Can Koselleck Travel? Theory of History and the Problem of the Universal

in Contributions to the History of Concepts
Author:
Margrit Pernau Senior Researcher, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Germany pernau@mpib-berlin.mpg.de

Search for other papers by Margrit Pernau in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Close
Restricted access

Abstract

The methodology and theory developed by Koselleck has been successfully spread globally. Less attention has been devoted to reflections on the conditions and possibilities of universalizing his approach beyond the geographical area on the basis of which it was developed. This article proposes to reread Koselleck's three core contributions to the theory of history—the anthropological constants, the contemporaneity of the non-contemporaneous, and the Sattelzeit—from a postcolonial viewpoint. Empirically it is based on the history of the South Asian Muslims, exploring how Koselleck can help raise new questions, but also how the change in the geographical viewpoint may lead to a reconsideration of some of his assumptions.

Contributor Notes

Margrit Pernau is a Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development at the Center for the History of Emotions. E-mail: pernau@mpib-berlin.mpg.de

  • Collapse
  • Expand

Metrics

All Time Past Year Past 30 Days
Abstract Views 2329 1089 59
Full Text Views 234 52 6
PDF Downloads 322 78 12