Workshops
Connecting history with society
Workshop: Humboldtian Science – Everything is interconnected
Who was Humboldt and why is he still important for us today?
How to begin with Humboldtian Studies?
How can we define his scientific objectives and his working methods? In what aspects were they innovative for his period of time?
How to work today with Humboldt’s legacy? Where can we find the type of information we need?
«Arguing about which nation treats black people with more humanity is making fun of the word humanity»
—Diaries, Guayaquil (Ecuador), January 4th - February 17th, 1803—
In order to provide answers to these questions, this workshop has been created. It consists of three parts:
The first part offers a general introduction to Alexander von Humboldt, his life, his work and his legacy. It explains in what aspects his scientific endeavour has been unique. However, it also illustrates some of the most common misinterpretations and wrong attributions to Humboldt.
The second part discusses what we understand by Humboldtian Science today and the meaning it has still for our modern world.
The third part presents Humboldt’s work as a whole, including his publications, journals, cartography, infographics and correspondence. With a practical orientation, it provides access to both his textual and his visual works and shows what needs to be taken into account when working with these original sources. In addition, it also indicates the main resources that may be useful to find additional information about Humboldt.
With this structure, the workshop can be adapted to different audiences (scholarly and non-scholarly) and different age groups. It can be taught over one or two days. Nonetheless, it can also accommodate different requirements, either by reducing it or extending it to a longer duration.