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ETHNOGRAPHYOFHISTORICALTHOUGHTANDETHNOGRAPHICNOTES|
17
Ethnographicinformationcomesfromconferencestatementsand
viewsexpressedindiscussionsandmonographs.Usually,Iextractnon-
keystatementsfromthemfromthepointofviewoftheirauthors.Being
specificsocialevents,theyareexploredandtreatedastellingsomething
aboutlargeissuespresentinthestudyofthepast.22Inthistypeofin-
ference,accordingtoGeertz)sdirective,insteadofstartingfromasetof
observationsandcrammingthemintoanoverridinglaw,westartfrom
asetofimplicitsignifiersthatwetrytoplacewithinsomeunderstand-
ableframeworkandtreatasacommentaryonsomethingmorethan
themselves.(Thatwhereaninterpretationcomesfromdoesnotdeter-
minewhereitcanbeimpelledtogo.Smallfactsspeaktolargeissues…
becausetheyaremadeto).23
Shiftingtheemphasisontolargeissueshasresultedintheinterestin
notonlyhistorians,butalsoinhistoriansofhistoriographyandtheoreti-
ciansofhistory,andtheirstatementsregardingtheresearchpracticeof
historians.HereIlookatthelargeissuesinthestudyofthepast,ana-
lysingmetahistoricalinterpretationsmadebyhistoriansofhistoriogra-
phyandmethodologyofhistory.PerhapsIintellectuallyabusecultural
anthropologyasascientificdisciplinebutIbelievethatIcantreatmy
analysesas(ethnographisedanalyses)inthelightofthebelief,sharedby
atleastsomeculturalanthropologists,thatethnographycanalsocome
fromsecond-handsources.24
Moreover,Ihavealsobecomeinterestedin(scholarlyvillages)other
than(historianvillages).Followingthecredo(myhomeismybusiness)
isnevercreative,andthisisthesameinscience.Itisalwaysworthob-
servingwhatlifelookslikeinsidetheneighbouring(villages)inhabited
byotherrepresentativesofmodernthought,particularlythosewhoare
inconstantcontactwithhistorians.Iamthereforeinterestedinwhatis
happeninginculturalanthropologyandarchives.Alookatthelifethat
goesonthereandwhich,letmeemphasise,interestsmeasamethodol-
22Idem.,TheInterpretationofCultures,pp.26–27.
23Ibid.,p.23.
24C.Geertz,WorksandLives:TheAnthropologistasAuthor,Stanford1988,
p.144.
