Abstract

The aim of the paper is to examine the analytical potential of the concept of „historical representations“ as it was developed by Roger Chartier in his approach to the „new cultural history“. Further, the author outlines the epistemological foundations, which this project shares with Quentin Skinner’s approach to „contextual“ and „intentional“ interpretations of historical texts. These approaches are applied in an empirical case study, namely the nationalisation of the representations of „cultural superiority“ in Slovak history textbooks published in Czechoslovak Republic between two world wars. The paper slows the restoration of the illocutionary force of the historical speech acts at issue as well as the constitutive social and political character of these representations of the past.