In the cultural and social formations of the past, practices exist for the generation and integration of moments having and giving sense with the objective of strengthening the cultural and social cohesion. Such practices and processes have a constructive character, even if this is not always the intention of the actors themselves. As the production of sense is one of the central fields of action of cultural and political practice, the articles examine with an interdisciplinary perspective how, in different contexts, the construction of sense was organized and implemented as a cultural practice.

How do historical sources narrate or recount deviance? Is there a relationship between the manner in which divergent behaviour is recounted and the type of source in which this behaviour is presented? The articles present examples of the recounting of deviance by using, amongst others, sources such as chronicles, travel accounts and court records from 15th century England, 15th/16th century Germany, 17th century Spain, 17th/18th century Venice and 17th/18th century Italy and France. It can be asserted that different types of narrative patterns to recount deviance occur intermingled in the cases discussed.