Reading the subject of history: From semiology to poststructuralism

Abstract

This chapter explores the transdisciplinary breadth of sources that have reinscribed the nature of its praxis (e.g., philosophy, anthropology, sociology, linguistics, psychology). The problem of the autonomy of intellectual or cultural history in the field of historically oriented studies of culture is compounded by the fact that it posits a priori a unified expression of identity that is in this instance absent, without a teleological justification, without a definitive reason. There is a need to reexamine the conceptual ground of intellectual history has demanded as its equivalent in application, the reflexive modification of praxis. What would a rethinking of history entail after the linguistic turn of contemporary theorizing around the writing of history?