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Among the numerous historians who expressed their fascination for natural sciences in the 19th century, Renan and Taine occupy a specific position. Deeply influenced by positivism, they refer to natural sciences as a model in order to define history as a positive science emancipating itself from metaphysics. Recurrent embryological and anatomical comparisons shape their historical narratives, and references to natural sciences more broadly sustain the claim that history has become a true science of general laws. But neither Renan' s nor Taine' s argument ends in the simplifying identification of history and natural sciences. On the contrary, both historians claim that specific objects draw a line between the two. Dealing with the moral more than with the physical dimension of man, history is defined mainly as a psychology, therefore belonging to the field of philosophy. This paper will focus on this complex, and even ambiguous use of natural metaphors in Renan' s and Taine' s works.

Michael Confino, Present events and the representation of the past. Some current problems in Russian historical writing. Historical writing is probably not just a re-enactment of the present by other means. Nevertheless, there is something of it in all historical writing. For that reason the real questions are : to what extent do current events influence the historian's work, and is he or she sufficiently aware of this influence and its by-products ?
The recent developments in Russia have had a profound effect on Soviet/Russian historical writing, and a devastating one on Western Sovietology. But they have also put on the agenda of Western historiography new questions, or given an acute topicality to old ones. Is this new turn justified by the organic development of the discipline ? Is it a "paradigmatic revolution" of sorts ? Or does it reflect rather some inadequacies in traditional historiography during the last thirty years or so ? Inadequacies such as deterministic and teleological approaches inspired by the "1917 paradigm" ? In turn, these approaches have generated an hypertrophy of phenomena such as the crisis of the Old Regime, revolutionary processes, and social instability. For how, indeed, could "1917" have happened without such kind of overwhelming phenomena ? But as is well known, historical logic does not always follow the logic of the common sense.
What have we learnt (about the present as well as about the past) from the recurrent and pervading ase of historical analogies as, for instance, between Gorbachev and Alexander I, or Yeltsin and Kerenski ? Do we need the constant evocation of reforms (failed or successful) in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in order to gauge the chances of success of the reforms in today's Russia ? Is Russian history repeating itself, or is there something atavistic in its course ? And is it the historian's task to predict the future instead of explaining the past ?
Are these new problems a symptom of the discipline's growth and maturity ? Or rather non-issues indicating a malaise and perhaps a crisis ?

Dmitry V. Shlapentokh, Thermidor or Mongol Empire: History as a political model in Russian émigré thought.
The article demonstrates that the Russian émigrés had been preoccupied with the historical analogies of the events which followed the Bolshevik Revolution. There were basically two historical models: French and Oriental. According to the "French model", the downfall of the Bolshevik regime would come about and the regime would suffer its Thermidor. On the other hand, according to the "Oriental model", the regime would enjoy its stability. While the French model had been popular shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution, the Oriental model became popular in émigré thought from the 1930's to the end ofthe 1950's.

Bianca Maria Gerlich
It was the object of this article to discover possible historical traces of the basic structure of the novel-cycle Ciclo dei Pirati della Malesia by Emilio Salgari, in particular the historical existence of its chief protagonist Sandokan. Since historical facts corresponding to the setting of the cycle can in fact be found, it is clear that Salgari's novel should not be read as mere fictional literature but rather as literature with an historical background. Besides some rather general historical facts and circumstances, even some of the details turn out to be historical. The names of persons, places and constellations that were well-known in Europe such as "James Brooke", "Sarawak" and "Labuan" figure, but so do "Sandokan" and the "flag of the tiger" which were known at the time to a rather small group of people in Sabah. Salgari's dates are correct, too : Le Tigri di Mompracem starts at the end of 1849, and the original version La Tigre della Malesia in 1847 ; the battle of Malludu in fact took place in 1845. In the Yanez-passage we are informed that Sandokan was resident on the north coast of Borneo for a few years before he settled down in Mompracem.
Perhaps the fundamental messages of the cycle correspond more to historical reality than some reports by European contemporaries or historians do. The Sandokan' s fight for freedom against the European colonizers reflects historical reality. Salgari portrayed history from the perspective of the "losers" and not from that of the "winners", unlike what one finds in most European literature of the last century. His protagonist, who belongs to the weaker party, is positively valued, whereas in official British historiography Malludu is obviously viewed negatively.
However, it should be realized that only the basic structure of the novel coincides in part with historical events and persons, whereas vast parts - especially the immanent actions - belong to fiction. The cycle shows a form of virtual historical reality : Salgari worked his story out upon a historical frame, the polarity between "Sandokan" and "the British". The tension between this poles is essentially determined through the efforts of the colonizers. A detailed examination of historical analogies in the immanent parts of the cycle, or concerning Salgari's descriptions on Bornean customs, social relations and other aspects could bring forth further interesting results. The introductory question concerning the place of historicity in Salgari's Ciclo dei Pirati della Malesia can however be answered positively even on the basis of our preliminary examination. The three symbols "Mompracem", and the "flag of the tiger" and "Sandokan" did exist and were handed down orally and in writing. But more relevant perhaps is the connection between "Sandokan" and the "flag of the tiger" through Sandokan's native country Malludu. He lived there and was indeed very probably in a position of authority. The emblem of Malludu was the flag of the tiger. Malludu was mentioned by Salgari in what may be seen as a basically correct historical context. His fundamental historical message privileges the "Malay" and not the "European" side. Salgari's anti-colonial interpretation thus finds interesting echoes in the modern discussion of nineteenth-century colonial expansion in Southeast Asia.

