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Historiography - The Study of History

            Historiography is the study of the way history has been and is written (HP2). The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians have studied that topic using particular sources, techniques, and theoretical approaches. The writings of history were questioned and historians became famous when making the study of history a discipline and made sure that the writings therefore are backed up with evidence and close critique. Chapter 11 of the historiography packet specifically focuses on identifying and describing the major trends, philosophies, and contributions of the influential scholars that have shaped the evolution of the western historiography over the last 3,000 years (RWR5).
             It was said that the historical writings began with the Hebrews and Greeks. During the first millennium BC the Jews saw themselves to be special in the eyes of their God. The Jews writings were very God centered and based on faith. The Jews did not use primary sources to back up their writings. Conscious of their special role as gods ' 'chosen people,'' the Jews wrote history as a chronicle of their continuing and evolving relationship with the creator (HP3). .
             Like the Jews the Greeks believed their gods were in control of nature and the outcome of social affairs, but the Greeks pioneered the writing of history ' 'in self-consciously human terms." By 600 BC Greek philosophers started to investigate natural events and as a result the beginnings of both Greek philosophy and science were established. Arguably the first scientific philosophy of history-which is characterized by an attempt to be non-biased, testimony-based, and comprehensive was produced by the father of history, Herodotus (c. 484-425 BCE) Herodotus "the father of history," wrote history based on observations and thoroughly examining records. In his account of the Greek wars against the Persians he did include some superstition and exaggeration but essentially it was the history of human actions told in human terms (3).


Essays Related to Historiography - The Study of History

1. The Impact of The Rankean Revolution in historical writing.

... in the old error of identifying history with political history, and ignored the history of art, religion, science etc, because these were subjects with which it was incapable of dealing"8. These ignorances were a major drawback of Von Rankes idea of historiography. His history was not inclusive, it was facts only, an obvious shortcoming. Often, it is difficult to tell a true story with facts alone; there is a need for some form of commentary. With the study of history ... improve upon. The way forward for historiography was borne out of a questioning of his methods. Therefore, without V...

  • Word Count: 1283
  • Approx Pages: 5
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  • Grade Level: High School

2. History: What and Why? Beverly Southgate Review

... asks that ideas be created so as to further the knowledge and study of history. If the reader has not had much experience with philosophy, historiography can seem obtuse. The study of studying history is heavily based upon philosophy and ideas. If the reader has not had much experience with that kind of analytical thinking, this book could seem to be somewhat ... to progress in the book. Overall, Southgate has produced a quality survey of historiography. His use of primary sources and various ideas allow the reader to quickly grasp his thesis and understand the development of the work. He...

  • Word Count: 1107
  • Approx Pages: 4
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3. The Annals School of History

... the human element. Not all members of the Annales prescribes to this train of thought. The next method is Functionalism. Functionalism is understood as the study of the interaction between the traditional fields of history, which are economies, societies, and civilisation. Functionalism is the method of identifying the relationship of interdependence between these three traditional fields of study. This is important to the Annales school because it brings together the need for the traditional fields of history and says that it is the backbone of history ... Marxist theory and the Annale...

  • Word Count: 1587
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. Origins of the Cold War

... outlook inspired such efforts as increasing agricultural modernization, road and railway-building, and the implementation of new nuclear weapons programs. However, there are factors which present issues that internationalized the study of the Cold War. As a result, a research timeline which began with one-dimensional ... of one of the most dangerous times in world history, which interpretation is right or wrong? Through a look at all three approaches, one can ascertain that only critical thought applied to the research of each one can answer that question. Initial interpretations of the...

  • Word Count: 1800
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5. Film and Historiography

... Queen in 1955 to Elizabeth in 1998 was one in which societal values changed, and therefore history changed with it. Though filmmakers are not historians, the work they produce it still a work of historiography, and frankly, it is accessed by more people than the works of historians. The trouble that we face, with film, is that it has no standards, facts can be doctored, or twisted, or ... . Film, in this sense, can try to create attitudes and values. History creates history. Cinematic interpretations of history, tell us more about the society in which they were created, than the historic...

  • Word Count: 3868
  • Approx Pages: 15
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  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. Reassessing the Past - Gender and Slavery

... . Over the course of the past forty years, American historiography has evolved from a very limited admittance of black bondswomen in the general slave narrative to explicit study of their experiences as individuals. This is reflected in work which has examined the external perceptions they induced, the expectations they challenged, and the subsequent slave culture they contributed to. With the emergence of the female gender as a field of study combined with popularized inquiry into minority pasts, history has ... attained increasingly sufficient documentation of the enslaved ... ...

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7. The American Civil War

... and archival collections. The memory includes the home front, military affairs, the treatment of soldiers, both living and dead, in the war's aftermath, depictions of the war in literature and art, evaluations of heroes and villains, and considerations of the moral and political lessons of the war. Practically every major figure in the war, both North and South, has had a serious biographical study. Deeply religious Southerners saw the hand of God in history, which demonstrated His wrath ... important political legacies that flowed from the adoption of the Lost Cause analysis were that ...

  • Word Count: 7511
  • Approx Pages: 30
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  • Grade Level: High School

8. The Fluidity of the American Civil War

... and archival collections. The memory includes the home front, military affairs, the treatment of soldiers, both living and dead, in the war's aftermath, depictions of the war in literature and art, evaluations of heroes and villains, and considerations of the moral and political lessons of the war. Practically every major figure in the war, both North and South, has had a serious biographical study. Deeply religious Southerners saw the hand of God in history, which demonstrated His wrath ... important political legacies that flowed from the adoption of the Lost Cause analysis were that ...

  • Word Count: 6922
  • Approx Pages: 28
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9. Methodology of the Jesus Seminar

... other scholars. Then I will make a personal summation of my own of the methods. The declared objectives of the Seminar are 1) to find out what critical historiography can say about the historical Jesus. 2) to communicate responsibly the results of our scholarly work to the public. There are statements from the Seminar that indicate their intention of disclosure to the general public as an indication of their scholarly purpose. The Seminar formed in l985 with Robert Funk as ... . Their unconventional views and methods are a source of concern to me. I believe they are deceiving themselves ...

  • Word Count: 3088
  • Approx Pages: 12
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