History in Crisis? Recent Directions in Historiography

by Wilson, Norman J.

• ISBN13: 9780131835528
• ISBN10: 0131835521
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-12-31
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

This book explores the possibilities remaining for historical study in the face of the current trends, including postcolonialism, postmodernism, and deconstruction, among others.The volume examines key topics such as what was history and what is history? The problems of historical knowledge: historicism, presentism, and the writing of history, cross-pollination, varieties of history, historical actors, post modernist (re)visions, post-colonialism and the scope of history, as well as the future of history.For those interested in the study of history as well as those interested in the influence of recent political trends.

Table of Contents

PREFACE	ix
1 WHAT WAS HISTORY?	1	(16)
1.1 Historical Time and Teleology	6	(3)
1.2 A Brief History of History	9	(5)
1.3 Nineteenth-Century Historicism	14	(2)
Notes	16	(1)
2 WHAT IS HISTORY?	17	(11)
2.1 Historical Focal Points (Diachronic Versus Synchronic History)	19	(1)
2.2 History as a Form of Knowledge (Art or Science?)	20	(4)
2.3 Historical Causation	24	(2)
2.4 The Study of History as an Autonomous Discipline	26	(1)
Notes	27	(1)
3 PROBLEMS OF HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE: HISTORICISM, PRESENTISM, AND THE WRITING OF HISTORY	28	(19)
3.1 Experiencing and Remembering the Past	30	(4)
3.2 The Indeterminancy of the Past	34	(3)
3.3 Reworking the Past	37	(8)
Notes	45	(2)
4 CROSS-POLLINATION	47	(23)
4.1 Cliometrics: Quantification and History	49	(4)
4.2 Economics and History	53	(6)
4.3 Sociology and History	59	(5)
4.4 Anthropology and History	64	(4)
Notes	68	(2)
5 VARIETIES OF HISTORY	70	(35)
5.1 Social History	71	(16)
5.1.1 Big History: Annales	71	(6)
5.1.2 Little History: History from the Bottom	77	(5)
5.1.3 Macrohistory	82	(3)
5.1.4 Microhistory	85	(2)
5.2 Intellectual History	87	(3)
5.2.1 History of Ideas	87	(2)
5.2.2 The Contextualists	89	(1)
5.2.3 New Intellectual History	90	(1)
5.3 Cultural History	90	(4)
5.3.1 Materialists and Nonmaterialists	91	(1)
5.3.2 Subjects of Cultural History	92	(2)
5.4 Psychohistory and Its Discontents	94	(5)
5.5 Comparative History	99	(3)
Notes	102	(3)
6 HISTORICAL ACTORS	105	(21)
6.1 Rational Actors	106	(4)
6.2 Class	110	(4)
6.3 Gender	114	(5)
6.4 Structures of Perception	119	(5)
Notes	124	(2)
7 POSTMODERNIST (RE)VISIONS	126	(12)
7.1 History and/as Language	127	(4)
7.1.1 Postmodernism	127	(2)
7.1.2 Deconstruction	129	(2)
7.2 Sociohistorical Pursuit and the Rise of the New Historicism	131	(5)
Notes	136	(2)
8 POST COLONIALISM AND THE SCOPE OF HISTORY	138	(17)
8.1 History of the Term Postcolonialism	140	(3)
8.2 Globalization and Wallerstein's World-System Model	143	(1)
8.3 Orientalism	144	(2)
8.4 The Language of Self/Other and In-Between Spaces	146	(3)
8.4.1 Hybridity	146	(1)
8.4.2 Subaltern Studies and Postmodernism	147	(2)
8.5 Postcolonialism and the Crisis of Historical Representation	149	(2)
8.6 The Provincialization of Europe?	151	(2)
Notes	153	(2)
9 THE FUTURE OF HISTORY	155	(9)
9.1 History at Its Best?	156	(2)
9.2 Historians and their Education	158	(1)
9.3 Standards and Professional Conduct	159	(2)
9.4 Conclusion	161	(2)
Notes	163	(1)
INDEX	164

Excerpts

I chose the title of this book while skimming my tattered copy of Fritz Stern'sVarieties of History: From Voltaire to the Present.In the "Note to the Second Edition," Stern wrote "Is history in crisis again? The answer seems to be yes, and the crisis comes from within and without the historical discipline." It was unclear to me how historians could ever be freed from the crisis that Stern proclaimed. Stern's book, a reader of famous historians, differs radically from my efforts to present a variety of approaches without attempting to pinpoint a canon of works by famous historians. Instead of proclaiming masters who are then mastered, I sought to provide a toolbox or workshop so that readers could jump into current historical conversations. My goal was to accentuate the positive aspects of the varieties of history and thus the titleHistory in Crisis?ends with a rhetorical question mark. I consciously rejected the critical tradition that grandly proclaims "crisis" so that the critic could explain the world.This edition caused considerable contemplation about whether I should remain steadfast in my optimistic assessment. One of the most controversial positions in the first edition was my strong support for postcolonialism. Postcolonialists would tell you that I correctly recognized the merits of their pursuit of history, and critics of postcolonialism would argue that I was duped. Postcolonialism is now firmly seated in the academy, but the role of postcolonialism will remain undefined until more postcolonial histories become available.The current historical conversation may not be as vibrant as the heated conversations over postmodernism and postcolonialism that took place in the late 1990s, but I do not believe that history has returned to a state of crisis. Crisis can be avoided as new perspectives are incorporated into the current historical conversation. Students are encouraged to read this brief overview of recent historical conversations and then to participate in the currently expanding historical conversation. Let the conversation continue!