The Effect of Cultural Turn in Western Historical Discourse: Historiographic Shift in Truth, Tropology, and Subjectivity

Abstract

This article attempts to investigate the epistemic influence of cultural turn upon Western historical writings which happened in the second half of the twentieth century. The history of historical writings from modernist objectivism, archival chronicles, and historical material man deeply influences philosophy of historiography. However, with the fall of modernism and historicism the patterns of historical knowledge production suffered a decline in representation of values and concepts. There is a plethora of literature on the post-concept writings which broadly deals with the postmodern culture of concepts. However, this article specifically explores its effect and influence upon the emergence of contemporary historical theory. There is a significant historiographic shift during a cultural turn in the concepts of truth, tropology, and subjectivity. The old regime of truth and climate of tropology in the presence of subjective discourse of desire have brought historical studies into a completely new understanding of the existing world and words. Regarding the methodological application, this paper deals with cultural historians and theorists, particularly Western explanations to understand the underlying crisis in modernist historiography and to uphold new medium and parameters for historical theory and applied history.