Cahiers d'études africaines - Année 1976 - Volume 16 - Numéro 61 - Pages 67-73C. Coquery-Vidrovitch— ~~Living History.~~ Modem historical method—the so-called New History school—concerns itself with establishing trends and periods, based upon a study of the interaction of economie and social forces rather than with bare events or facts taken out of context. The historian no longer aims or pretends to aim at a neutral 'objectivity', which, in any case, was never more than an intellectual illusion, ignoring, deliberately or not, the influence of the prevailing ideologies. The historian ~~has~~ to make choices, be it only in his angle of approach—e. g., in Africa, to guard from European ethnocentrism. Touching any particular event the question to ask should be ' How was it made possible?' rather than ' What did happen?' Which does not mean dispensing with erudition, but only not taking it as an end in itself. 7 pages Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.