Social Representations and History: Theoretical Problems

Abstract

Addressing the relationship between social representations and history, this chapter discusses the idea of representation as both affirmation and negation of historiographic discourse, based on what have been called the ‘modern’ and ‘postmodern’ historiographic conditions. It begins by discussing how memory has become an epistemological object within the discipline of history. It thus offers reflections on the relationship between history and memory, understood as two forms of managing the past, while exploring their implications for social representations theory. Building upon some considerations of a current in historiography called ‘history of the present time’, the chapter presents the concepts of ‘regime of historicity’ and ‘presentism’, developed in particular by Francois Hartog and Reinhart Koselleck, and discusses some of the challenges they present in relation to current processes surrounding the intelligibility of memory. Finally, it emphasizes that the possibility of developing common ground between history and Social Representations Theory depends on building a post-disciplinary and epistemo-political agenda.