Ways of talking about social histories tend to follow social realities as well as personal inclinations. The very terms we use reflect and refract particular histories. The authors of our sources foretold many concepts as they carved out the domains and marked the paths later historians were to follow in their attempt to understand the past. It is difficult to counter these imprints, to "brush history against the grain". Attempts to get beyond the obvious in the documents may gain from examining local history through lenses forged in other cultural and academic traditions. This essay traces how such a current emerged in Mexico, anticipating and in close connection with participation in the International Standing Conference on History of Education and "Paedagogica Historica" communities.