ABSTRACT

This paper firstly presents Statement Archaeology, an innovative and rigorous method devised to systematically operationalise the approach to historical exploration used by Michel Foucault in pursuit of the question “how do certain practices become possible at particular moments in history?” Drawing on an analysis of the theoretical basis of Foucault’s broad – and arguably equivocal – approach, a series of methodological procedures by which it can be systematically operationalised are set out. These focus on the interrogation of “statements”, through a series of questions, against three criteria: Formation, Transformation, and Correlation. Secondly, through the use of a specific policy development in English Religious Education as an exemplar, the paper establishes the potential of the approach. Deploying Statement Archaeology in relation to this example reveals that the change under investigation became possible at a nexus of changes in the rules of what is thinkable and unthinkable within different domains of discourse, and complex and messy processes of changing legitimacies and normalisations, with previously unacknowledged policy-influencers playing an important role. Many existing accounts of this change have overlooked these matters. The paper concludes by arguing that Statement Archaeology has potential significance in any domain of enquiry that seeks answers to the question “how did this particular practice become possible at that particular moment?”

摘要

本文首先介绍陈述考古学，这是一种创新而严谨的方法，旨在系统地操作米歇尔·福柯在追寻“某些实践如何在历史的特定时刻成为可能？”这一问题时所使用的历史探索方法。借助对福柯广泛的——可以说是模棱两可的——方法的理论基础的分析，提出了一系列可以系统地操作它的方法论程序。这些重点是通过一系列问题根据三个标准对“陈述”进行审问：形成、转换和关联。其次，通过使用英语宗教教育中的特定政策发展作为范例，本文确定了该方法的潜力。不同话语领域内可思考和不可想象规则的变化，以及改变合法性和正常化的复杂而混乱的过程，以前未被承认的政策影响者发挥着重要作用。许多关于这一变化的现有记录都忽略了这些问题。该论文的结论是，陈述考古学在任何寻求“这种特定实践如何在特定时刻成为可能？”这个问题的答案的研究领域都具有潜在意义。