HST 202 Modern Historiography

Taught
Level 2: semester 1

email : Dr. Clare Griffiths, Module Coordinator


Module Summary

This module will introduce students to the most influential schools of historical practice in operation in the second half of the Twentieth-century and which remain influential today. These include Marxist history, the Annales School, social scientific history, history from below, gender history, the new cultural history, and postmodernism. The social, political and intellectual context and theoretical perspectives of each approach are discussed in lectures, while seminars give students the opportunity to investigate approaches in greater detail, through critical examination of historical writings which incorporate the approach.

By the end of the module, students will have gained the critical tools necessary to identify examples of diverse theoretical approaches to history, and to recognise the possible benefits and limitations associated with each approach. They will have become familiar with the different ways historians have responded to some of the central methodological and philosophical questions involved in the practice of history.

Students will attend two seminar units, each lasting five sessions, in weeks 2-6 and 8-12. Choices will probably include:

The British School of Marxist Historians:

Looks at Britain's distinguished, and distinctive, tradition of Marxist Historiography. Seminars will assess the work of Rodney Hilton, Eric Hobsbawm, and E.P. Thompson, considering the intellectual and political roots of their work and their contributions to the development of Marxist theory. We will examine the impact of their work on our understanding of the course of British and European history, and ask how well their conclusions have held up in the face of subsequent research and writing.

History and the Social Sciences

In the 1970's, historians believed that methods and theories borrowed from the social sciences could contribute significantly to all areas of history from quantitative history to cultural and intellectual history. These seminars will assess the impact of thirty years of social scientific history on 'mainstream' historical practices.

The American School of History From Below:

Examines the intellectual origins and socio-political context of this approach to American history, pioneered by the New Left historians of the 1960's. Assesses critically the achievements of these historians in uncovering the lives of slaves, labouring men and women, ordinary soldiers, and upstart sectarians.

The Annales School:

This French historical movement can claim among its members some of the most brilliant and original historians of the Twentieth-century. The Annalistes rejected the traditional emphasis on the narrative of events and high politics in favour of problem-oriented and total history. Seminars will be structured around a combination of key works by Annales historians (in English translation) and critical writings about them.

Oral History:

This arose in the 1970's as part of an attempt to democratise history and give a voice to those thought to be marginalised in the traditional historical record. The seminars will look at the early history of this approach, study some of the accounts which resulted from the creation of 'flesh and blood archives', and examine more recent approaches, which focus increasingly on issues of narrative and memory.

History/Herstory: Gender as a Category of Historical Analysis:

Examines the idea that differences between the sexes are socially and culturally constructed (and not simply biologically determined), and therefore have a history. Seminars will evaluate recent work on gender, focusing on the history of masculinity as well as femininity, and assess what this rapidly growing field has contributed to our understanding of mainstream history.

Narrative:

Focuses on the use of narrative in historical writing, in particular the so-called revival of narrative in recent historiography. Examines definitions of narrative, its highpoint in the nineteenth century, the subsequent rejection of this mode in favour of other forms of apparently more social-scientific analysis, the debate surrounding the revival of narrative, and narrative in a post-modern context.

Postmodernism and History:

Postmodernism is perhaps better described as a mood, phase or period of thought than a particular school of historical theory governed by specific interpretative tools. In these seminars we will focus on this new way of thinking about the past, focusing on the effects of the postmodern fascination with text and language, the relationship between text and reality, and 'new' sorts of History such as the new cultural history. We shall also explore the challenge postmodernism presents to conventional notions of the availability of historical truth.

The New Cultural History:

This approach studies patterns of everyday life, using anthropological methods to decipher meaning in the rituals, events and language of past culture. These seminars will consider some of the recent debates surrounding the study of popular culture, focusing on subjects such as violence, sexuality, common sense, and the meanings of literacy.

History and Anthropology:

Interchanges between historians and anthropologists have influenced the development of several different schools of historical interpretation, including history from below, microhistory, and cultural history. This seminar series examines some of the theoretical and methodological issues raised by this disciplinary exchange through discussions of the work of influential practitioners, ethnographies of Spanish villages, and studies of symbolic systems, particularly in the analysis of religion and gender.

2) To examine the different ways modern historians have responded to some of the central philosophical questions involved in the practice of history.


Assessment

Students are asked to write one 2,500 word essay for each of seminar series; each accounts for 25% of the final mark. The other 50% is derived from a 24 hour take home examination, which addresses general issues discussed in the lecture programme.


Selected Reading

Peter Burke (ed), New Perspectives on Historical Writing, (1991)

Georg Iggers, Historiography in the Twentieth Century, (1997)

Anna Green and Kathleen Troup, The houses of history. A critical reader in Twentieth-century history and theory, (1999)

John Tosh, Historians on History, (2000)


Intended Learning Outcomes

Students completing this module will have:

  • Acquired the ability to outline the chronological development of prevailing historiographical approaches in the West over the past fifty years.

  • Acquired the ability to identify examples of such approaches and be able to formulate arguments concerning their advantages and limitations.

  • Developed their understanding of the social and political forces and intellectual currents which shaped such approaches.

  • Developed their understanding of the theoretical arguments and methodological innovations, including their epistemological foundations, associated with each approach.

  • Developed their ability to evaluate historiographical approaches in depth and write critical assessments of historical works adopting those approaches.