Prosopography and political history. Some approaches

Abstract

The article tries to show the possibilities that the prosopography offers for the study of the political history. First, it observes the evolution of this methodology during the 20th century, from a selection of works of Saxon and, counterfoil principally, French. The attention is placed in the big slopes that orientated it as they were emphasizing in the aspects relative to the background of the individuals or in the paths developed in the specific fields of performance. In the second term, the article evaluates the work of the researcher who realizes collective biographies: delimiting of the indexes to analyzing; central questions of the prosopographycals studies; possible sources of consultation and difficulties that raise both the abundance of information and his lack. Finally, after evaluating the risks, the limitations and the advantages of the use of this analytical approximation –that, on having placed the emphasis in the microanalysis, it eludes every substancialisme–, it is thought over the possibilities that it offers for the study of political actors, taking as example the Argentine “case”.