schütte dein Herz aus!". Bekenntnisse vor laufender Kamera (Loredana Filip)
8. Session: Privatheit I. Kodak No. 1. Straßenfotographie und die Debatte um Privatsphäre. (USA, 19. Jh.) (Benjamin Steiner)
9. Session: Privatheit II. Film: Pleasantville
10. Session: Der beobachtende Teufel. Mittelalterliche Erzählungen zur Wachsamkeit (Michael Waltenberger)
11. Session: Final discussion