Historiography: Encyclopedia II - Historiography - Defining historiography

Historiography - Defining historiography

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." (The Methods and Skills of History: A Practical Guide, 1988, p. 223, ISBN 0882959824)

Although questions of method have concerned historians since Thucydides, many trace the modern study of historiography to E. H. Carr's 1961 work What is History? (ISBN 0333977017). Carr challenged to the traditional belief that the study of the methods of historical research and writing were unimportant. His work remains in print to this day, and is common to many postgraduate programs of study in both the United States and in Great Britain.

Historiography is often political in nature. For example, much 1960s historiography focused on the exclusion of the roles of women, minorities, and labor from written histories of the USA. According to these historiographers, historians in the 1930s and 1940s had a bias towards well-connected white males. Many historians from that point onward devoted themselves to what they saw as more accurate representations of the past, casting a light on those who had been previously disregarded as non-noteworthy.

The study of historiography demands a critical approach that goes beyond the mere examination of historical fact. Historiographical studies consider the source, often by researching the author, his or her position in society, and the type of history being written at the time.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Defining historiography", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki