Theories and Methods in the Study of History

This course examines the distinctive ways in which historians in different parts of the world have approached the task of writing history. It explores methodologies used, such as political, social, economic, cultural, and popular histories through the reading and discussion of relevant and innovative texts. It introduces a variety of sources (archival documents, statistical data, film, fiction, memoirs, artifacts, and images) and the ways they can be used to research, interpret, and present the past. Assignments include an original research paper. Students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments.

This subject examines some of the many ways that contemporary historians interpret the past, as well as the multiple types of sources on which they rely for evidence. It is by no means an exhaustive survey, but the topics and readings have been chosen to give a sense of the diversity of work that is encompassed in the discipline of history.

We will doggedly ask two questions in this class: "What is history?" and "How do you do it in 2010?" In pursuit of the answers, we will survey a variety of approaches to the past used by historians writing in the last several decades. We will examine how these historians conceive of their object of study, how they use primary sources as a basis for their accounts, how they structure the narrative and analytical discussion of their topic, and the advantages and limitations of their approaches.