Jean Stengers
Encyclopedia
Jean Stengers was a Belgian
historian.
A precocious and brilliant student, Stengers entered the Free University of Brussels
in 1939, at the age of 17. He published his first scholarly article two years later in the Belgian Review of Philology and History. In 1948, he presented his doctoral thesis under the direction of Professor Bonenfant on the historical bases of the national sentiments of Belgium.
"From this time," said the historian Ginette Kurgan, "the astonishing eclecticism of his interests is manifest, reinforced by a rigour of approach stimulated by his training as a medievalist." From 1949 he taught colonial history as assistant to professor Franz Van Kalke, and in 1951 he took over Van Kalken's entire curriculum in modern history.
Stengers was promoted to professeur ordinaire in 1954. He helped found the Institute of the History of Christianity, and in 1967 succeeded Guillaume Jacquemyns as director of the seminar of contemporary history. Though his interests were wide-ranging, his scholarly reputation was built on his treatment of the Belgian colonial history. His work Congo, Mythes et réalités was published in 1989.
He is the father of the historian of science and epistemologist Isabelle Stengers
.
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
historian.
A precocious and brilliant student, Stengers entered the Free University of Brussels
Free University of Brussels
The Free University of Brussels was a university in Brussels, Belgium. In 1969, it split into the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Dutch-speaking Vrije Universiteit Brussel....
in 1939, at the age of 17. He published his first scholarly article two years later in the Belgian Review of Philology and History. In 1948, he presented his doctoral thesis under the direction of Professor Bonenfant on the historical bases of the national sentiments of Belgium.
"From this time," said the historian Ginette Kurgan, "the astonishing eclecticism of his interests is manifest, reinforced by a rigour of approach stimulated by his training as a medievalist." From 1949 he taught colonial history as assistant to professor Franz Van Kalke, and in 1951 he took over Van Kalken's entire curriculum in modern history.
Stengers was promoted to professeur ordinaire in 1954. He helped found the Institute of the History of Christianity, and in 1967 succeeded Guillaume Jacquemyns as director of the seminar of contemporary history. Though his interests were wide-ranging, his scholarly reputation was built on his treatment of the Belgian colonial history. His work Congo, Mythes et réalités was published in 1989.
He is the father of the historian of science and epistemologist Isabelle Stengers
Isabelle Stengers
Professor Isabelle Stengers , is a Belgian philosopher and is the daughter of the historian Jean Stengers. She graduated in chemistry at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.-Biography:Professor Stengers writes about the philosophy of science...
.
Selected works
- Belgique et Congo; l'élaboration de la Charte coloniale, Bruxelles, La Renaissance du Livre, 1963.
- With Eliane Gubin: Histoire du sentiment national en Belgique des origines à 1918, Bruxelles, Racine, 2000-2002, 2 vol. (Vol. 1: Les racines de la Belgique : jusqu'à la révolution de 1830; Vol. 2: Le grand siècle de la nationalité belge).
- Congo, Mythes et réalités, Paris-Louvain-la-Neuve, Duculot, 1989. (Revised and expanded in 2005, éditions Racine.)
- L'action du roi en Belgique depuis 1831: Pouvoir et influence : essai de typologie des modes d'action du roi et Vertiges du hasard [ISBN 2-84324-036-0].
- "Essai d'une méthode d'évaluation des sommes d'argent exprimées en monnaies anciennes", Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, Vol. 20 (3-4), 1941, pp. 575-588.