Lectures: Tuesday 9 am, OC0.03 (2024)

 

Module Convenor: Dr Charles WaltonLink opens in a new window

Introducing the module

While Historiography I introduced students to key methodological and theoretical approaches in history writing from the Enlightenment to roughly the 1990s, Historiography II explores more recent approaches, ones that are still practiced in the discipline today. The nine lectures and seminars for this term do not proceed chronologically. Instead, each week focuses on a different theme, theory, or methodology which is currently debated among academic historians. Each lecture is presented by a member of staff specialised in the week’s theme. Each lecture will begin with an introduction to the approach and many lecturers will discuss their own engagements with it -- and why they have found it useful and exciting. Historiography II aims to offer students a clear idea of what is currently important in Anglo-American academic history writing. Through seminars, lectures and essay writing, the module will provide a framework for students to develop skills in researching, analysing and communication (written and oral). Students are encouraged to link their studies in Historiography II with their other second and final-year modules. The module may help students choose a dissertation topic and supervisor for year 3.

 

Context

Historiography, taught in the Department since 1968, has been designed to complement the learning which students will have done so far in their work in the Department, both in core and optional modules. For all students taking it, Historiography I and II provide an overview of ‘doing History’ from the later eighteenth-century to today. Both modules allow to understand the theories and methodologies, underpinning historical research and writing in the past and present. The central message of both modules is that the changing theories and methodology used in academic history writing since the 18^th century are intellectual expressions of and engagements with the wider socio-cultural context of the time and place. The reconstruction of the historical ‘context’ of a historian or a particular piece of historical writing is therefore vital. All history writing, past and present, necessarily reflects the values and norms of the time in which it is written.

 

Teaching and Learning

The module Historiography II runs in terms 2. Teaching is through 9 x 1-hour lectures. The lectures are followed by 9 x 1 hour seminars. Seminar groups will normally consist of 12-16 students. Times and venues for the seminars will be arranged before the beginning of term and the first lecture.

 

Lectures and Seminars

Seminars follow the lectures and are always thematically connected to them. Lectures will provide the historical context for a specific methodology/theory discussed and will analyse the method/theory itself. The narrative and perspectives of the lecture and the weekly reading assigned on the Historiography II website make up the material to be discussed in the seminar. You are expected to read in advance the basic texts set for that week.

Note: Please make sure that you arrange for assistance to take lecture notes if necessary. Please contact the History Department office for further assistance in these matters.

 

Seminar Preparation

Students must prepare the readings mentioned in ‘Texts/Documents/Arguments/Sources’ and ‘Seminar Readings’ for each seminar. For each seminar there is a list of questions to guide your reading and note-taking. Your seminar tutor may also assign additional or alternative readings from the ‘Further Reading’ lists, if you wish so. The assessment in Historiography II focusses primarily on analysis of primary sources. Students should think about where they might look to find primary sources related to each week's methodological approach.

Essay structure will be discussed in the individual seminars.

For essay structure and writing, see the recording on Lecture Capture on Moodle: 'Lecture on Writing (optional)'. It appears at the bottom of the list of recorded lectures for the term.

While writing video is optional, students are strongly recommended to watch it. It will help you to understand better the structure of ‘academic’ history writing. Particularly in Historiography II essays it will be important to be able to present a strong own thesis, followed by a logical and clear organisation of the supporting argumentation. Moreover, a clear and persuasive writing style is essential. After all, history writing is an empirical ‘science’ of collecting and evaluating facts as well as an art, as the founder of modern history writing, Leopold von Ranke famously stated.

 

Core Textbook for Module

There are many textbooks on historiography. We think that Lloyd Kramer and Sarah Maza, eds., A Companion to Western Historical Thought (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2002) is most useful for our purposes. The library has an electronic copy and several hardcopies.

See Resources for further surveys and resources.

 

Formal Assessment

Assignment 1: Oral participation/engagement (10%). For marking criteria, 'Seminar Contribution Guidelines'.

