Enzo Traverso, the Susan and Bart Winokur Professor in the Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), has received an honorary doctorate from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB).
The university recognizes Traverso as “one of the historians with the most international influence today, especially for his contributions to cultural and intellectual history, and for the interdisciplinary nature of his works.” He will be honored in a ceremony on Nov. 28.
A specialist in the intellectual, cultural and political history of the 20th century, Traverso studies issues particularly relevant to understanding Europe in the last century and, relatedly, Europe today. He has devoted special attention to the German and Central European intellectual world, particularly to the German-Jewish intellectual milieu.
His 2021 book on 19th and 20th century revolutions, “Revolution: An Intellectual History,” (2021) won the 2022 Premio Napoli award for nonfiction.
His other books focus on topics such as the "European civil war" period, as he calls it, which includes 1914 – 1945, the two world wars and the interwar period. He also addresses the question of totalitarianism; the relationship between memory and history; and the methodological and theoretical problems of historiography.
In 2022, he published “Singular Pasts: The ‘I’ in Historiography.”
Interaction with other disciplines – including literature, cultural studies, political theory and philosophy –characterizes Traverso’s work. His authored books are translated into more than fifteen languages, and he has contributed to many collected works. His articles and reviews have been published widely, and he is the recipient of many awards, including the Premio Pozzale (2014); and the Premio Lo Straniero/Gli Asini (2018); in addition to the 2022 Premio Napoli.
