ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a collection that is divided into three parts: the dfirst section addresses the boundaries between history, fiction and the human sciences; the second looks at the ways women write and are represented; the third examines the relation between the early modern, modern and postmodern in theory and practice. The importance of the text and of the bricoleur in cultural studies, literary theory and many of the human sciences, Pagden’s suggestion has wide implications. The Bible and literature contain powerful mythical and critical representations of women, some of which have affinities with post-structuralist and feminist theories. The rise of modernity in Europe is connects with the breakdown of feudalism and the rise of capitalism. The crisis in anthropology may suggest questions about the origins of anthropology while the very historical nature of the questioning may turn the lens on history itself. The focus on labyrinths in postmodern theory is reminiscent of the use of labyrinths in Renaissance dialogues.
