History: an introduction to theory, method and practice

478 Pages·2017·16 MB·English

by  Claus, Peter;Marriott, John Arthur Ransome

HISTORY
An introduction to theory, method and practice
Most students of history still see in Historiography a long and forbidding word, best avoided. Here is a book
which will change all that. In their timely textbook Peter Claus and John Marriott invite readers to join the
many - past and present - who have taken history seriously and have contributed to its making. History: An
introduction to theory, method and practice is accessible, interesting and inclusive. At a time when history has
come to include so many approaches and sources, this is also a welcome guide to how historians understand
their traditions and their roles in contemporary culture.
Professor Miri Rubin, Queen Mary, University of London
This is a comprehensive introductory guide to the nature of historiography which examines the history
of historical writing from Herodotus to post-modernism, discusses the nature of historical knowledge and
examines a wide range of perspectives with which historians have made sense of the past. It is clearly written
and set out, includes extracts from the works of many of the historians whom it discusses and suggests
ways in which students can develop the subject for themselves. It will be welcomed both by teachers and
by their students.
Steve Rigby, Emeritus Professor of Medieval Social and Economic History, University of Manchester
Students (and their teachers) will be grateful for this book. From Herodotus to postmodernism and internet
history, Peter Claus and John Marriott's survey of how the human past has been studied and written about is
impressive in both its range and its clarity. It can be dipped into when needed, while its totality provides a
splendid overview of the richness and diversity that exist within the writing of History.
Dr Bryan Ward-Perkins, Trinity College Oxford
This is a systematic and well-structured assessment of modern historical writing. Students will find that
sense is made of such approaches as psychohistory, Marxism and postmodernism, that each is illustrated
with concrete and lively examples, and that potential pitfalls and further reading are identified. Some may
read the whole book; far more will draw on the chapters most useful to themselves.
Professor Michael Hicks, University of Winchester
Claus and Marriott introduce students to different aspects of historiography and methodology in a simple,
appealing and engaging manner. Using interesting methods and examples to explore historical and theoretical
arguments, this is a good book to support the study of history at university level.
Dr Xavier Guegan, School of Historical Studies, Newcastle University
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HISTORY
An introduction to theory, method and practice
Peter Claus and John Marriott
O Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2012 by Pearson Education Limited
Published 2013 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright © 2012, Taylor & Francis.
The rights of Peter Claus and John Marriott to be identified as authors of this work have
been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
Notices
Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience
broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical
treatment may become necessary.
Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in
evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In
using such information or methods they should be mindful oftheir own safety and the safety of
others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.
To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors,
assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products
liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products,
instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.
ISBN 13: 978-1-4058-1254-2 (pbk)
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
Typeset in 9.5/13pt ITC Charter by 35
Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgements xi
Publisher's Acknowledgements xii
Introduction: history matters xiv
THEORY
Part 1 PERSPECTIVES AND THEMES
Chapter 1
Proof and the problem of objectivity 3
1 History: a science or an art? 4
2 History and the status of knowledge 8
3 Choosing evidence, challenging interpretations 1 3
Chapter 2
The ordering of time 24
1 Time, history, modernity 25
2 Newton and the ‘time reckoner' 30
3 Time, history and the shape of things to come 35
4 Events, people and periods: what is ‘Victorian', when were the sixties? 38
Part 2 PHILOSOPHIES 47
Chapter 3
Enlightenment and romanticism 49
1 Secular histories: Hume, Gibbon, Smith and Robertson 50
2 Romanticism, national histories and the hero in history: Sir Walter Scott
and Thomas Carlyle 56
3 The legacies of Enlightenment and Romanticism 61
Chapter 4
From Hegel to von Ranke 69
1 Hegel and the spirit of history 70
2 Marx and ‘historical materialism' 73
3 Marxism in the twentieth century 77
VI Contents
Chapter 5
Postmodernism and postcolonialism 89
1 Modernity and the Enlightenment 90
2 Postmodernism 94
3 Postcolonialism and the West 98
Part 3 HISTORIES 1 11
Chapter 6
Ideas of history: from the ancients to the Christians I 13
1 Herodotus and gold-digging ants II 4
2 Thucydides and reason: an historian for our times? 11 8
3 What did the Romans ever do for history? 121
4 Late antiquity, Christianity and the End of Days 125
Chapter 7
From the Middle Ages to the Renaissance 134
1 European Christendom and the ‘age of Bede' 135
2 Peoples of the history book: Jewish and Islamic conceptions of history 139
3 The Renaissance, humanism and the rediscovery of the classics 145
Chapter 8
The English tradition 154
1 The Battle of the Books: Camden, Clarendon and English historical writing 155
2 Constitutionalism and the whig interpretation of history 159
3 The‘new Whigs': the school of J. H. Plumb 162
