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Historiography

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Historiography is a term with multiple meanings that has changed with time, place and observer, and is thus resistant to a single encompassing definition. Broadly speaking historiography is related to the study of the writing of history, examining factors such as how the style of historical writing, methods of interpretation and tools of investigation have changed over time, but it can also refer a corpus or body of historical works.

Historiography is often broken down topically, such as "Historiography of Islam" or "Historiography of China". There are many approaches or genres of history, such as Oral history, porn and Social history. Beginning in the 19th century with the rise of academic historians a corpus of literature related to historiography has come into existence, with classic works such as E. H. Carr's, What is History? (1961) and Hayden White's Metahistory (1974).

Defining historiography

There are two basic issues involved in historiography. [Breisach 1994] First, the study of the development of history as an academic discipline over time, as well as its development in different cultures and epochs. Second, the study of the academic tools, methods and approaches that have been and are being used, including the historical method.

The term "historiography" can also be used to refer to a specific body of historical writing that was written during a specific time concerning a specific issue. For instance, "medieval historiography during the 1960s" would be taken to mean the methodological approaches and ideas about medieval history that were developed during that decade.

Conal Furay and Michael J. Salevouris define "historiography" as "the study of the way history has been and is written — the history of historical writing... When you study 'historiography' you do not study the events of the past directly, but the changing interpretations of those events in the works of individual historians." [1]

Questions studied

Some of the common questions of historiography are:

  1. Reliability of the sources used, in terms of authorship, credibility of author, authenticity (or corruption) of the text used.
  2. Historiographical tradition or framework. Every historian uses one (or more) historiographical traditions, some of which are Marxist, or Annales School, ("total history"), political history, etc.
  3. Moral issues, guilt assignment; praise assignment
  4. Revisionism versus orthodox interpretations

Issues engaged in so-called critical historiography includes topics such as:

  • What constitutes an historical "event"?
  • In what modes does a historian write and produce statements of "truth" and "fact"?
  • How does the medium (novel, textbook, film, theatre, comic) through which historical information is conveyed influence its meaning?
  • What inherent epistemological problems does archive-based history contain?
  • How do historians establish their own objectivity or come to terms with their own subjectivity?
  • What is the relation of historical theory to historical practice?
  • What is the "goal" of history?

The history of written history

Understanding the past appears to be a universal human need and the telling of history has emerged independently in civilisations around the world. What constitutes history is a philosophical question. For the purposes of this survey it is written history recorded in a narrative format for the purpose of informing future generations about events. The earliest critical historical thought emerged in Greece, a development which would be an important influence on the writing of history elsewhere in the world.

Early Western historiography

Greek historiography

Written history appeared first with the ancient Greeks, whose historians greatly contributed to the development of historical methodology. The very first historical works were The Histories composed by Herodotus of Halicarnassus (484 BC–ca.425 BC), who became later known as the 'father of history' (Cicero). Herodotus attempted to distinguish between more and less reliable accounts, and personally conducted research by travelling extensively, giving a remarkably unbiased account of various Mediterranean cultures. Although Herodot's overall emphasis lay on the actions and characters of men, he also attributed an important role to divinity in the determination of historical events.

Thucydides, on the other hand, largely eliminated divine causality in his account of the war between Athens and Sparta, establishing a rationalistic element which became defining of subsequent Western historiography. He was also the first to distinguish between cause and immediate origins of an event, while his successor Xenophon ca. 431–355 BC) introduced autobiographical elements and character studies in his Anabasis.

The proverbial Philippic attacks of the Athenian orator Demosthenes (384-322 BC) on Philip II of Macedon marked the height of ancient political agitation. The now lost history of Alexander's campaigns by the diadoch Ptolemy I (367—283 BC) may represent the first historical work composed by a ruler. Polybius (ca. 203–120 BC) wrote on the rise of Rome to world prominence, trying to harmonize the Greek and Roman point of views.

