Round tables > Biography and history in the Americas: Methodological approaches, historiographical debates and epistemological issues

Biography and history in the Americas: Methodological approaches, historiographical debates and epistemological challenges

 Thursday, October 2nd from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM

 Centre des Colloques, room 3.02

Organization : Auréliane Narvaez (CREA, Université Paris Nanterre), Michaël  Roy (LARCA, Université Paris Cité), Emanuele de Maupeou (FRAMESPA, Université Toulouse 2 - Jean Jaurès)

Speakers : Maria Beliaeva Solomon (Université du Maryland), Charlotte de Castelnau-L’Estoile (CRM, Sorbonne Université), Aliocha Maldavsky (Mondes Américains, Université Paris Nanterre), Guillaume Marche (IMAGER, UPEC), Nicolas Martin-Breteau (CERAPS, Université de Lille), Seynabou Thiam-Pereira (TransCrit, Université Paris 8)

Abstract :

This round table looks at the contributions of the biographical approach to the historical discipline, through the prism of the methodological challenges, historiographical debates and epistemological issues that the genre of historical biography represents for researchers. Three themes will guide the discussions.

The first, Individual trajectories and collective biographies, will examine the diversity of biographical approaches, whether individual or collective, and the way in which personal trajectories shed light on broader social, economic, political and cultural dynamics and contexts. At the heart of the biographical enterprise, the question of the articulation between individual trajectories and historical depth will raise not only methodological questions, but also epistemological ones on the multiple ways of writing history.

The second theme, Biography, history(ies) and exile, will examine the trajectories of migration and exile in the Americas, questioning the role of historical biography in the construction of memory and diasporic identities, as well as its contribution to transnational history. The biographical genre makes it possible to cross-reference different historical approaches (whether social, cultural, micro-historical or global) and to highlight the existence of circulations, networks and contacts between spaces or groups, sometimes distant, for which the individual acts as an interface.  

The third axis, Canonical figures and forgotten figures through the prism of the biographical genre, will question the selection processes and historiographical choices that lead to the highlighting of certain figures, while others seem condemned to inevitable oblivion. The biographical genre, as an analytical and narrative framework, will thus be apprehended not only as a method of critical investigation for rethinking the invisibilization or marginalization of certain groups or personalities, but also as a means of shedding new light on the careers of certain great canonical figures.

This round table is intended as a forum for reflection on the biographical genre, seen both as a tool for renewing methodological and historiographical approaches, and as a lever for opening up new perspectives on history as a practice and discipline. By addressing the links between individual and collective trajectories, the contribution of stories of exile and migration, and the rediscovery of forgotten or marginalized figures, discussions will shed light on the ways in which historical biography enriches the fields of micro-history, social history, cultural history and global history, while questioning memorial choices and historiographical biases - all fertile avenues for thinking and rethinking the plural history of the Americas.