Please note that this event will be in Dutch.
The present age seems to be imbued with images of the future. Newspapers present sombre analyses of the future of our climate, democracy and the rule of law. In book stores, the cinema and on TV, science fiction and dystopian narratives are flourishing like never before, with iconic examples being the newest Mad Max film, rereleases of Frank Herbert's Dune and the popular series The Handmaid's Tale.
'The Future' was also central to the lives and thought of contemporaries in the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century. This was a period where the idea that the future is a manipulatable object had taken root. Subsequent social and political movements tried to bend the future to their will and gave shape to it through their own ideals: the Atlantic civil wars and the rise of liberalism and nationalism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the utopian 'little religions' of the late 19th century and the extremely futuristic projects of fascism and Leninism. New technologies (steam engines, radio, telephones), scientific theories (evolution, thermodynamics, economy) and models (predicting the weather and the market) led to increasingly larger expectations for intellectuals as well as the wider public. They also left their mark in literature and art: futurism and science fiction novels, later followed by science fiction films, gained popularity. Current ideas on climate and climate change also took root in this period. 'Now' gradually diminished during this period, not only at the expense of a romanticised past, but also of ideas and expectations for a malleable yet unfathomable future.
Call for papers
In the annual conference of Werkgroep de Moderne Tijd (Modern Age Working Group) of 2025, we want to examine what role 'the Future' played in the history of the Netherlands and Belgium, including the colonies, throughout 1780-1940. How was the future shaped in politics, culture, art, literature and science? We do not only want to look at the role of avant-gardists and other artistic, poltical and intellectual trendsetters. We want to explicitly shift attention to the significance of the future to the wider public, as a reader, film watcher, consumer, but also as a diary writer and entrepreneur.
Possible subtopics
- The future in art, literature, music, theatre and film
- Ideological and philosophical expectations for the future
- Notions of the future within political and social movements
- Planning in administration and policy
- The role of destiny in nationalism, internationalism and imperialism
- Predictions/models in the history of economics, meteorology and other sciences
- The history of utopias and dystopias / progess and decline
- The history of eco-pessimism and eco-optimism
- Technologies of the future and universal exhibitions
- The future and fortune-telling as a commercial product / history of marketing
- The future of/in historiography (history of and before the Anthropocene)
Paper proposals on these and other themes that fit the conference's theme are welcome. Interested parties are asked to submit a proposal of max. 300 words and a (brief) biographical description of yourself before 22 November 2024. You will receive a decisive answer on the selection as quickly as possible. Abstracts can be sent to Lotte Jensen (lotte.jensen [at] ru.nl (lotte[dot]jensen[at]ru[dot]nl)).