Wanner makes a significant contribution to the project to embrace language in three dimensions at the same time: (1) daily acts of production and reception, (2) acquisition of first language, and (3) linguistic change. To do so, it moves the object that needs to be the process to the speaker — not a language — and describes the analogy as the basic device. To support this project, he called Skousen's Dynamic analogy and Culicover's Concrete Minimalism to which he added a 'Soft Syntax'. After reporting through the text, I make a critical assessment of the device so constituted and say to what extent the project is, in my view, supported. ; Wanner fait une contribution significative au projet d'embrasser le fait linguistique dans trois dimensions à la fois : (1) les actes quotidiens de production et de réception, (2) l'acquisition de langue première, et (3) le changement linguistique. Pour cela il déplace l'objet qui doit être les processus chez le locuteur - et non une langue - et qualifie l'analogie comme l'appareil fondamental. Pour soutenir ce projet il convoque la "Dynamic Analogy" de Skousen et le "Concrete Minimalism" de Culicover à quoi il ajoute une "Soft Syntax". Après un compte rendu au fil du texte, je fais une évaluation critique de l'appareil ainsi constitué et dis dans quelle mesure le projet est, selon moi, soutenu.

The Historical Approach versus the Judicial Truth : Judges and Historians.
Recent trials involved in historical cases give the opportunity to establish the main characteristics of historical workshop and justice practices and to seek their analogies. Both historians and judges are confronted with social demands and are both responsible for the future of their communities, their criteria of judgement being dependent on the values of those communities. Even if their "truths" can not be delivered in the same way, they sustain the same sort of constraints and are inscribed within the same horizons.

The subject questions the historians' relationship with time in France, from the 1930s to the 1950s, by means of published historical production. By combining historiographic questions with issues of cultural history, the will is to adopt a social definition of history and historians. Based on the private holdings of historians, publishers, and books held in legal deposit, this study aims to understand how historians write, conceive, and debate history. The aim is to take a step back from the mere professional definition of history and to consider the writing of history as a cultural process involving historians with different legitimacies, in contact with cultural intermediaries, in particular, publishers, addressing an audience or several audiences. The production context of the period was over-determined by an intellectual crisis, which began in 1931, concerning the legitimacy of history, and its place in society, coming from philosophers and critics. The question of historiographic construction is central: historians, in their diversity – academic or polygraph – write historical works, more or less permeable to the issues of the present, for scientific purposes, symbolic but also political, of which we can make a historiographic and epistemological typology. The representations of history vary appreciably from the pole of production of historians to the pole of mediation. Considered as an editorial genre, history then becomes more malleable and responds to social and economic issues, which aim the widest possible dissemination to the public. In this context, the main novelty of the period is the historical collection, which is an opportunity as well as a constraint for historians. The study questions the receptions of this published history, not only by the political authorities, in a censorial framework from 1940 to 1944, but also, in the longer term, by the cultural mediators, who are booksellers, journalists and critics, specialist and generalist ones. Finally, the study of receptions by the public shows that history has a social function, suggesting a specific representation of the past. The underlying movement of the study, whether in production, mediation, or receptions, is the remarkable analogy between the events of the past and the present. Provoked, fantasized, real, or recused, this dialogue of the times is disclosed to our eyes with a particular acuity during these two decades. ; Le sujet interroge le rapport des historiens au temps en France, des années 1930 aux années 1950, au moyen de la production historique éditée. En alliant les questionnements historiographiques aux problématiques d'histoire culturelle, la volonté est d'adopter une définition sociale de l'histoire et des historiens. Menée à partir des fonds privés d'historiens, de fonds d'éditeurs et des ouvrages conservés au dépôt légal, cette étude vise à comprendre comment les historiens écrivent, conçoivent et débattent de l'histoire. L'objectif est de prendre du recul quant à la seule définition professionnelle de l'histoire et d'envisager l'écriture de l'histoire comme un processus culturel mettant en jeu des historiens aux légitimités différentes, en prise avec des intermédiaires culturels, notamment les éditeurs, s'adressant à un public ou plusieurs publics. Le contexte de production de la période est surdéterminé par une crise intellectuelle, débutée en 1931, portant sur la légitimité de l'histoire, et sa place dans la société, de la part de philosophes et de critiques. La question de la construction historiographique est centrale : les historiens, dans leur diversité – académiques, universitaires ou polygraphes –, écrivent des ouvrages historiques, plus ou moins perméables aux enjeux du présent, à des fins scientifiques, symboliques mais aussi politiques, dont on peut faire une typologie historiographique et épistémologique. Les représentations de l'histoire varient appréciablement du pôle de production des historiens, au pôle de médiation. Perçue comme un genre éditorial, l'histoire devient alors plus malléable et répond à des enjeux sociaux et économiques, qui visent à une diffusion la plus large possible auprès du grand public. Dans ce cadre, la principale nouveauté de la période est la collection historique, qui constitue une opportunité autant qu'une contrainte pour les historiens. L'étude interroge les réceptions de cette histoire éditée, non seulement par les instances politiques, dans un cadre censorial de 1940 à 1944, mais aussi, sur le plus long terme, par les médiateurs culturels, que sont les libraires, journalistes et critiques, spécialisés et généralistes. Enfin, l'étude des réceptions par les publics montre que l'histoire a une fonction sociale, en suggérant une représentation spécifique du passé. Le mouvement de fond qui sous-tend l'étude est, qu'il s'agisse de production, de médiation ou de réceptions, la remarquable analogie entre les événements du passé et le temps présent. Provoqué, fantasmé, réel, ou récusé, ce dialogue des temps se révèle à nos yeux avec une acuité particulière pendant ces deux décennies.

