Originally published on February 2, 2024 (Intellectual Humility and Historical Thinking Series)
Introduction
In this installment of our series on intellectual humility and historical thinking, I’m joined by Suzanne Marchand, Boyd Professor at Louisiana State University. A scholar of European intellectual history, Marchand has also ranged widely: from studying the study of archaeology, to Orientalism, to porcelain (which we previously discussed on the podcast).
More recently she has turned her attention to Herodotus, tracing the reception and interpretation of the “father of history” from the Renaissance to the present—a project soon to become a book. Our conversation follows the structured format of this series: how historians learn, what they’ve gotten right, what they’ve gotten wrong, and what intellectual humility has to do with it all.
About the Guest
Suzanne Marchand is Boyd Professor at Louisiana State University, specializing in European intellectual history. Her works include Down from Olympus: Archaeology and Philhellenism in Germany, 1750–1970 (Princeton, 1996), German Orientalism in the Age of Empire: Race, Religion, and Scholarship (Cambridge, 2009), and Porcelain: A History from the Heart of Europe (Princeton, 2020).
💬 Listen & Discuss
How do intellectual humility and historical thinking shape each other? Can a long view of ideas—from Herodotus to Orientalism to porcelain—help us see the limits of our own assumptions? Share your thoughts in the comments, and pass this episode along to someone who enjoys the history of ideas.
