Brazilian historical writing in global perspective : on the emergence of the concept of “historiography”.
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Date
2015
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Abstract
This article assesses the meanings of the term “historiography” in Brazilian historiography
from the late nineteenth century to circa 1950, suggesting that its use plays an essential role
in the process of the disciplinarization and legitimation of history as a discipline. The global-
scale comparison, taking into consideration occurrences of the term in German, Spanish,
and French, reveals that use of the term took place simultaneously worldwide. The term
“historiography” underwent a significant change globally, having become independent
from the modern concept of history, shifting away from the political and social dimensions
of the writing of history in the nineteenth century and unfolding into a metacritical
concept. Such a process enables historians to technically distinguish at least three semantic
modulations of the term: 1. history as a living experience; 2. the writing or narration of
history; and 3. the critical study of historical narratives. Based on the Brazilian experience,
it is possible to think of the “historiography” category as an index of the transformations
of the modern concept of history itself between the 1870s and 1940s, a period of intense
modification of the experience and expectations of the writing of professional historical
scholarship on a global scale.
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Keywords
History of historiography, Brazilian historiography, Global history, Professionalization, Institutionalization
Citation
PEREIRA, M. H. de F.; SANTOS, P. A. C. dos; NICODEMO, T. L. Brazilian historical writing in global perspective: on the emergence of the concept of “historiography”. History and Theory, n. 54, p. 84-104, dez. 2015. Disponível em: <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/hith.10780/epdf>. Acesso em: 24 jan. 2017.