ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses current changes in the conception of time in historical studies. Since Reinhart Koselleck, historical time has turned into an object of historicization by historians interested in how conceptions of time frame the writing of history. A common topic in current debate is a shared experience of crisis or profound changes in our present experience of time. Some historians view these changes as a threat to historical consciousness while others view them as offering an opportunity to scrutinize the chrono-normative underpinnings of academic historiography. This chapter gives an overview of (a) how the linear and homogenous conception of historical time is presently challenged by new ways of understanding temporality – notably by theories of presentism and of multi-layered temporalities – and (b) how traditional ways of periodization and scaling are challenged by theories of long-term history and the Anthropocene that integrate timescales of the human and nonhuman world.
