Perspectives of Post-Structuralism on Historical Methodology and the Impact on the Transformation of Historical Understanding

Abstract

This research sought to understand and analyze post-structuralist theory in contemporary historiography. Post-structuralism emerged in France during the second half of the twentieth century as a critical reaction to structuralist theory. It later became a highly influential new methodology in historiography, thanks to thinkers such as Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Baudrillard, and Deleuze. Post-structuralist theory rejected traditional historiography and emphasized discourse, language, the historian's personal interpretation, and power relations as the basis of history. Post-structuralists argue that history is not a clear record of the past, but rather a process designed to be interpreted by power structures. Consequently, meaning is not fixed, and historical texts must be interpreted subjectively. In this context, the post-structuralist movement applied several approaches to historical writing, such as Foucault's approach to power, perception, and ethnology; Derrida's approach to deconstruction; and Deleuze's approach to multiplicity and concealment. This has led to a profound impact of post-structuralism on many historical aspects and fields to date, such as memory analysis, colonial history, socio-cultural history, feminist history, and contemporary digital history. Undoubtedly, post-structuralism has developed a wide range of historical methodologies, whose influence continues to grow. This paper consists of an introduction, five themes and conclusions. It is an introduction that is a gateway to introducing post-structuralist theory. In the first topic, entitled (Introduction, Characteristics and Causes of the Emergence of the Structuralism Movement), the origin, introduction, characteristics and causes of the emergence of the movement are presented. The second theme (Thinkers of the Post-Structural Movement) discusses the main thinkers of this movement. In the next topic (The Influence of Post-Structuralism on Historiography) he highlights the widespread influence that the post-structuralist movement had on historical method. He then explains the methods used in this movement in another topic entitled Post-Structuralist Historical Methods. In the final section, the most important criticisms of this trend are discussed.