Big news!

TAPAS becomes part of the Center for Meta- and Public History. This is an interdisciplinary research forum committed to the critical study of how societies engage with the past. We investigate the ways in which individuals, communities, organizations and institutions construct, interpret and mobilize history in diverse societies – both in the present and across time.

Our aim is to foster critical reflection on the societal effects of uses of the past. From memory laws and historical justice to heritage policies, education and activism, we explore the many manifestations of ‘historical culture’ and their influence on historical knowledge, memory, identity formation, and socio-political imagination.

 

Based in the Department of History at Ghent University, the Center promotes transdisciplinary research, international dialogue, and collaboration between scholars, practitioners, and the broader public. Through partnerships with civil society organizations, museums, schools, memorial centres, heritage institutions and others, we bridge theoretical inquiry and professional practice.

 

Our researchers work at the crossroads of meta-history and public history and across cultures and periods. We contribute to key fields of studies, including:

• Historical culture and the politics of memory
• Theory of history and historiography
• History didactics and citizenship education
• Public history and digital humanities

 

In these fields the Center advances both academic scholarship and public understanding of the past’s enduring influence on societal processes.