Beyond Discourse Theory

This article argues against the model of discourse analysis which currently dominates much historical writing. Starting from an archival fragment, the seventeenth-century interrogation of a young man who attempted suicide, it explores how discourse theory can only take us so far in understanding subjectivity. The article then explores how discourse theory has influenced work on the history of witchcraft. Finally, it argues that discourse analysis is unsatisfactory because it cannot explain historical change, and because it lacks an account of psychology. Overemphasizing words, it does not help us understand embodiedness. Finally, it wrongly privileges the eighteenth century as the moment of change.