Land Reforms in Lithuania : Faithful to Tradition ?

The author compares the major land reforms conducted in Lithuania from 1557 to 1991 in socio- historical perspective and highlights certain analogies between various statutes. This continuity may be explained in part by trends specific to Lithuanian society, where the individualistic organization of the « civilized west » has long co-existed with the communitarian system of the « Russian east ». The 1991 reform was intended to mark « a return to Europe ». Yet, faithful to their tradition of ambivalence, country-dwellers and reformers reprivatized farming without dissolving the collective farms set up under the Soviet system. These units, though now private, still function along collectivist lines.

Hittites appear quite often in the Bible, as usually translated, and they happen to be related, even nowadays, to the Hittite Empire of the Bronze Age. This understanding of the biblical texts does not take historical data into account. While some passages may allude to Neo-Hittite states of Syria or be inspired by the cuneiform use of Hatti in Iron Age II, other mentions must have referred originally to the North-Arabian tribe Hatti, living in southern Canaan or the Negev and known from the toponymic list of Shoshenq I (10th century B.C.) and certainly from the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser (8th century B.C.). The case of "Uriah the Hittite" is somewhat different, because the man in question was ewri Hutiya, bearing the Hurrian title "lord" or "king" and a Hurrian personal name. He was apparently continuing the lineage of Hurrian princes of Jerusalem known from some Amarna letters of the 14th century B.C. Hurrian political and military influence in Canaan is well attested, but the Nuzi analogies with patriarchal narratives hardly prove a characteristic Hurrian impact on Israelite customs and the early Hebrew literature. The role of Hurrians, called Horites in the Bible, could no longer be understood properly by the redactors of biblical books, but the realm of Urartu in Iron Age II Anatolia seems to have been known quite well in scribal circles. ; Hittites appear quite often in the Bible, as usually translated, and they happen to be related, even nowadays, to the Hittite Empire of the Bronze Age. This understanding of the biblical texts does not take historical data into account. While some passages may allude to Neo-Hittite states of Syria or be inspired by the cuneiform use of Hatti in Iron Age II, other mentions must have referred originally to the North-Arabian tribe Hatti, living in southern Canaan or the Negev and known from the toponymic list of Shoshenq I (10th century B.C.) and certainly from the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser (8th century B.C.). The case of "Uriah the Hittite" is somewhat different, because the man in question was ewri Hutiya, bearing the Hurrian title "lord" or "king" and a Hurrian personal name. He was apparently continuing the lineage of Hurrian princes of Jerusalem known from some Amarna letters of the 14th century B.C. Hurrian political and military influence in Canaan is well attested, but the Nuzi analogies with patriarchal narratives hardly prove a characteristic Hurrian impact on Israelite customs and the early Hebrew literature. The role of Hurrians, called Horites in the Bible, could no longer be understood properly by the redactors of biblical books, but the realm of Urartu in Iron Age II Anatolia seems to have been known quite well in scribal circles. ; Hittites appear quite often in the Bible, as usually translated, and they happen to be related, even nowadays, to the Hittite Empire of the Bronze Age. This understanding of the biblical texts does not take historical data into account. While some passages may allude to Neo-Hittite states of Syria or be inspired by the cuneiform use of Hatti in Iron Age II, other mentions must have referred originally to the North-Arabian tribe Hatti, living in southern Canaan or the Negev and known from the toponymic list of Shoshenq I (10th century B.C.) and certainly from the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser (8th century B.C.). The case of "Uriah the Hittite" is somewhat different, because the man in question was ewri Hutiya, bearing the Hurrian title "lord" or "king" and a Hurrian personal name. He was apparently continuing the lineage of Hurrian princes of Jerusalem known from some Amarna letters of the 14th century B.C. Hurrian political and military influence in Canaan is well attested, but the Nuzi analogies with patriarchal narratives hardly prove a characteristic Hurrian impact on Israelite customs and the early Hebrew literature. The role of Hurrians, called Horites in the Bible, could no longer be understood properly by the redactors of biblical books, but the realm of Urartu in Iron Age II Anatolia seems to have been known quite well in scribal circles.

