Summer 2021

HIS 102: Introduction to World Civilization

Department of History and Philosophy, North South University

LECTURE 3:
DEFINITION AND APPROACHES TO
STUDY THE HISTORY OF HUMAN
CIVILIZATION

DR. KAZI MARUFUL ISLAM

kazi.islam07@northsouth.edu
26 June 2021
DISCUSSION POINTS
§ Definition of History
§ Historiography
§ Methods and Approaches to
Study History
§ Contesting Schools of
Historical Enquiry
§ Sources of historical data
§ Challenges in studying History
WHAT IS HISTORY?
§ The term is derived from Greek word “historia”
means “knowledge acquired through inquiry or
investigation”
WHAT IS HISTORY?
§ History is the study of the past as it is described in written
documents.
§ Events occurring before written record are considered
prehistory.
§ It is an umbrella term that relates to past events as well as
the memory, discovery, collection, organization,
presentation, and interpretation of information about these
events.
WHAT IS HISTORY?
§ History is the study of change and development in
society over time. The study of history enables us to
understand how past human action affects the present
and influences our future, and it allows us to evaluate
these effects.
§ History is about learning how to think about the past,
which affects the present, in a disciplined way.
§ History is a process of enquiry.
WHAT IS HISTORY?
§ Therefore, it is about asking questions of the past:
§ What happened?
§ When did it happen?
§ Why did it happen then?
§ What were the short-term and long-term results?
§ It involves thinking critically about the stories people
tell us about the past, as well as the stories that we
tell ourselves
METHODOLOGY: HISTORIOGRAPHY
§ HISTORIOGRAPHY: history of history/methods
of writing history
§ Let’s us have a better understanding of history
§ Not only get to learn historical facts, but also
provided with the understanding of the facts’
and historian’s contexts
HISTORICAL METHODOLOGY
§ Compromises certain techniques and rules that historians
follow in order to properly utilize sources and historical
evidences in writing history
§ Certain rules apply in cases of conflicting accounts in
different sources, and on how to properly treat eyewitness
accounts and oral sources as valid historical evidence
A SHORT INTERVIEW WITH PROF. ROMILA
THAPAR ON WHAT IS HISTORY

§https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcxJlGXe
7wA
APPROACHES TO STUDY HISTORY
§ History is a distinctive and well-established academic
discipline with its own methods and discourses.
§ Its field of study is potentially limitless, in that it
encompasses the totality of past human experience.
§ Among scholars who study history there can be differences
and even controversy between some who regard it as an
account of an actual past, and others who view it as an
entirely imagined or constructed past.
CONTESTING SCHOOLS OF ENQUIRY
§ POSITIVISM
§ Emerged between 18th and 19th century
§ It requires empirical and observable evidence
before one can claim that a particular knowledge
is true
§ Entails an objectives mean of arriving at a
conclusion
§ Positivist historians are expected to be objective
and impartial not just in their arguments but also
on their conduct of historical research
CONTESTING SCHOOLS OF ENQUIRY
§ CONSTRUCTIVISM
§ Historical knowledge could be seen from a
constructivist epistemology
§ They argue that the discipline of history as embodying
multiple and sometimes competing narratives of the
past.
§ It is essentially a constructed past through subjective
interpretation for specific purpose(s)
CONTESTING SCHOOLS OF ENQUIRY
§ POSTCOLONIALISM
§ Emerged in early 20th century when formerly
colonized nations grapples with the idea of creating
their identities and understanding their societies
against the shadows of their colonial past
POSTCOLONIALISM
§ Looks at 2 things in writing history:
§ (1) To tell history of their nation that will highlight their
identity free from that of colonial discourse and
knowledge
§ (2) To criticize the methods, effects and idea of
colonialism
§ Postcolonial history therefore a reaction and an
alternative to the colonial history that colonial powers
created and taught to their subjects
WHAT DO HISTORIANS DO?
§ They not only seek historical evidences and facts but also
§ interpret these facts to give meaning to these facts and
§ organize them into a timeline
§ establish causes
§ Historians need to be considered as a person who is
influenced by his own context, environment, ideology,
education
§ His/her is interpretation of the historical fact is affected by
his context and circumstances
§ his subjective intention inevitably influences the
process of his historical research: the methodology he
will use, the facts he shall select and deem relevant, his
interpretation and the form of his writings
SOURCES OF HISTORICAL DATA
§ HISTORICAL SOURCES
§ Primary sources: sources produced at the same time as the
event, period, or subject being studied.
§ Eyewitness accounts of convention delegates and their memoirs
are used as primary sources
§ Archival documents, artifacts, memorabilia, letters, census, and
government records
§ Secondary sources: sources that are produced by an author
who used primary sources to produce the material are
secondary historical sources, which studied a certain
historical subject
THANKS