History, Historiography, Manifest: Some Considerations about a Difficult Synthesis

The essay aims to present a metadisciplinary reflection upon the theoretical problems related to history and historiography. Many historians, in Italy and abroad, and especially those specialising in the contemporary age, have devoted little attention to the epistemological issues related to their discipline, favouring an evenementielle historiography focused in some cases on researching new documentary holdings rather than on identifying new analytical approaches. Starting with an analysis (and a critique) of The History Manifesto by David Armitage and Jo Guldi (Cambridge University Press, 2014 and 2015), the essay is intended as an invitation for a historiographical inquiry that links narrative reconstruction to methodological considerations, for a history that reflects upon the dimension of time and space, periodisation and historiographical narratives, and that ultimately reflects upon the very purpose of studying history of being historians.