Reports exist of other near-eastern histories, such as that composed by the Phoenician historian Sanchuniathon; but his very existence is considered semi-fabled and writings attributed to him are fragmentary, known only through the later historians Philo of Byblos and Eusebius, who asserted that he wrote before even the Trojan war.

Roman historiography

The Romans adopted the Greek tradition, becoming the first people to write history in a non-Greek language. While earlier Roman works were still written in Greek, the Latin Origines, composed by the Roman statesman and patriot Cato the Elder (234–149 BC) in a conscious effort to counteract the immense Greek cultural influence, marked the beginning of Roman historiography. Hailed for its lucid style, Julius Caesar's (100 BC–44 BC) Bellum Gallicum may represent the earliest autobiographical war coverage. The politician and orator Cicero (106–43 BC) introduced rhetorical elements in his political writings.

Strabo (63 BC–ca. AD 24) was a main exponent of the Greco-Roman tradition of combining geography with history, presenting a descriptive history of peoples and places known to his era. Livy (59 BC–AD 17) records the rise of Rome from city-state to world dominion. His inquiry into the question of what would have happened if Alexander the Great had marched against Rome represents the first known instance of alternate history.[2]

Biography, although popular throughout antiquity, was introduced as a branch of history by the works of Plutarch (c. 46 - 127) and Suetonius (c. 69-after 130) who described the deeds and characters of ancient 'VIPs', stressing their human side. Tacitus (c. 56–c. 117) denounces Roman immorality by praising German virtues, elaborating on the topos of the Noble savage.

Writing history was popular among Christian monks in the Middle Ages. They wrote about the history of the Church and of their patrons, the dynastic history of the local rulers. History was written about states or nations during the Renaissance. The study of history changed during the Enlightenment and Romanticism. Voltaire described the history of certain ages that were important according to him, instead of describing events in a chronological order. History became an independent discipline. It was not called philosophia historiae anymore, but merely history (historia).

Chinese historiography

Main article: Chinese historiography

In China, Sima Qian (around 100 BC) was the first to lay the groundwork for professional historiography. His written work was the Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian), a monumental lifelong achievement in literature. Its scope extends as far back as the 16th century BC, including many treatises on specific subjects, along with individual biographies for prominent people, as well as exploring the lives and deeds of commoners found in his own time or in previous eras. His work influenced every subsequent author of history in China, including the prestigious Ban family of the Eastern Han Dynasty era.

Traditionalist Chinese historiography describes history in terms of dynastic cycles. In this view, each new dynasty is founded by a morally righteous founder. Over time, the dynasty becomes morally corrupt and dissolute. Eventually, the dynasty becomes so weak as to allow its replacement by a new dynasty.

Muslim historiography

Further information: Historiography of early Islam
See also: Ilm ar-Rijal, Science of hadith, and Isnad

Muslim historiography began developing with the reconstruction of Muhammad's life in the centuries following his death. Due to numerous conflicting narratives regarding Muhammad and his companions from various sources, it was necessary to verify which sources were more reliable. In order to evaluate these sources, various methodologies were developed, such as the "science of biography", "science of hadith" and "Isnad" (chain of transmission). These methodologies were later applied to other historical figures in the Muslim world.

Ilm ar-Rijal (Arabic) is the "science of biography" especially as practiced in Islam, where it was first applied to the Sira, the life of the prophet of Islam, Muhammad, and then the lives of the four Rightly Guided Caliphs who expanded Islamic dominance rapidly. Since validating the sayings of Muhammad is a major study ("Isnad"), accurate biography has always been of great interest to Muslim biographers, who accordingly became experts at sorting out facts from accusations, bias from evidence, etc., and were renowned throughout the known world for their honesty in recording history. Modern practices of scientific citation and historical method owe a great deal to the rigor of the Isnad tradition of early Muslims. The earliest surviving Islamic biography is Sirat Rasul Allah of Ibn Ishaq (d. 768).

