Kasper Risbjerg Eskildsen’s “Leopold Ranke’s Archival Turn” offers a brilliant interpretation of the emergence of the archive as the most important site in the production of historical knowledge. In a wonderfully symmetrical and reflexive fashion, he examines how the archive came to serve as the privileged site for history’s production of truth, analogous to the laboratory, clinic, or field-site in other disciplines. By attending to the spaces of historical research, he offers a novel perspective on the character of “scientific history.” Furthermore, he does an excellent job of illustrating how the reorganization of the structure of the European state made Ranke’s investigative practices possible, thereby artfully connecting changes in political culture with those within the human sciences. He also brilliantly illuminates the interplay between the political and the professional dimensions of Ranke’s vision. With great care, Eskildsen connects Ranke’s personal career ambitions and his conservative politics to his conception of history and the role of the archive. The committee also commends Eskildsen for the high qualityof his prose, which made his article a particularly engaging read.
Kasper Eskildsen is Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy and Science Studies, Roskilde University, Denmark
2009 Article Award committee: Michael Pettit (chair), Kathy Cooke, Hunter Heyck