Speaker
Description
This paper explores the collective and material construction of historical knowledge in the Early Modern period, a dimension often neglected in historiography. While traditional studies emphasize epistemological foundations and the uses of history, this research highlights the collaborative processes underlying the production of printed artifacts. It argues that historical knowledge emerged through intricate academic, artistic, and editorial negotiations, involving questions of intellectual and graphic authorship, as well as the creation of reliable editions. These negotiations were especially significant in illustrated publications on eighteenth-century diplomatics, a historical auxiliary science, where the accuracy of graphic representations of authentic documents was essential to the credibility of printed arguments. Drawing on an analysis of nearly thirty printed works from late eighteenth-century Germany, alongside manuscript drafts, correspondences, drawings, engravings, and the original documents depicted, this study demonstrates how the reproduction of authentic documents was shaped by the media through which it was conveyed. By examining these materials from both intellectual and material perspectives, the paper shifts the focus from traditional historiographical concerns to the broader field of the history of knowledge. It reveals how the interplay between media, collective work, and audience expectations fundamentally shaped the (re)configuration of historical evidence in the Early Modern period.
Short Biography
André de Melo Araújo is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Brasília (UnB, Brazil), where he has been teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses since 2012. With a PhD in History from the Universität Witten/Herdecke (Germany), funded by the DAAD, and a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of São Paulo (FAPESP), Dr. Araújo has established himself as a leading scholar in the intellectual and cultural history of the Enlightenment. His book “Weltgeschichte in Göttingen, 1756-1815 [World History in Göttingen, 1756-1815]” (2012) exemplifies his expertise in the history of knowledge and science during the Early Modern period. Dr. Araújo’s research focuses on the intersections of print culture, materiality, and historical knowledge in early modern Europe. He is currently the principal investigator of the project “The Making of Evident Knowledge: Antiquarianism and Diplomatics in Eighteenth-Century Germany”, exploring how material evidence of the past was visualized and interpreted in scholarly practices. As the head of the international research group “Metamorphose: Materiality and Interpretation of Early Modern Manuscripts and Printed Artifacts”, he promotes interdisciplinary collaboration among historians, literary critics, librarians, and archivists from Brazil, Spain, Portugal, and Italy. His academic contributions include publications such as “Transmediating Historical Artifacts” (2022) and entries in the “Encyclopedia of Early Modern History” (Brill, 2020), as well as editing the Handbook “A Época Moderna [The Early Modern Period]” published in Brazil (2024). Dr. Araújo has held visiting professorships at institutions like the Federal Fluminense University (UFF, Brazil) and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (Santiago, Chile). His work has been supported by the DAAD, Herzog August Bibliothek, CNPq, FAPESP, and FAPDF. In addition to his research, Dr. Araújo currently serves as coordinator of the University of Brasília’s MA and PhD programs in History (2025-current; 2017-2019) and has supervised numerous graduate and undergraduate theses.
| Keywords | History of knowledge, images, diplomatics, historiography |
|---|---|
| andaraujo@unb.br | |
| Affiliation | University of Brasilia (Brazil) |
| Position | Professor |
