9 February 2026, 16:15-17:45 (in person)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
FU Berlin, FMI, Room A336, Koserstr. 20, 14195 Berlin<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his convention speech in summer 2024, Donald Trump spoke of \u201ca nation in decline.\u201d Against the backdrop of this depicted decline, he promised to \u201cmake America great again.\u201d Populist politicians in other countries share Trump\u2019s argumentation. Here, too, stories of decline take center stage, with populist politicians usually presenting themselves as leadership figures who are the only ones to hear the concerns of \u201cthe people.\u201d My book project explores the role of national, economic, and social narratives of crisis and decline in political discourse in the 19th and 20th century, their origin in different fields of knowledge production, and their circulation since the late 18th century. A particular focus is placed on the transformation and impact of narratives of decline in times of economic crisis. In my presentation, I will outline the project and illustrate my approach through a case study that traces how Oswald Spengler\u2019s Decline of the West influenced German population statistics in the 1920s and 1930s. My case study investigates that act of translation and asks how Korherr\u2019s warnings of a declining birthrate, influenced by Spengler\u2019s study, intervened in the surrounding political debate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Laetitia Lenel<\/strong> is Professor of Economic History at the University of Duisburg-Essen (Juniorprofessur f\u00fcr Kulturgeschichte des \u00d6konomischen). Her research brings together the study of economic knowledge practices and economic history. Among other topics, she investigates the history of business forecasting and how societies have grappled with economic turbulence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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