The diagnosis of the situation, and even of the definition of our discipline, the what and the how of historical research, the past and the future of the writing of history ( and of History itself) appear today apparently diverse, fragmented and even contradictory.

This international inquiry* has been devised in order to clarify -to some extent-the state of History. It should - or such is our intention- allow us to go beyond the impressionist view created by the institution, the academic field and the country where we conduct our teaching or our research to gain access to a wider -and hence more objective- audience.

We wish to learn more about where History is going in order to understand where we wish it to go. To this end, we are asking over 15, 000 historians from around the world to answer a number of questions on the history being written, its turn-of-the-century problems and its inmediate future.The questions are, necessarily, general but fundamental . In order to make the answering quick the questions are presented in a multiple choice format, which will allow us a statistical treatment of the data ( to be published on a later date). This is not to say that we have not allowed for more nuanced answers in the blank spaces provided for this end.

In the wording of the questions, we have taken advantage of our experience and reflections arising from the organisation of the 1st International Conference 'History under Debate' ( Santiago de Compostela, Spain, July 1993), the second edition of which will again take place in Santiago between 14-18 July 1999. We have thus been able to confront distinct historiographic situations from Spain, a melting pot of various historiographic tendencies, to realise that perhaps the disparity among the different historiographies at the turn of the century is lesser than expected when it comes to posing the questions and seeking the answers. But let us not advance results: the word is now yours.

PLEASE NOTE:

- You are guaranteed total and absolute confidenciality on your answers in compliance with current law on statistical confidenciality and protection of personal data.

- A 50% discount will be applied to those returning the completed enquiry along with the inscription bulletin for the Second International Conference 'History under Debate'.

*Research project financed by the Consellería de Educación e Ordenación Universitaria of the Xunta de Galicia (Spain) ( XUGA40101B96), and conducted by the following team: Carlos Barros (Santiago de Compostela), Iñaki Bazán (Vitoria), Miguel Ángel Cabrera (La Laguna), Francisca Colomer (Murcia), Gonzalo Pasamar (Zaragoza), Israel Sanmartín (Santiago de Compostela), Francisco Vázquez (Cádiz) and the contribution of sociologist Julio Cabrera (Santiago de Compostela).