METHOD
Part 4 VARIETIES 175
Chapter 9
Political, social and cultural history 177
1 High and low politics: a case study of the British Labour Party 178
2 Social history and its legacy 182
3 Cultural history and its expansion 187
Chapter 10
Feminism, gender and women's history 196
1 History and feminism 197
2 Women: hidden from history 200
3 Gender and identity 204
Contents VII
Chapter 11
Public history 215
1 What is public history? 216
2 The consumption of public history 221
3 Producing public history 224
4 Public history as contested knowledge 227
Chapter 12
Global histories 233
1 The challenge of global history 234
2 The origins of global history 238
3 Enter ‘new world history' 243
Part 5 APPROACHES & DISCIPLINES 255
Chapter 13
Visual and literary cultures 257
1 Ways of seeing: paintings, photographs and architecture 258
2 Film history and its conventions 265
3 Literature and its uses 269
Chapter 14
Anthropology 280
1 Pens and pith helmets: the influence of anthropology on history 281
2 Functionalism and structuralism: understanding the Lord Mayor's Show 286
3 Myths and history: Jewish conspiracies and the‘blood libel' 289
4 The ‘dying god': Captain Cook and ethnohistory 291
5 Microhistories: cheese, worms, night battles and ecstasies 294
Chapter 15
Geography 303
1 History, space and place 304
2 Geographies of empire 307
3 ‘How to lie with maps': maps, methodology and the metropolis 312
Chapter 16
Sociology 323
1 Is sociology of use to historians? 324
2 History and the problem of the sociological method in understanding class,
authority and the city 328
3 History, sociology and religion 334
VIII Contents
Chapter 17
Economics 343
1 Economics, population and social change 344
2 Economic historians and the big historical questions 348
3 The business of business history 354
PRACTICE
Part 6 SKILLS AND TECHNIQUES 363
Chapter 18
Sources 365
1 Documents and their limits: form, tone, semantics 366
2 Reading early documents: palaeography and Latin 371
3 Fakes and forgeries: protocols and the Hitler Diaries 375
4 History and the Internet 377
Chapter 19
Archives 386
1 What is an archive? 387
2 ‘When we return as human beings again': archives and ashes 390
3 ‘Speaking for ourselves': state archives and community archives 393
Chapter 20
Oral history 405
1 ‘Anthropologies of ourselves': urban, rural, foreign 406
2 Oral historiography 41 3
3 Interviewing techniques and the limits of memory: Arthur Harding and
the East End underworld 41 6
4 The wider conceptual problem 41 9
Bibliography 427
Index 443
Preface
While there may have been a perceptible shift away from the further reaches of linguistic
theory, where postmodernism and ‘deconstruction’ methodologies have sought to convince
us that there is no such thing as historical truth, and where history is merely a ‘text’ that
can be read in endless different ways, historians continue to reflect on their craft. This book
seeks to be part of that reflection but is written unapologetically for real tutors, real students
and relates to courses actually being taught in colleges and universities today. In fact, with
an increasing emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches, as well as a greater focus on the
processes of historical study and writing, courses on theory, method and historiographical
practice seem to grow in number and significance. Even in those history departments that
attempt to integrate the teaching of historiography into thematic- and period-based courses,
a book such as this which discusses the main issues presented by history as a discipline outside
the context of the topic, or else uses an historical era or topic as a dynamic example of how
a core idea of history works, might prove to be a useful teaching and learning aid.
In this sense, our ambition is to be part of a debate about historiography but also to provide
a resource to students working at both an introductory and an advanced level. In doing this,
the book enthusiastically engages with theoretical disciplines and perspectives forged in
areas such as literature, sociology, geography, and anthropology, and the rest of the arts or
social sciences. It draws distinctions between history as a method in the humanities and the
practice of historians engaged in the production of history, both in the academy but also
those working outside the profession.
Theories of history, historical methodologies and historiography sometimes present
themselves as distinct and problematic areas in the life of the historian. While studying
history at university, however, rarely are they encountered as discrete spheres. Each topic
or problem comes with its theoretical and methodological components which suggest in
the strongest possible terms how history should be done. These elements are so completely
intertwined that it takes conscious and informed deliberation to tease them apart. This is
a problem that History aims to help the student solve. Each chapter, theme and case study
pays particular attention to each of these elements but also recognises their profound inter­
relationship. Drawing on the experiences of historians working in every historical period
makes this an academically rigorous, yet intellectually accessible and transparent exercise:
from those beavering away at the shape and significance of field systems in the Middle Ages;
those building an expertise in palaeography as a vital tool of translation; to historians of
visual culture of the Renaissance; or those peeling away the layered meanings of Tudor state
papers; or even to contemporary political or cultural histories thrown up by more immediate
concerns of politics or locality.
At the heart of the book is an analytical narrative that carries forward the main description
and discussion of the topic or theme of each chapter. All of the supporting material relates
to a greater or lesser extent to this core text. Effective pedagogy is the main concern of every