Seminar participation will be assessed by the seminar tutor according to the following criteria:

• Preparation - Evidence shows preparation for the seminar (has prepared notes and/or recalls the readings without the use of the open text).
• Engagement and Initiative - Quality of engagement is active, respectful and inclusive; participation in discussions; engagement with others; taking own initiative ask questions. Attendance is taken into consideration as well, aside from authorised absences.
• Response and Discussion - Quality of response reflects knowledge, comprehension and application of the readings; Quality of response extends the discussion with peers and reflects analysis, synthesis and evaluation.

 

GUIDANCE FOR THE TWO WRITING ASSIGNMENTS: Please use double-spacing and 12 point pitch. Be sure to quote, cite and format correctly. See the Student Handbook for orientation. For referencing and style, the Department recommends the MHRA (Modern Humanities Research Association) style guideLink opens in a new window.

For a brief description of what a primary source analysis, see Mary Lynn Rampolla's descriptionLink opens in a new window.

 

Assignment 2: a short essay of 1500 words (30%)

Find a primary source of interest to you from any historical period and analyse it engaging with a methodology treated thus far in the module. Be sure to contextualise the source before teasing out its significance. You may refer to secondary literature, but the principal focus should be on applying the questions and perspectives of the methodology to analysing the source.

See Guidance for 1500 word essay.Link opens in a new window Be sure to look at Moodle as well for further tips and example essays.

 
Assignment 3: an essay of 3000 words (60%)

Find a primary source of interest to you from any historical period and analyse it engaging with at least two of the methodologies treated in this module. The source, or set of sources, must differ from those of the previous essay. YOU MAY ENGAGE WITH THE METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH YOU EXPLORED IN YOUR FIRST ESSAY BUT THE SOURCES SHOULD DIFFER AND YOU MUST DISCUSS DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO APPROACHES YOU CHOOSE.) Again, be sure to contextualise as you apply the questions and perspectives of the two methodologies chosen. The aim of this assignment is to appreciate how a source, or set of sources, can be analysed in different ways -- with different analytical lenses. You may engage with the historical literature on your topic, but focus primarily on analysing the source. Do not duplicate any analysis you have provided for other modules.

See Guidance for 3000 word essay.Link opens in a new window Be sure to look at Moodle as well for further tips and example essays.

 

Coursework and Assessment Regulations

Deadlines for essays hereLink opens in a new window.

All students (except visiting exchange students) MUST complete the relevant formative assessment(s).

For guidance on format, footnotes, quotations, and bibliography refer to the style guide in your history undergraduate handbook, or see the online style guide.

Written feedback on formative work will be received within 20 working days of submission (unless submitted late). Seminar tutors will provide individual feedback tutorials to support written feedback.

 

The module, and its companion module complement teaching in specialised History modules, by providing a broad context for understanding developments in the discipline of history from the Enlightenment to today. The overall aims is to introduce students to the important idea that the different methodologies and theories used in history writing to explain human individual and collective agency and historical change do not exist in ‘empty space’. Since the Enlightenment they have been reflecting wider explanatory trends in a society and culture, its politics and economic structures, ethical values and morals. Powerful history is not simply written by clever women or men but requires a deep engagement with and sensitivity to the present, its possibilities and challenges. Since the Enlightenment, the past has been continuously ‘re-written’ by historians to ‘make meaning’ of an every-changing present.

The module introduces students to these on-going changes in which the past has been understood by exploring key theories and methodologies within their specific historical context from the Enlightenment to the present. 'Historiography I' concentrates on methods and theories which dominated history writing roughly between 1750-1990. 'Historiography II' focusses on more recent and emerging trends in history writing since the 1990s in order to offer students a clear orientation as to what is at stake in history writing today, what is considered important in the world in which we live but also what is ‘left out’ or silenced.

It asks students to consider what form of thinking and writing (what kind of human endeavour) ‘history’ is, and to relate the historiographical developments discussed during the course, to the works of history they study on Advanced Option and Special Subject modules. The more recent concepts and methods encountered in the module may be helpful in crafting dissertations.

Historiography is also intended to develop students’ abilities in study, research, and oral and written communication, through a programme of seminars, lectures and essay work.