This essay reviews the contribution of Foucauldian poststructural theory to history. It
retrieves its origins as a supplement to, not a negation of, the structuralisms of the Annales. Histories
of discourses influenced by modish (Barthesian, gender, post-colonial, Cultural Studies …) paradigms
often overlook this heritage. They take, ‘il n'y a pas hors de texte’ at face value. This essay
suggests ways to re-assimilate historical studies of discourses with older historiographies of classes,
institutions, social structures, and ideologies. Poststructural historiography today tends to focus only on
discourses, confusing coherence with power, meanings with causes. Making use of Giddens's
structuration, de Certeau's reçu and Bourdieu's pratique, I suggest that historians must seek out
actions as well as words, looking for sites where discourses they find in one sphere affect another. Only
then can historians assess the importance of the discourses they find, above and beyond their mere
coherence.
This paper considers the implications for higher education of recent work on narrative theory, distributed cognition and artificial intelligence. These perspectives are contrasted with the educational implications of Heidegger's ontological phenomenology [being-there and being-aware (Da-sein)] and with the classic and classical foundations of education which Heidegger and Gadamer once criticised. The aim is to prompt discussion of what teaching might become ifpsychological insights (about collective minds let loose to learn) are associated with every realm of higher education (not just teacher training).
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