Historical narratives function as disguised lessons in constitutional law

Evidence

It has always been said (ever since the seventeenth century) that this is the least-known period. Least known? Perhaps. But definitely the most widely studied. … History and public right in fact go hand in hand. There is a strict correlation between the problems posed by public right and the delineation of the historical feld—and “history and public right” will in fact remain a set phrase until the end of the eighteenth century. If you look at how history, and the pedagogy of history, was actually taught until well after the eighteenth century and even in the twentieth, you will find that it is public right that you are being told about. … We thought that we were learning history; but in the nineteenth century, and even the twentieth, history books were in fact textbooks on public right. We were learning about public right and constitutional law by looking at pictures from history. — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 141

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the Islamophobia field’s core concern with how ‘national’ histories are constructed to naturalize a homogeneous body politic — echoes Anderson’s imagined community. — connects to: Counterhistory functions to disinter truths that power has deliberately concealed — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 89; Histories of conquest functioned as groundings of public right alongside natural law — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 140; Political reform projects reconstruct idealized historical models to legitimate limits on power — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 137 (+10 more)
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: the phrase ‘our ancestors the Gauls’ taught to Algerians — this is a concrete hinge between French historiography and colonial/racial ordering that later postcolonial readings will build on.

Related

• Historico-political discourse claims partisan truth that functions as a weapon, excluding juridical universality (similarity 0.81)
• Histories of conquest functioned as groundings of public right alongside natural law (similarity 0.80)
• Law and truth disguise the historical violence that produced them (similarity 0.80)
• Historical discourse functioned as an instrument forged in struggles over power. (similarity 0.79)
• War-deciphering discourse is historico-political, critical and mythical rather than juridical (similarity 0.79)
• Counterhistory functions to disinter truths that power has deliberately concealed (similarity 0.79)
• History became the discourse each class used to claim its rights (similarity 0.78)
• Historical knowledge is itself a weapon within the war it narrates (similarity 0.78)
• Origin myths function as political arguments about power, not historical records (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Law and truth disguise the historical violence that produced them #expands (0.85) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 73
• Founding myths substitute fabricated narrative for genuine history to serve ruling classes #corroborates (0.85)
• Historical discourse functioned as an instrument forged in struggles over power. #corroborates (0.80) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 151
• Historical practice by the First Congress reveals constitutional meaning beyond pattern alone #exemplifies (0.75) — Ruggero J. Aldisert, Agatha D. Aldisert, Logic for Lawyers- A Guide to Clear…, 1070
• War-deciphering discourse is historico-political, critical and mythical rather than juridical #contradicts (0.75) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 285
• Historical discourse functions as a transferable tactic, not an ideology #complicates (0.75) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 205
• Narrative history counters Orientalist vision as will to power #expands (0.70)