Historiography
- 1. Some Aspects of History and Historiography Dr. Sangeeta Pethiya Assistant Prof. History DESSH
- 2. What is History • E.H Carr quotes in his book “ What is History” Acton, who says that History is a unique opportunity of recording, in the way most useful to the greatest number, the fullness of the knowledge which the nineteenth century is about to bequeath.... • According to Collingwood “ All history is the history of the thought and its re-enactment”
- 3. The Fascinating world Of history • It is reliving the past - exploring the minds of people who lived in the yesteryears, looking at their day-to-day lives i.e. way of dressing, entertainment, food habits, art, architecture, music and dance, to name a few, marveling at their achievements and learning from their failure
- 4. Nature, Method and Objects of History History like theology or natural science is a special form of thought . Pertaining to the thought there are a few questions to ponder upon... • Nature of thought i.e. What history is? • Object of thought -What it is about? • Method of thought -How it proceeds? • Value of thought- What it is for?
- 5. What is it for? • There could be so many answers to this question.....perhaps as many as our creativity might as well permit • Collingwood says History is for self- Knowledge.
- 6. The Many Goals of Learning History • It is useful for accumulation of definite knowledge of the past. • Perspective building. • Honing analytical skills • Developing mental and moral qualities. • Developing abilities for impartial and effective investigation . • Rendering constructive judgments . • Inculcating the attitude of historical mindedness.
- 7. What idea of daily life can you gather from the image? What could these be used for? Posing the right questions will enhance lateral thinking and perspective building of the learners.
- 8. How does History proceed? • History proceeds by the interpretation of evidence • What is an evidence: Literary, archaeological, numismatics . • Historical procedure or method consists essentially of interpreting evidence.
- 9. Understanding Facts • If the nature of History is to answer questions, and it proceeds to answer these with the help of facts. This brings us to the next stage of understanding Historiography...Understanding facts .
- 10. The Historian and His Facts : Importance of Facts • 19 century was an age of facts . All Historians agreed to Mr. Gradgrind* when he said that “facts alone are wanted in life”. • Rake in 1830 said “ Historian cannot moralize history. His/her task is to just show as things really were.” • Facts as defined in oxford dictionary “ A datum of experience as distinct from conclusions” • A commonsense view of history is History - Corpus of ascertained facts available to the historian in documents, coins, archaeological buildings etc.
- 11. Documents as Facts • Documents are the ark of the covenant in the temple of facts- decrees , blue books, private letters rent rolls official diaries , official correspondences. • No document can tell us more than the author of the document thought. - Documents have to be processed, understood and then decided by the historian whether he/she actually wants to use them.
- 12. Caesar Crossing the Rubicon Courtesy http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/78900/78944/78944_rubicon_01.htm
- 13. EMPEROR ASHOKA
- 16. Newspaper Report on Storming of the Bastille downloaded from French revolution documents. Source- alpha history, http://www.alphahistory.com
- 18. How does a Fact become a Historical Fact? • Accuracy of Facts is a very necessary condition • If Fact is accepted by other Historian as valid and significant. • How are the facts collected and with what point of view? Does it include the perception of common people. • Status of a fact as a historical fact also depends on how it has been interpreted. • It is not the quality of the fact that is important but the decision of the historian as to which fact is important . For Example : Caesars crossing of Rubicon
- 19. Indus era 8,000 years old, not 5,500; ended because of weaker monsoon ( Courtesy :May 29, 2016, Times Of India A painting on Indus Valley civilization TOI photo by Sanjay Hadkar)
- 20. At 8000 years, Indus Valley civilization is now officially the world''s oldest civilization! Times Of India 29 May 2016 • It may be time to rewrite history textbookKOLKATAto rewrite s. Scientists from IIT- Kharagpurand Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have uncovered evidence that the Indus Valley Civilization is at least 8,000 years old, and not 5,500 years old, taking root well before the Egyptian (7000BC to 3000BC) and Mesopotamian (6500BC to 3100BC) civilizations. What's more, ythe researchers have found evidence of a pre-Harappan civilization that existed for at least 1,000 ears before this. The discovery, published in the prestigious 'Nature' journal on May 25, may force a global rethink on the timelines of the so-called 'cradles of civilization'. The scientists believe they also know why the civilization ended about 3,000 years ago — climate change. We have recovered perhaps the oldest pottery from the civilization. We used a technique called 'optically stimulated luminescence' to date pottery shards of the Early Mature Harappan time to nearly 6,000 years ago and the cultural levels of pre-Harappan Hakra phase as far back as 8,000 years," said Anindya Sarkar, head of the department of geology and geophysics at IIT-Kgp • Source :http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Indus-era-8000-years-old-not-5500-ended-because-of- weaker-monsoon/articleshow/52485332.cms
- 21. Positivists? • Positivists belonging to the school of thought that history is a science supported the argument on facts being the most important aspect for the study of history . This is followed by its interpretation. • Two steps in history 1. Ascertaining Facts 2. Framing laws( The facts were immediately ascertained by sensuous perception. The laws were framed through generalizing these facts by induction. Under this influence a new kind of historiography arose, which may be called Positivistic Historiography. )
- 22. Interpretation of facts • Facts have to be interpreted in History Objectively by a historian else historian would become ‘thereafter to turn him from a man of letters into the compiler of an encyclopedia.
