Historical Temporality In Conditions Of Multiple Publicity

Abstract

Historical temporality is seen in this paper as an aggregate of characteristics of historical time that guides the features of public historical discourses and representations of history, including historical prospects and retrospects, experience of historical duration, perception of temporal distance between the actual reality and loci of the past or the future. The author describes features of the historical temporality in conditions of multiple publicity that is formed under the influence of society globalization and media digitalization. The study is based upon analysis of public historical discourses and a series of focus groups. Interpretation of the focus group results includes three group of attributes allowing for a description of historical temporality. These attributes are reflective of, first, experience of the historical time; second, temporal characteristics of a balance between things existent and proper, reality and ideal; third, features of temporality related to the change in dominating forms of the historical knowledge. The author comes to a conclusion about a reduced role of historical retrospects and prospects under the new temporality regime that is formed in conditions of multiple publicity. As a result of changes, the reconstruction of a sequence of events, characteristic of historicism is substituted with orientation to actual communications and an aspiration to foresee trends that may create random streams of events that propagate like viral epidemics.