Teknologihistorie og sekulær tid
I denne boka, basert på halvparten av doktoravhandlingen min, bruker jeg en kombinasjon av skolastisk middelalderteologi og (post-)moderne aktør-nettverk-teori for å definere og operasjonalisere begrepet “sekulær tid”, som har blitt brukt i mange historier om modernisering og sekularisering. Deretter viser jeg hvordan denne tilnærmingen gjør det mulig å spore denne typen tid i tre teknologiske systemer som ble utviklet i England gjennom 1800-tallet: Jernbaner og standardiseringen av nasjonal og internasjonal tid; daglige nyhetsaviser og forestillingen om en offentlig sfære; og Bank of Englands pengesedler og integreringen av en nasjonal økonomisk sfære. På denne måten kan man skrive sekulariseringshistorie uten å bruke religionsbegrepet, etter kritikken som møter dette blant annet fra postkoloniale studier.
Boken er gratis tilgjengelig her: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-09285-5
Lesere om boken:
If the test of originality is the ability to make the reader think differently, Stefan Fisher-Høyrem has achieved it in abundance. Rethinking Secular Time in Victorian England reframes secularisation as a question of technology and the implicit ordering of time. A bold and brilliant contribution.
— Dominic Erdozain, author of The Soul of Doubt: the Religious Roots of Unbelief from Luther to Marx
This book presents a bold and cogent new history of secularity. Eschewing traditional approaches it is organized around novel forms of mobility and temporality produced by three new material systems and artefacts: railways, newspapers and banknotes. The mobile, newspaper-reading, cash-handling subject came to participate in a new type of technologically-mediated temporality. The result is a richly empirical, yet theoretically informed, history of how modern Britons became re-oriented in an age of mass transit, mass media and capitalism. This original and exciting book deserves a wide readership.
– Christopher Otter, Professor in History, Ohio State University
This is an exciting foray into the new histories of time and space which are now emerging. What we have for so long taken for granted, namely time, reveals itself as a human creation with a history. The 19th century now emerges as crucial in this history. Stefan Fisher-Høyrem writes with commanding understanding of the profound changes he analyzes. Disciplines cross one another in his work to a degree that is impressively creative. A fine achievement.
– Patrick Joyce, Emeritus Professor of History, Manchester University
An eminent historian of Victorian England, Stefan Fisher-Høyrem achieves the rare feat of exploring in large detail spatiotemporal networks like railways, newspapers, and banknotes, while at the same time making an original contribution to the understanding of modern time tout court. His argument that the understanding of secularization pivots on the immutability of angels in terms of Latourian immutable mobiles is a game-changer.
– Helge Jordheim, Professor of Cultural History, University of Oslo