LFU:online

After this course...
- you will have expanded your knowledge of (historical) biographical research,
- you will be able to explain different approaches to biographical research,
- you will be able to relate biographical research to historical sources,
- you will have developed a research question and an outline for your term paper.

History has long been explained and told on the basis of biographies. Biographies, not only those of 'great men', are popular. But many biographies present the course of a person's life as a story of linear development and in this way produce identity in the first place. In the academic debate about biographies, instead, the constructional character of biographical identity is taken into account: What imprints do society and discourse leave on a person? Which behavior can be attributed to individuality, which to dispositions? And how do gender orders affect not only historical life courses, but also the study of these biographies? In this seminar, we will discuss how new approaches are expanding biography as a genre of historical scholarship, particularly feminist biography and gender history.

Students will prepare the seminar paper with at least three exercises during the course.

Joint discussion of scholarly essays and biographies as well as sources, reading of the same, inputs from the course instructor, one oral and one or two written assignments during the semester.

Term paper; research question and outline of the paper will be discussed in the course.

Productive and successful participation in the course requires a high degree of independent reading (also of English texts) in advance of the sessions, continuous attendance and active participation in discussions.

Form of examination: term paper.

Etzemüller, Thomas: Biographien. Lesen – erforschen – erzählen. Frankfurt am Main 2012.

Harders, Levke: Historische Biografieforschung, in: Docupedia-Zeitgeschichte 2020; unter http://docupedia.de/zg/Harders_historische_Biografieforschung_v1_de_2020.

Klein, Christian (Hg.): Handbuch Biographie. Methoden, Traditionen, Theorien. Stuttgart, Weimar 2009.

Lässig, Simone: Die historische Biographie auf neuen Wegen?, in: Geschichte in Wissenschaft und Unterricht, 60 (2009) 10, 540-553.

Positive assessment of two modules from the elective modules 1 to 6. The respective proof ought to be produced until the end of October 2021.