1. Historiography : Development in the West
Complete solutions to the Exercise. Maharashtra State Board (Balbharati), Grade 10 History and Political Science.
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Exercise
(1) It may be said that ........... was the founder of modern historiography.
- ✓ (a) Voltaire
- (b) René Descartes
- (c) Leopold von Ranke
- (d) Karl Marx
Answer: It may be said that Voltaire was the founder of modern historiography.
(2) ........... wrote the book entitled ‘Archaeology of Knowledge’.
- (a) Karl Marx
- ✓ (b) Michel Foucault
- (c) Lucien Febvre
- (d) Voltaire
Answer: Michel Foucault wrote the book entitled ‘Archaeology of Knowledge’.
| (1) | Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel | ‘Reason in History’ |
| (2) | Leopold von Ranke | ‘The theory and Practice of History’ |
| (3) | Herodotus | ‘The Histories’ |
| (4) | Karl Marx | ‘Discourse on the Method’ |
Wrong pair: (4) Karl Marx — ‘Discourse on the Method’
Correct pair: René Descartes wrote ‘Discourse on the Method’, whereas Karl Marx wrote ‘Das Kapital’.
(1) Dialectics
According to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, grasping the meaning of any event happens in terms of two direct opposites (for example, True-False, Good-Bad). A human mind cannot understand the true nature of an event without understanding its opposites. This method of analysis, which is based on opposites, is known as ‘Dialectics’.
In this method, a theory is proposed at the beginning, which is called a ‘Thesis’. Then another theory is proposed, which is contrary to the thesis, called an ‘Antithesis’. After a thorough logical discussion of both, a new thesis is proposed which includes the gist of both. This process of arriving at the new thesis is called ‘Synthesis’.
(2) Annales School
At the onset of the twentieth century, a new school of historiography arose in France, which is known as the ‘Annales School’. It was started by French historians and gave an entirely new direction to history writing.
It recognised that history is not only about political events, kings, great leaders, politics, diplomacy and wars, but also about the climate, local people, agriculture, trade, technology, means of communication, social divisions and their collective psychology in the historical times.
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(1) Historical research was driven to focus in depth on various aspects of women’s life.
- The writings of Simone de Beauvoir helped in establishing the fundamentals of feminism.
- Feminist historiography emphasised not only on the inclusion of women in history but also on the rethinking of the male-dominated perspective of history.
- As a result, historical research was driven to focus in depth on various aspects of women’s lives such as their employment, their role in trade unions, institutions working for their cause, and their family life.
(2) Foucault called his method, ‘the archaeology of knowledge’.
- The French historian Michel Foucault argued that the prevailing practice of arranging historical events in a chronological order is not right.
- He drew attention to the fact that archaeology does not strive to reach the ultimate historical truth, but rather attempts to explain various transitions in the past.
- Since Foucault felt that explaining the transitions in history is more important than establishing chronological timelines, he called his method ‘the archaeology of knowledge’.
Notable Scholars in Europe:
You can write any four names from the list above in the blank boxes of the concept chart to complete it.
(1) Explain Karl Marx’s ‘Class Theory’.
In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Karl Marx formulated a new thesis with the following points:
- History was not about abstract ideas; it was about living people.
- Human relationships are shaped by the fundamental needs of people and the ownership as well as the nature of prevalent means of production to meet those needs.
- The accessibility of these means to different strata of the society may not be equal.
- This inequality causes a division of the society into classes, leading to class struggle.
- According to Marx, human history is the history of class struggle, as the class that owns the means of production economically exploits the rest of the classes.
(2) What are the four characteristics of modern historiography?
The four main characteristics of modern historiography are:
- Its method is based on scientific principles. It begins with the formation of relevant questions.
- These questions are anthropocentric. It means that these questions are about the deeds of the members of ancient human societies of a particular period. History does not suggest any interrelation between the Divine and human deeds.
- Answers to these questions are supported by reliable evidence.
- History presents a graph of mankind’s journey with the help of past human deeds.
(3) What is feminist historiography?
- Feminist historiography means the restructuring of history from the perspective of women.
- The writings of Simone de Beauvoir, a French scholar, helped in establishing the fundamentals of feminism.
- The feminist historiography emphasised not only on the inclusion of women in history but also on the rethinking of the male-dominated perspective of history.
- It drove historical research to focus in depth on various aspects of women’s life such as their employment, their role in trade unions, institutions working for their cause, their family life, etc.
- As a result of this approach, in the historical writings after 1990, women were successfully portrayed as an independent social class.
(4) Explain Leopold von Ranke’s perspective of history?
Historiography of the nineteenth century was greatly influenced by the thoughts of Leopold von Ranke of Berlin University. His perspective on history was:
- He spoke about the critical method of historical research.
- He put emphasis on the utmost importance of information gathered through original documents.
- He also stated that all types of documents associated with a historical event need to be examined with the greatest care.
- He believed that with this method it was possible to reach the ultimate historical truth.
- He strictly criticised the imaginative narration of history.