The editors of French Historical Studies seek articles for a special issue on “Theorized History.” Articles that demonstrate exciting new approaches to the writing of history are welcome. Rather than taking a polemical position on whether the “linguistic turn” proved beneficial or detrimental to the field of history, we are interested in examples of historical analysis that investigate the past with the awareness that it comes to us through textual artifacts in the broadest sense of that term. In particular, we are hoping to assemble a collection of articles that move beyond some of the binary oppositions that have so divided the field of French history in the last twenty years: the “social” vs. the “cultural,” “biological reality” vs. “discursive representation,” and “history” vs. “theory. We seek essays which demonstrate each side of these binaries as informing and constituting, rather than opposing, the other. We are further interested in scholarship that treats history and theory as inseparable components of a unified approach to historical practice. We are hoping for essays from a wide variety of sub-fields within French History, including science and medicine, race and the Empire, social, intellectual and cultural history, gender, and transnational approaches.

Queries regarding submissions should be addressed to the guest editors, Paul Friedland (pfriedla AT bowdoin.edu) and Mary Louise Roberts (maryroberts AT wisc.edu). Articles may be either in English or in French but must conform to French Historical Studies style (see http://fhs.umn.edu/style/ for details) and must be accompanied by abstracts in both languages. Quotations must be translated from the French for articles in English. Papers should be between 8,000 and 10,000 words (up to but not longer than 15,000 words including notes). For the inclusion of illustrations written permission must be obtained from the relevant persons or institutions for print and on-line publication.

Manuscripts can be sent by post or electronically to Richard Parks, Managing Assistant, French Historical Studies, Department of History, University of Minnesota-twin cities, 1110 Heller Hall, 271 19th Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55455. We encourage, but do not require, electronic submission of manuscripts. Manuscripts submitted electronically should be sent in MS Word or Rich Text Format (RTF).

The deadline for submissions is October 1, 2010.