Histories of the past and histories of the future: Pandemics and historians of education

in Paedagogica Historica (2022)

The COVID-19 outbreak at the beginning of the 2020s not only marked a dramatic moment in world health, but also the start of manifold and entangled global crises that seem to define a watershed moment ... [more ▼]

The COVID-19 outbreak at the beginning of the 2020s not only marked a dramatic moment in world health, but also the start of manifold and entangled global crises that seem to define a watershed moment with severe effects on education. Pandemics we know are recurrent events. Faced with COVID-19 some historians have looked to previous pandemics to understand the nature of the disease and its trajectory, and how previous generations have dealt with similar health crises. This special issue intends not to reinforce narratives of the past but rather to question them. The histories that have been written for this special issue Histories of the Past and Histories of the Future: Pandemics and Historians of Education offer insights that refer to past and future research agendas. They look at the mediation and circulation of knowledge during past pandemics, trace unheard voices and emotions of pandemics, analyse national policies and emerging discourses, and underline the entangled histories of education and pandemics. Collectively the articles brought together in this issue forcibly suggest that the most fruitful and rewarding way forward to studying past pandemics lies in thinking ecologically. By asses- sing the myriad consequences of living in ” pandemic times,” of confronting exposure, transmission, transmutation, disruption, and loss, and looking to community and collective futures we believe we cannot study pandemics and their impact on education and children's lives without widening the aperture of our research. Adopting an ecological approach will help us to not only actively engage with histories of the present and contemporary collecting, but also offer the possibility of new understandings and new insights into the dynamics and consequences of past pandemics. [less ▲]

Appearances Matter: The Visual in Educational History

Book published by De Gruyter - Appearances: Studies in Visual Research (2021)

The visual turn recovers new pasts. With a focus on education, this book seeks to present a body of reflections that question a certain historicism. It renovates historiographical debate about how to ... [more ▼]

The visual turn recovers new pasts. With a focus on education, this book seeks to present a body of reflections that question a certain historicism. It renovates historiographical debate about how to conceptualize visual media while presenting new themes and methods for researchers. Images are interrogated as part of régimes of the visible, of a history of visual technologies and visual practices. Considering the socio-material quality of the image, the analysis moves away from the use of images as mere illustrations of written arguments, and seriously questions the life and death of artifacts – that is, their particular historicity. Questioning the visual and material evidence in this ways means considering how, when, and in which régime of the visible it has come to be considered as a source, and what this means for the questions contemporary researchers may ask. [less ▲]

The Visual and History Practice in the Digital Age

Scientific Conference (2017)

Of the Past, Present and Future: Visual Conversations on Education across Europe

in Burke, Catherine; Grosvenor, Ian; Haenggeli-Jenni, Béatrice (Eds.) et al Education across Europe: A Visual Conversation (2014)

The Visual in Educational History: Reflections on the Practice of History in the Digital Age

Book published by De Gruyter (n.d.)