Michel de Certeau - Interpretation and its Other

Since his death in 1986, Michel de Certeaua s reputation as a thinker has steadily grown both in France and throughout the English--speaking world. His work is extraordinarily innovative and wide--ranging, cutting across issues in historiography, literary and cultural studies, anthropology, sociology, theology, philosophy and psychoanalysis. This book represents the first full--length study of Certeaua s thought. It is organized around the central theme of interpretation and alterity, which Ahearne uses to illuminate Certeaua s work as a whole. The author also examines Certeaua s theory and practice of historiography; his reflection on the relations between changing historical forms of writing, reading and orality; and his distinction between the "strategic" programmes of the politically powerful and the "tactics" of the relatively powerless. Ahearne places Certeaua s work in its general intellectual context, relating it to the views of important contemporary thinkers, such as Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault, and demonstrating the decisive importance to Certeaua s thought of the writings of the early modern mystics and travellers. This book constitutes an excellent critical introduction to Certeaua s work, while also providing a comprehensive and nuanced reading for those already familiar with his thought.