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“Placing history before the eyes: enargeia and ekphrasis from ancient historiography to contemporary historical representations”

Project description

Learning about the present through past narratives

Aimed at making the past present through narratives, ancient historiography reflects the past so vividly that the readers could visualise it, memorise it and even learn lessons from it. Similarly, enargeia was also considered as a rhetorical technique to arouse emotions and bring ancient history close to literature, fiction and persuasion. The EU-funded PHBE project will explore a similar visual dimension in novels, comics, documentaries, and uses (public speeches, museography) of history. Specifically, the project will study the practice of enargeia in ancient historiography (especially during the periods when enargeia was a part of rhetorical instruction). Its objective will be to find modern uses of enargeia and discover pedagogical tools to unveil this dimension through practice.

Objective

Can we transmit visions of the past? Contrary to the modern conception of scientific history, ancient historiography was supposed to reflect the past in such a vivid way that the reader could visualise it, feel impressions, so that she/he could memorise it and learn lessons from it. Such an effect, called enargeia, was also considered as a rhetorical technique, thought to arouse emotions and to help to orient the vision of the audience, and was consequently practiced in rhetorical exercises; this property brought ancient history close to literature, fiction and persuasion. But a similar visual dimension is also present in wide-spread and popular modern forms (novels, comics, documentaries) and uses (public speeches, museography) of history. This interesting parallel between ancient and modern practice can be used to investigate the effects (on the audience) of various forms of historical representation and their links with argumentation and persuasion thanks to the ancient concepts and tools and through an interdisciplinary approach. The first challenge of this research project, which I will conduct under the supervision of Ruth Webb (University of Lille, France), will be to study the practice of enargeia in ancient historiography (especially during the periods when enargeia was a part of rhetorical instruction), in order to identify its uses and functions and how it brings about persuasion. The next challenge will be to find modern uses of enargeia and to conceive pedagogical tools to unveil this dimension through practice and to develop a critical eye on the various ways of representing history.

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MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020

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Coordinator

UNIVERSITE DE LILLE
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 196 707,84
Address
42 RUE PAUL DUEZ
59000 Lille
France

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Region
Hauts-de-France Nord-Pas de Calais Nord
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 196 707,84
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