
Plurihistoricity
On the Historical Cultures of Extinction, Justice, and the Historical Profession
Zoltan Boldizsar Simon(Author)
Routledge (Publisher)
1st Edition
Published on 25. July 2025
Book
Hardback
268 pages
978-1-032-59720-1 (ISBN)
Description
This book situates historical scholarship within a plurihistoricity of contemporary historical culture, exploring conflicting conceptions of historical change in technological utopias of human enhancement, in prospects of human extinction, in societal responses to the Anthropocene, and in the imperative of bringing colonial patterns of historical injustice to justice.
Contemporary societies increasingly reclaim history from the academic pursuit of historiography. On the one hand, societal engagement in history is growing palpably. History is literally everywhere: in the fallen statues of past political regimes, in trajectories of environmental degradation, and in technological prospects of space expansion. On the other hand, societal demand for history seems to diminish rather than strengthen the authority of professionalized historical studies. What do these societal historicities stand for? How do they create pasts that matter? What futures do they desire or attempt to avoid? How do they view the historical transitions into those futures? And what is the societal role of historical scholarship and scholarly conceptions of history in the plurihistoricity of contemporary historical culture?
By addressing these questions, Simon's book is essential reading for everyone interested in the present and future of viewing the world historically.
Contemporary societies increasingly reclaim history from the academic pursuit of historiography. On the one hand, societal engagement in history is growing palpably. History is literally everywhere: in the fallen statues of past political regimes, in trajectories of environmental degradation, and in technological prospects of space expansion. On the other hand, societal demand for history seems to diminish rather than strengthen the authority of professionalized historical studies. What do these societal historicities stand for? How do they create pasts that matter? What futures do they desire or attempt to avoid? How do they view the historical transitions into those futures? And what is the societal role of historical scholarship and scholarly conceptions of history in the plurihistoricity of contemporary historical culture?
By addressing these questions, Simon's book is essential reading for everyone interested in the present and future of viewing the world historically.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Academic
Illustrations
1 s/w Tabelle
1 Tables, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
584 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-032-59720-1 (9781032597201)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Zoltan Boldizsar Simon
Plurihistoricity
On the Historical Cultures of Extinction, Justice, and the Historical Profession
Book
07/2025
1st Edition
Routledge
€64.10
Shipment within 10-20 days

Zoltan Boldizsar Simon
Plurihistoricity
On the Historical Cultures of Extinction, Justice, and the Historical Profession
E-Book
07/2025
Routledge
€55.49
Available for download

Zoltan Boldizsar Simon
Plurihistoricity
On the Historical Cultures of Extinction, Justice, and the Historical Profession
E-Book
07/2025
Routledge
€55.49
Available for download
Person
Zoltan Boldizsar Simon is a historian and historical theorist at Bielefeld University, Germany. He has been assistant professor at Leiden University and visiting researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. He authored the books History in Times of Unprecedented Change (2019) and The Epochal Event (2020) and co-authored The Fabric of Historical Time (2023).
Content
On Plurihistoricity: An Introduction Part 1: Transitioning to Futures 1. History After the End of the World 2. Utopias of Extinction 3. Two Cultures of the Posthuman Future Part 2: Creating Pasts 4. Making Pasts Matter 5. Modes of Historicization: Historicism and Constructionism 6. Bringing History to Justice Part 3: Inhabiting Presents 7. Historicities in Conflict: The Desynchronization of Political and Technological Change 8. The Historical Cultures of the Anthropocene 9. Unfathomable Futures and Cognitive Control On the Societal Function of Historiography: A Postscript in Five Theses