The Romantic Era Research Group (RERG)

The research group focuses on the Romantic era – especially on its ideas and philosophy –, the period ranging roughly from the French Revolution of 1789 to the European Revolutions of 1848. This era, formative for the modern history of Europe, has been regarded as the germination period not only of historical thought, temporalization (Verzeitlichung), a new kind of culture of emotions, questions of nationality and civil rights, and ideologies, but also of modern institutions and state government, science, monetary economics, and technology.

By laying emphasis on the historicity of thought and experience, RERG critically investigates the era as a space of possibilities not confined to strict temporal boundaries and as the contact point of various cultural forces. Research is largely structured around the following late eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century points of tension:

  • nature and freedom
  • pessimism and providentialism
  • cosmopolitanism and nationalism
  • history as memory and change
  • experience of modernity

Moreover, RERG aims at fostering multidisciplinary research on the Romantic era and welcomes cooperation with international research groups of its field. For more information on the group, please contact the leader of the group, Valtteri Viljanen.

Researchers
Valtteri Viljanen, Hanna Meretoja, Peter Myrdal, Asko Nivala, Sakari Ollitervo‎, Heli Rantala, Arto Repo, Juhana Saarelainen, Hannu Salmi‎, Jukka Sarjala‎, Janne Tunturi‎.

Projects