Josef Polišenský y su concepto de la historia general

Abstract

The article focuses on the activities of Josef Polišenský in the field of general history, marginalized in Czechoslovak academia. Polišenský recommended the use of domestic archival funds and the sources for the history of other lands and peoples deposited in them. These sources were then also to be made accessible by scholars from other countries through editions and translations to help them explain the possible “blank spaces” in their national histories. Thus, the goal was not to amplify the specialized fields of the study of history and culture of specific regions and time periods, but rather to enrich the general history – history of mankind as such – and, ultimately, to revert to the history of Czechoslovakia/the Czech Lands. Besides the “connecting themes” methodology, Polišenský was strongly convinced of the utility of the “view from the outside”, literally the view from Prague, on the crucial problems of world history. This approach he followed also after his forced departure from the Department of World History of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in 1971 and in the role of director of the Center for Ibero-American studies.

Keywords

• Josef Polišenský
• Czechoslovak historiography
• general history
• Ibero-American Studies
• 20th century