Thinking Pluralism #2 – Public Lecture

At a time when some argue that universalism is just as dangerous as ethnocentrism, the talk draws attention to the way we conceptualize the relationship between the particular and the universal. As advocates of a pluralist conception of nationhood Jewish intellectuals in Central Europe argued that citizens did not belong to a national community because they had ceased to be different, but precisely because they had preserved their particular identities. Against this background, the talk situates notions of difference within the very language of nationalism.
 

Till Van Rahden received his PhD in modern history from Bielefeld University in 1999 and was subsequently a research assistant in the history department there. He teaches modern and contemporary history at the Université de Montréal, from 2006 to 2016 as holder of the Canada Research Chair in German and European Studies. At the same time, he is Adjunct Research Professor at Carleton University in Ottawa.