Cultural Genealogy: Method for a Historical Sociology of Culture or Cultural Sociology of History

Abstract

This article looks at the value of genealogical analysis for doing historical research in cultural sociology, using Nietzsche’s definition of genealogy.The point is to resuscitate a method that has often been rejected by sociologists, and demonstrate its value for analyzing forms of culture that have become tacit or unarticulated over time. To make the case for the method, the article follows a historical example: the use of indigenous hydraulics with Roman provenance on the Canal du Midi in 17th-century France. Women labourers brought hydraulics techniques derived from Roman principles to the canal, but their work was not considered classical. Ironically, the Canal du Midi was promoted in propaganda campaigns, defining France as the New Rome, but the peasant women who actually carried Roman culture in their eyes and hands were not socially elevated enough to be New Romans, so they were written out of this story.