Something, something, something, DARK SIDE History
Or, I have 2 1/2 history degrees and all i got was this lousy sense of perspective
What is history?
- Beyond events, dates, names
- Lived Experience
- Hows and Whys
PS: Nothing is uni-causal
The Five C's of historical thinking
- Change over time
- Context
- Causality
- Complexity
- Contingency
https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/january-2007/what-does-it-mean-to-think-historically
The coolest thing I did in grad school
(the first time)
Probate inventory
- Decoding the contents
- What does it mean?
- What can we learn about this person from context?
Lenses, Schools, Perspectives
Historical thinking 2.0
Historiography has trends, just like anything else
- Great Men
- Economic/Marxist
- Micro-history
- Historical Demography
- Uncovering Silences
Great men
Marxist/economic
Microhistory
Historical Demography
Uncovering silences
What did you do in the war, Granny?
Cultural History
The Grand Tour and the Expansion of the British Mind: Cultural Imperatives in the Eighteenth Century
Interrogating sources
The Takeaway
- What are the sources used?
- Who are the participants talked about (and who is missing)?
- What agenda might the author have?
- What lens are they using to look at the event?
