'Ruimte en geschiedenis : een noodzakelijk debat'

The discussion on the Westforschung is highly relevant for contemporary discussions on space, identity and history. As a reaction on postmodernism and the process of globalization in contemporary society we are again looking for security and certainty. Partly we try to regain this security by turning to national and regional identities that has been formed in history. It is too simple to answer this attitude by emphasizing that these identities are constructed in time and therefore not fixed. Historians should address these questions much more straightforwardly and pay explicitely attention to the role of space and geography in human relationships.