This reflection article proposes a brief historical overview of the contemporary politics regarding romance languages and their relations with other languages (Xphonies). An analogy with game theory regarding multiple organisms and institutions proper to each space demonstrates how influential cultural and economic globalization interests can be in languages' development; politically correct discourses confine every initiative aiming to promote an inter-comprehension between the Hispanophony, Francophony and Lusophony. Nevertheless, a proposal is still feasible in education to improve the future of romance languages geopolitics. ; Este artículo de reflexión nos propone un breve recorrido histórico de la política contemporánea de las lenguas romances y su relación con los demás conjuntos lingüísticos (Xfonías). A través de una analogía con la teoría de juegos establecida alrededor de los diferentes organismos e instituciones propias de cada región, se evidencia la influencia de los intereses de la globalización a nivel cultural y, sobre todo, económico; el discurso de lo políticamente correcto limita las iniciativas para una intercomprensión entre la hispanofonía, la francofonía y la lusofonía. Sin embargo, existe una solución viable desde el punto de vista educativo con el fin de mejorar el futuro de la geopolítica lingüística romance. ; Cet article présente un parcours historique rapide de la politique contemporaine des langues romanes et son rapport avec les autres ensembles linguistiques (Xphonies). À travers une analogie avec la théorie des jeux établie autour des différents organismes et institutions propres à chaque région, il est possible de constater l'influence des intérêts de mondialisation au niveau culturel et surtout économique; le discours Politiquement-correct cerne les initiatives pour une intercompréhension entre l'hispanophonie, la francophonie et la lusophonie. Une solution au niveau éducatif reste pourtant envisageable afin d'améliorer l'avenir linguistique de cette géopolitique romane.

Rooted in the historical and political realities of their native country, Cameroon, and yet deeply influenced by their common experience of exile and intellectual nomadism, historian Achille Mbembe and economicist Célestin Monga share many commonalities, among which the ambition of rethinking Africa's contemporary situation at a world scale as well as their attempt to understand the contemporary world from an African viewpoint. Achille Mbembe is now well known for his theorization of the postcolony (or the forms of political imagination in Africa), as well as for his concept of Afropolitanism, which characterizes 'the new African sensibility in the age of diaspora and globalization'. Célestin Monga, for his part, has developed, through various travelogues and essays, an original thought based on a nihilist understanding of the creativity at work in the various aspects of ordinary life in Africa, yet also taking into account the major dynamics of globalization. Building on the biographical and intellectual analogies between Monga and Mbembe, this article explores their common assumptions as well as the major lines of their dissent; it then focuses on certain tensions and paradoxes in order to outline the main differences in the critical and literary postures of both thinkers. ; Ancrés dans les réalités historiques et politiques du Cameroun, mais nourris également par leur expérience de l'exil voire par un certain nomadisme intellectuel, les penseurs Achille Mbembe et Célestin Monga partagent un même projet: repenser la situation de l'Afrique dans le monde, et développer sur l'état du monde contemporain un point de vue neuf depuis l'Afrique. Si Mbembe est aujourd'hui célèbre pour avoir théorisé, d'une part, la postcolonie (ou les formes contemporaines de l'imagination politique en Afrique) et, d'autre part, l'afropolitanisme ou la manifestation d'une 'nouvelle sensibilité africaine dans un nouvel âge de dispersion et de circulation', l'œuvre de Célestin Monga, en apparence plus littéraire, décline sous la forme de ...