- 23. Figurine of “Dancing Girl,” bronze
- 25. How are Facts presented? • Acton said “Facts are sacred ,opinion is free” • The historian collects them, takes them home and cooks and serves them in whatever style appeals to him. Acton whose culinary taste were austere wanted them plain. • Get your Facts straight. At your risk jump into the shifting sand of interpretation.
- 26. The Question Of Objectivity Objective claims meet Three Criterion: 1. They have a truth Value. 2. There is an agreed upon method for determining whether the claim is true or false. 3. In the event of disagreement about the claim someone must be wrong.
- 27. Objectivity in History: Interpretation bereft of Bias and Prejudice • Social Sciences as a whole ,since they involve man as both as subject and object, both investigator and thing investigated, are incompatible with any theory of knowledge which pronounces a rigid divorce between subject and object. • The Aryan Invasion Theory Romilla Thapar writes That the theory of Aryan race is a result of European Bias and prejudice and was applied to justify the colonial interpretations of early ancient Indian history. Concept of Aryan theory does not have its roots in ancient Indian thought ,but unfortunately it is accepted as a self established fact . Though the historians working on European history have put a question mark on it.
- 28. Courtesy:
- 31. Dangers Of Misinterpretation: The Nazi Holocaust Entrance to the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp which operated 4 gas chambers where 6,000 people were put to death each day by the Nazi regime.
- 32. Causation in History- Does History repeat itself? E. H Carr in What is History says “The study of History is the study of causes”. • There can be innumerable events in history that call for an answer an explanation or causation • Ascertaining and analyzing of causes of events is thus an attribute which distinguishes a student of History or a historian from other readers of history. Rudyard Kipling once said “ I have six honest serving men . They taught me all I know- What, Why, When and How, Where and Who” • Herodotus, the father of History, defined his purpose in the opening of his work : “To preserve a memory of the deeds of the Greeks and the barbarians and in particular , beyond everything else , to give the cause of their fighting with each other”.
- 33. How does the Historian make use of the causes • Historian deals with multiplicity of the causes i.e. Assigning several causes to the same event • Historian then establishes some kind of hierarchy. ( or reducing it to a certain order). • Marxist School Of Historiography
- 34. Relation of The Historian to Causes • The relation of the Historian to the causes is dual and reciprocal. • The causes determine his/her interpretation of historical process, and his/her interpretation determines the selection and marshalling of the causes. • The hierarchy of causes ,the relative significance of one cause or set of causes is the essence of his interpretation.
- 35. From Causation to Generalization • Does History Repeat Itself? And Can lessons be learnt from History? • Some argue that No lessons can be learnt in History because History cannot predict future. • Prediction in history lies in this distinction between the general and the specific, between the universal and the unique....The historian therefore is bound to generalize.
- 36. • The historian constantly uses generalization to test evidences. • History teaches ample of lessons We learn about the present in light of the past and we also learn about the past in light of the present, through the interrelation between them.
- 37. Historical Determinism Historical Inevitability • Defining determinism: The belief that everything that happens has a cause or causes, and could not have happened differently unless something in the cause or causes had also been different. S.W Alexander says “Determinism means that ,the data being what they are, whatever happens definitely and could not be different . To hold that it could ,means only that it would if the data were different “. • Professor Proppers assertion that “ Everything is possible in human affairs is either meaningless or false.” • It is not that some human actions are free and some are determined . A historian like the ordinary person believes that human actions have causes which are in
- 38. Issues In Determinism • Who are the people who object on Determinism? • Perhaps the people who think they have been wronged due to certain happenings and events in the past . • For a historian whatever has happened in the past is a closed chapter . He views occurrences as happened in the past along with their outcomes, treating the event as a closed chapter.
- 39. Historical Inevitability If causes are ascertainable can the foregoing events also be concluded as inevitable? • What is Historical Inevitability? • If there is a certain cause the results would be certain and no different then that..This use of inevitability makes us a little uncomfortable... • E. H. Carr who himself in earlier writings used inevitable accepts the it should be ‘extremely probable’ is a better coinage . • Historians do not assume that events are inevitable before they have taken place.
