Historical time in the recent theory of history: multi-heterochronicity and the conflictive spectral disjunctions.

Abstract

Over the last years, theorists of history have tracked a growing trend in the field of time studies associated with the reintroduction of the problem of historical experience. Broadly speaking, the proponents of this trend, named as "new metaphysics of time" (KLEINBERG, 2012, p.2), aim to re-examine the metaphysical, epistemic, and ontological assumptions that conform our way of conceiving and relating to the temporal dimension, to then propose conceptual alternatives to the traditional ways of apprehending historical time. However, the so-called "new metaphysics of time" is composed of distinct theoretical lineages, displaying, therefore, a diversified conceptual framework. In this panel, the present project focuses on two lineages: (I) "multitemporality", which is related to Koselleck's theory of plural times, and (II) "presence", which in this case subscribes to Derrida's deconstructionism. Specifically, it intends to characterize the following concepts: (I) "practices of synchronization", by Jordheim (2012); (I) "heterochronic time", by Helgesson (2014) (II) "spectral time", by Bevernage (2008). Next, it intends to scrutinize convergences and divergences between (I) and (II), to thus verify possibilities of interlocution. Finally, it investigates and explores the hypothesis that Helgesson's (2014) radicalization of temporal difference and Jordheim's (2012) practices of synchronization, seem to evidentiate or suggest the production of the "spectral" presence (BEVERNAGE, 2008) of a multiplicity of conflicting pasts, following the example of the problems addressed by Helgesson (2014) and Jordheim (2012) in relation to the spatialization of time and the conflictive character of temporalities amidst the practices of synchronization. The hypothesis, in turn, conditions another questioning: considering the feasibility of conceptual articulation, is it possible to understand the spectral disjunctions in a plane of heterochronic simultaneities?