The "science of hadith" is the process that Muslim scholars use to evaluate hadith. The classification of Hadith into Sahih (sound), Hasan (good) and Da'if (weak) was firmly established by Ali ibn al-Madini (161 AH - 234 AH). Later, al-Madini's student Muhammad al-Bukhari (810 - 870) authored a collection that he believed contained only Sahih hadith, which is now known as the Sahih Bukhari.

Until the 10th century, history most often meant political and military history, but this was not so with Persian historian Biruni (973-1048). In his Kitab fi Tahqiq ma l'il-Hind (Researches on India), he did not not record political and military in any detail, but wrote more on India's cultural, scientific, social and religious history. He also discussed more on his idea of history in another work The Chronology of the Ancient Nations.[3] Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari (838-923) is also known for writing a detailed and comprehensive chronicle of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern history in his History of the Prophets and Kings in 915.

The Muslim historian and historiographer Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) is regarded as the "father of historiography",[4] particularly for his detailed writings on historiography in Muqaddimah and Kitābu l-ʕibār (Book of Advice). Other famous Muslim historians included Urwah (d. 712), Al-Waqidi (745-822), Ibn Hisham (d. 834), and Ibn Hajar (1372-1449), among others.

Modern historiography

Modern historiography began with Ranke in the 19th century, who was very critical on the sources used in history. He was opposed to analyses and rationalizations. His adagium was writing history the way it was. He wanted eyewitness accounts and wanted an emphasis on the point of view of the eyewitness. Hegel and Marx introduced the change of society in history. Former historians had focused on cyclical events of the rise and decline of rulers and nations. A new discipline emerged in the late nineteenth century that analyzed and compared these perspectives on a larger scale and that discipline was sociology.

The French Annales School radically changed history during the 20th century. Fernand Braudel wanted history to become more scientific by demanding more mathematical evidence in history, in order to make the history discipline less subjective. Furthermore, he added a social-economic and geographic framework to answer historical questions. Other French historians, like Philippe Ariès and Michel Foucault described history of daily life topics as death and sexuality. They wanted history to be written about all topics and that all questions should be asked.

Foundation of important historical journals

The idea of the historical journal, a forum where academic historians could exchange ideas, came into being in the nineteenth century. Those butter scotch crumpets added a very lively taste to the pie. The pie was full of berries, melons, strawberries, monoliptic cyrophome, and my favorite ingredient, yolk. The early journals were similar to those used in the physical sciences, and were seen as a means by which history could be professionalised. Journals also helped historians to establish various historiographical approaches, the most notable example of which was Annales. Économies. Sociétés. Civilisations. a publication instrumental in establishing the Annales School.

Approaches to history

The question of how a historian approaches historical events is one of the most important questions within historiography. It is commonly recognised by historians that, in themselves, individual historical facts are not particularly meaningful. Such facts will only become useful when assembled with other historical evidence, and the process of assembling this evidence is understood as a particular historiographical approach.

Some of the more common historigraphic approaches are:

References

  1. ^ (The Methods and Skills of History: A Practical Guide, 1988, p. 223, ISBN 0-88295-982-4)
  2. ^ Livy's History of Rome: Book 9
  3. ^ M. S. Khan (1976). "al-Biruni and the Political History of India", Oriens 25, p. 86-115.
  4. ^ Salahuddin Ahmed (1999). A Dictionary of Muslim Names. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. ISBN 1850653569.