- 40. Chance in History Closely attached to Causation is the question of Chance in history . If everything happens due to certain causes can then the Element of accident or chance completely be routed out? This question Is sometimes referred to as The Question of Cleopatra's nose
- 41. What is the crux of Cleopatra's nose Cleopatra, Queen Of Egypt Octavian later Augustus : Roman Ruler 42 BCE Mark Antony
- 42. Chance In History • This is a theory that history is ,by and large a chapter of accidents , a series of events determined by chance coincidences, and attributable only to the most casual causes. • The cause- effect here is the connexion between female beauty and male infatuation observable in everyday life. • Where did this theory originate? • Polybius seems to be he first to address this . Why ? • Accidents in History represent a sequence of causes and effect observable in everyday life. These so called accidents in history represent a sequence of case-effect interrupting – and so to speak, clashing with the sequence with which the historian is primarily concerned .
- 43. E.H Carr in What is history explicitly argues on the role of accident and says “It is common practice with serious historians to point out that something that hitherto treated as accidental was not accidental at all, but can be rationally explained and significantly fitted into the broader pattern of events. ... To describe something as a mischance is a favorite way of exempting oneself from tiresome obligation to investigate its cause, and when somebody tells me that history is a chapter of accidents, I tend to suspect him of intellectual laziness or low intellectual ability.( E. H Carr- What is History page 102)
- 44. Moral Judgment In History • Does A Historian have Right To pass Moral Judgment? • Moral Judgment on Public/ Private Actions • Question of Moral Judgment on Personal Lives
- 45. There can be no ultimate history But what is ultimate History? Full, Final unchallenged truth of the past But Why can there be no Ultimate History? Reasons 1. Historians themselves believe and understand this. They expect their work to be superseded again and again. 2. They consider that the knowledge of the past has been processed by the human mind and therefore is changeable. 3. New evidences may come to light which may change entire history 4. There may be new techniques of evaluating facts which may require rewriting history.
- 46. Historiography: The Philosophy Of History • Wikipedia describes historiography as “ A study of the methodology of historians in developing history as an academic discipline.” • The writing of history based on the critical examination of sources, the selection of particulars from the authentic materials, and the synthesis of particulars into a narrative that will stand the test of critical methods : the principles, theory, and history of historical writing • Simply put it can be defined as the art or science of studying and writing history. • Historiography actually connoted the writing of history and Historiographer is a historian. • In ancient times the official Historian was designated as ‘Historiographer Royal’.
- 47. • More recently it has been defined as the study of the way history has been written or it is the history of the historical writing. • When we study History we do not study the events of the past directly but the changing interpretation of those events in the works of individual historians. For Example: Historiography of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
- 48. • Historiography could be of a particular topic. As such, it refers to how historians have studied that topic using particular sources, techniques and theoretical approaches. • The explanations and interpretations of historians. All historical topics have their own historiography, and most history books include a historigraphical survey to help readers understand where the book fits in with previous research and writing on the same topic.
- 49. • A historiography is a summary of the historical writings on a particular topic - the history of the slave trade, or the history of the French Revolution, for example or the Historiography of the Taj Mahal. • It sets out in broad terms the range of debate and approaches to the topic. It identifies the major thinkers and arguments, and establishes connections between them. If there have been major changes in the way a particular topic has been approached over time, the historiography identifies them.
- 50. In writing on a topic, historians essentially enter into a dialogue with those who have written on the topic before. A historiography sets out the main points of that discussion, and serves to situate the author's work within this larger context. This adds authority and legitimacy to a history essay as it confirms the author's familiarity with his or her topic, and forces the author to acknowledge and explain disagreements with others. It also serves to bring the reader up-to-date on the most important works and debates on the topic.
- 51. • Historiography is best situated early on in an essay, preferably in the introduction in order to familiarize the reader with the topic and to set out the scope of previous work in broad terms. • Historiography establishes: – the major thinkers on the topic, and – their main arguments (or theses). • Historiography may also explain: – the perspective from which the authors are writing (e.g. Marxist, feminist, etc.) – the type of history they have written (e.g. political, social, cultural, economic, etc.) • A good historiography will present this information in a way that shows the connections between these major works. For example, does one work respond to an argument set out in another? Does it expand on that argument or disagree with it? A good historiography will also situate the author's work within the dialogue, explaining whether his or her thesis builds on or rejects the work that has come before.
- 52. Historicism • The term historicism simply refers to a careful interpretation of events with a mind to their cultural, historical, and political contexts.
- 53. Historicity • Historicity is the historical actuality of persons and events, meaning the quality of being part of history as opposed to being a historical myth, legend, or fiction. Historicity focuses on the truth value of knowledge claims about the past (denoting historical actuality, authenticity, and factuality). The historicity of a claim about the past is its factual status.
- 54. References: 1.E. H. Carr: What Is History 2. Romilla Thapar: Itihas Ki Punarvyakhya 3. R. G. Collingwood: The Idea Of History 4. A. L. Basham: The Wonder That was India 5. V.A. Smith : Asoka