In Logics of History William H. Sewell argues for an interdisciplinary approach to the study of history. An historian with a social sciences background and theoretical leaning, Sewell argues that “Only if historians enter the fray and develop systematic critiques and reformulations of the theories we borrow from social scientists can we expect to build social theories adequate [...]
Archive for November, 2009
Entering the (theory) fray
Posted in Uncategorized on November 30, 2009 | 2 Comments »
The Archive: Just the Beginning
Posted in Uncategorized on November 23, 2009 | 2 Comments »
In the course of this week’s readings I was struck by Carolyn Steedman’s concept of history as “the only story that has no end.” (Dust, 148) This notion especially resonated with me in light of the essays collected in Antoinette Burton’s Archive Stories. Both works discuss the archive itself and the historian’s use of the [...]
The Confines of Contract
Posted in Uncategorized on November 16, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In the course of this week’s readings, I found Carole Pateman’s critique of the social contract to be not only an enlightening exposition of contract theory’s neglect of the sexual contract, but also applicable to both Butler and Arondekar. Butler, in Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, argues that the socially constructed notions [...]
The Ambiguities of “Gender”
Posted in Uncategorized on November 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Both Denise Riley and Joan W. Scott examine the inherent inconsistencies within the social and political construct of gender and the implications of these inconsistencies both in terms of enacting social change and analyzing the historical concept of ‘women.’ Riley’s Am I That Name analyzes historical and social conceptions of gender and the shifting nature [...]
French Theory in America: Beyond the University?
Posted in Uncategorized on November 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
In French Theory, Francois Cusset examines the impact of French theory in America, and America’s subsequent impact on its influence across the world. Cusset argues that the exile of French intellectuals and artists in America during World War II laid the foundation for the 1966 John’s Hopkins Conference- “The Language of Criticism and the Sciences of Man.” (29) [...]
