![]() ![]() ![]() In the course of the discussion, a simple but essential question arose, which would be provocative were it not ingenuous: “What is the use of history?”. ![]() This approach enabled the students to adopt a decentred perspective on history and keep off the beaten tracks of “a self-complacent Eurocentrism”(p. The students had read his book, The Eagle and the Dragon (2012, 2014 for the English version), in an attempt to apprehend the various situations – encounters, exchanges and misunderstandings – that occurred during the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards and a failed Portuguese expedition to China in the 16 th century. In the foreword to his book, French historian Serge Gruzinski explains how he found himself going back to his hometown, the cosmopolitan working-class city of Roubaix, where he was invited by a teacher of history and geography to meet students and answer their questions about one of the topics in the curriculum for history (year 11/tenth grade) – New Geographical and Cultural Horizons of Europeans in Modern Times – Gruzinski being one of the best specialists on the topic. Reviewed: Serge Gruzinski, L’histoire, pour quoi faire ?, Paris, Fayard, 2015. ![]()
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