Volume 54 No.2 - 2008-06-30

Analysis of S. Cohen’s Postmodern Historiography of Education

S. Cohen 後現代教育史學的述評

Author：
Horng-Ming Jong / 鍾鴻銘
Keyword：
postmodern, educational historiography, S. Cohen / 後現代、教育史學、S. Cohen
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This paper aims to examine Cohen’s postmodern historiography of education. Cohen named his historiography of education as new cultural history, linguistic turn, or literature turn of history of education. Cohen’s new cultural history is characterized by his attempt to combine intellectual history with social history of education. Moreover, Cohen opposed to the privileged status of written historical text, and suggested that various cultural artifacts should be viewed as historical text and widely researched upon. By the term ‘linguistic turn’, Cohen meant that the historical reality was constructed by language and rhetoric. In other words, the historical reality was only a ‘textualized’ reality. He also stressed that language should be the target of historical investigation and it was also the field of power struggle. When the power of education changed, so did the language of education. Cohen had investigated the shift from moral-intellectual discourse to progressive discourse in American education. Cohen’s literature turn or narrative turn was deeply influenced by Hayden White, who believed that historiography was both factual and fictional. Cohen thought that historical methodology involved both the writing and reading of historical text. With respect to ways of reading historical text, Cohen advocated rhetorical reading, and emphasized that it could produce new insightful meaning.
本文旨在探討 Cohen 的後現代教育史學。對於其後現代教育史學，Cohen 或 稱之為新文化史研究、或稱之為語言學轉向，有時則稱之為文學轉向。就新文化 史研究而言，其特點在於試圖結合思想史與社會史，因此可說是一種觀念的社會 史研究。其次，Cohen 反對獨尊書寫的文本，而是主張將各種文化人工製品視為 歷史文本加以研究。就語言學轉向而言，指的是認為歷史實在乃由語言、修辭所 建構而成，也就是實在是一種文本化的實在。其次，語言學轉向強調將語言當作 歷史察考的對象，認為教育語言是權力競逐之場域，因此教育語言更迭之際，即 是教育權力變動之時。Cohen 曾根據此種論點，探討美國教育從心智──道德的 語言轉向進步主義教育語言的歷史變動過程。就文學或敘述轉向而言，Cohen 深 受 Hayden White 的影響，認為歷史既是科學亦是藝術，因此歷史書寫同時具有陳 述歷史事實及文學想像的雙重層次。其次，Cohen 認為史學方法論同時涉及書寫 歷史及閱讀歷史兩個面向。就後者而言，其提倡一種修辭的閱讀。他本人亦曾根 據修辭的閱讀策略，對教育史文本進行解讀。

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