Surfing at the edge of the cliff or as the historian navigates and writes in times of the world wide web

Abstract

This text addresses the challenges faced by historians in contemporary times, this time increasingly liquid and elusive. He proposes that we give up any illusion around the existence of a firm ground for the production of historical knowledge, from any fixed point where historical truth resides, even if it is a cliff edge, to launch ourselves on the adventure of building knowledge and truths, of inventing the past, launching us into the sea of time and history, where reality is incessant movement and change. We replace the contemplative and frightened historian at the edge of the cliff, still looking for a lifeline in social practices, for the surfer-historian, knowing by moving, by moving, by putting the test on the crest of the waves of our time, time of navigations and piracy in the world wide web, in the adventure of trying to prevent the true will, in our field, from sinking.