The past is not past. An interview with Joan Scott

Abstract

As part of the special issue “The Polemics of History: Historiographical Debates and Public Life”, Elisa Lopes da Silva, Bruno Peixe Dias and Marcos Cardão interviewed Joan Wallach Scott. This American historian, professor emerita in the School of Social Science in the Institute of Advanced Studies in Princeton, became known for her work on gender history, engaging with post-structuralist theory, critical theory and psychoanalysis in historiography throughout her long academic career. This interview goes over Scott’s most emblematic works – including her recent work on the historiography and politics of memory and reparations for past aggravations –, assessing her earlier approaches and theses, through the lenses of today.