Bibliography

Theory and philosophy

  • Frank Ankersmit (ed), A New Philosophy of History, 1995, ISBN 0-226-02100-9
  • Michael Bentley, Modern Historiography: An Introduction, 1999 ISBN 0-415-20267-1
  • Peter Burke, History and Social Theory, Polity Press, Oxford, 1992
  • E. H. Carr, What is History? 1961, ISBN 0-394-70391-X
  • R.G. Collingwood, The Idea of History, 1936, ISBN 0-19-285306-6
  • Geoffrey Elton, The Practice of History, 1969, ISBN 0-631-22980-9
  • Richard J. Evans In Defence of History, 1997, ISBN 1862071047
  • David Hackett Fischer, Historians' Fallacies: Towards a Logic of Historical Thought, Harper & Row, 1970.
  • Keith Jenkins, Rethinking History, 1991, ISBN 0-415-30443-1
  • Keith Jenkins, ed. The Postmodern History Reader (2006)
  • Arthur Marwick, The Nature of History, 1970, ISBN 0-333-10941-4
  • Alun Munslow. The Routledge Companion to Historical Studies (2000)
  • John Tosh, The Pursuit of History, 2002, ISBN 0-582-77254-0
  • W.H. Walsh, An Introduction to Philosophy of History, 1951.
  • Hayden White, The Content of Form: Narrative Discourse and Historical Representation, 1987, ISBN 0-8018-4115-1

Histories of historical writing

  • Geoffrey Barraclough, History: Main Trends of Research in the Social and Human Sciences, (1978)
  • Michael Bentley (ed.), Companion to Historiography, Routledge, 1997, ISBN 0-415-28557-7 990pp; 39 chapters by experts
  • Ernst Breisach, Historiography: Ancient, Medieval and Modern, 1994, ISBN 0-226-07278-9
  • H. Floris Cohen, The Scientific Revolution: A Historiographical Inquiry, Chicago, 1994, ISBN 0-226-11280-2
  • Mark T. Gilderhus, History an Historiographical Introduction, 2002, ISBN 0-13-044824-9
  • Georg G. Iggers, Historiography in the 20th Century: From Scientific Objectivity to the Postmodern Challenge (2005)
  • Susan Kinnell, Historiography: An Annotated Bibliography of Journal Article, Books and Dissertations, 1987, ISBN 0-87436-168-0
  • Lloyd Kramer and Sarah Maza, eds. A Companion to Western Historical Thought Blackwell 2006. 520pp; ISBN 978-1-4051-4961-7.
  • Arnaldo Momigliano, The Classical Foundation of Modern Historiography, 1990, ISBN 0-520-07870-5
  • Philippe Poirrier, Aborder l'histoire, Paris, Seuil, 2000.
  • Philippe Poirrier,Les enjeux de l'histoire culturelle, Paris, Seuil, 2004.

Feminist historiography

  • Mary Ritter Beard, Woman as force in history: A study in traditions and realities
  • Gerda Lerner, The Majority Finds its Past: Placing Women in History, New York: Oxford University Press 1979
  • Bonnie G. Smith, The Gender of History: Men, Women, and Historical Practice, Harvard UP 2000
  • Mary Spongberg, Writing women's history since the Renaissance, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002

Thematic and regional

  • John Ernest. Liberation Historiography: African American Writers and the Challenge of History, 1794-1861. University of North Carolina Press, 2004
  • Frank Farrell. Themes in Australian History: Questions, Issues and Interpretation in an Evolving Historiography (1990)
  • Marc Ferro, Cinema and History, Wayne State University Press, 1988
  • R. Darcy and Richard C. Rohrs, A Guide to Quantitative History (1995)
  • Hudson, Pat. History by Numbers: An Introduction to Quantitative Approaches (2002)
  • James W. Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, Touchstone Books 1996
  • Tessa Morris-Suzuki, The Past Within Us: Media, Memory, History, 2005, ISBN 1-85984-513-4
  • Gary Nash, Charlotte Crabtree, and Ross Dunn. History on Trial: Culture Wars and the Teaching of the Past, (2000)
  • Peter Novick, That Noble Dream: The "Objectivity Question" and the American Historical Profession (1988), ISBN 0-521-34328-3
  • Thomas Söderqvist. The Historiography of Contemporary Science and Technology (1997)
  • Sommer, Barbara W. The Oral History Manual (2003)
  • Jan Vansina, "Oral Tradition as History," University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, 1985

Journals

See also

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