Periodization in History

Irfan Waheed Usman

• Introduction
• What is Periodization: Its definitions
• Periodization: Its main purpose
• The Significance of Periodization
• The Examples of Periodization
• Notable Periodization Schemes
Outline
• The Periodization and Perspective
• The Uses of Periodization: Its advantages and
disadvantages
• The Problems with Periodization
• Conclusion
Introduction
Importance of Problematizing the Critical Issues with
Periodization in Concept Periodization
History
It makes history Shaun Tougher,
concrete. p.41.
It makes history
comprehensible.
It places historical
events/
developments in
time and space.
What is Periodization: Its definitions
Tanvir Anjum Shaun Tougher William Green :
What is
periodization and
what does it
include..
Periodization is an Refers to the “Organizing
attempt to impose dividing of history principles upon
narrative order on into discrete(having which we write
History. a clear , history, the
independent shape priorities we assign
or form)… to various aspects of
periods, shaped by human
diverse unifying endeavour,and the
features, such as theories of change
culture or political we adopt to explain
organization”. historical process:
they are all
represented in
periodization”.
• Periodization is used to bring definition and
meaning to history. To prevent it from being
“just one damned (used to express anger)thing
after another”,(S.Tougher:p.31).
The
• Periodization is a definite mechanism for Significance
dividing up history in order to make it
manageable. of
• It makes history comprehensible. Periodization
• Enables us to comprehend the process of
transitions( change emerging out of continuity)
in history.
The Explanation of
the phrase[“just
one damned (used
to express
anger)thing after
another”]
Indian History of Islamic Indian History The Examples
History Freedom History (From
Movement Communalist
Perspective)
of
Ancient: Aligarh Movement Pre-Islamic
Arabia
Hindu :
Periodization
Medieval India: 1906--1929 Period of Holy Muslim
Prophet(SM)

Colonial India 1930—1940 Rashidun Period British Period

Modern India 1940—1947 Umayyads
Abbasides
Notable Periodization Schemes: Mabarik Ali
The Schema of Periodization from The Periodization The Post-Colonial
General Division of the Perspective of though Marxist Perspective:
Periods/Epochs Intellectual History Perspective Herbak's Scheme of
Periodization
Ancient The Age of Faith… (I)Ancient 1950 and the
Medieval The Age of Reason Communism Liberation
Modern The Age of… (II)Slavery movements in the
Enlightenment (III)Feudalism/ Twentieth Century
The Age/era of Feudal Age 1890—1910: The
Modern Science (IV)Capitalism end of
(V) The Dictatorship Independence
of Proletariat 1805—1820: The
(VI) Communism changes taking place
in Africa and Europe
(Sudan,Egypt,and
Madagaskar).
Underlying
philosophy/ideology
/assumption :
What does Ancient
Period
The Periodization and Perspective: Shaun
Tougher: p.41…
• What do we mean by perspective?
• The problem with periodization…: “ How history is divided up ….
Middle ages”, p.41.
• The specific example: the case of late antiquity ….
The Advantages of Periodization
(I) It makes history intelligible.
(II) Serves as a conceptual tool.(figurative)
(III) It is used to bring definition and meaning to history.
(IV)As a necessary mechanism for dividing up history in
order to make it manageable.
The Uses of Periodization: Its advantages and
disadvantages
Periodization: Its Disadvantages
(I) It conditions or rigidifies thought and perspective by
imposing a narrative order on history.
(II) The kind of misconceptions it creates about history. ( we
begin to view history from a particular perspective)…
(III) Periodization and value judgement.
• What do we mean by intelligible? Easy to understand.
• Reason: vast span of time becomes comprehensible
when it is divided its divided into historical periods, also
The
referred to as epochs or eras. Advantages of
• Further explanation though example:
• Indian History: Periodization:
(I) Ancient India 4 BCE—7 CE (I)It makes
(II) Medieval India: 8th century CE—1757
(III)Colonial India: 1757—1947
History
(IV) Modern India/Post-Independence Era: 1947 till the intelligible.
present.
 (II):Serves as a conceptual tool.
• The utility/function of the tool: it enables us to conceptualize what
do we mean by historical change…
The conceptualization of what constitutes historical change in a given
spatio-temporal context.
Spatio: space
Temporal: Time
Two kind of unities that a historian tries to maintain/bring/create in his
or her historical narrative:(I) Spatial unity, and;(I)
chronological(Temporal) unity.
(III):It is used to bring definition and
meaning to history
• To prevent it from being “just one damned thing after another”, p.31.
• Just try to conceptualize history without any schema of
periodization? What it would look like?: a mass of
jumbled facts without any logical sequences, coherence
and unity…

(IV): As a necessary mechanism for dividing

up history in order to make it manageable.
Its Disadvantages(I):It conditions or rigidifies thought and
perspective by imposing a narrative order on history.
• How and in what ways it does so? It imposes a particular kind/type of
narrative order on the sequence of events.
Examples: It is conditioned by the perspective from which history is
written: (See slide no.7).
James Mill: In 1817 he divided Indian history into three periods –
Hindu, Muslim and British….
▫Theodore Zeldin terms periodization and chronology as two tyrants of
History.
(II):The kind of misconceptions it creates
about History
• We are used to thinking about history as divided into discrete(clear
and independent shape or form; separate) periods that is easy to
forget that there is nothing self-evident or “natural”, about those
categorizations. (Shaun Tougher: 31).
• What can we infer from the statement? nothing self-evident or
“natural”, about those categorizations.
• We need to maintain difference between a historian’s perspective
(frame of reference) and the real happenings or developments in
history.
(III):Periodization and Value-judgement.
• Discussions about periodization involve problems of definitions and
meaning, and often invoke value judgements.
• What is meant by value judgements? (an assessment of something as good
or bad in terms of one's standards or priorities).Jum hum kisi cheez kay
baray mein achi ya buri rai qaim kar latey hain apney mayaraat ya
tarjeehaat ki binay par…
• (a subjective assessment based on one's own code of values or that of
one's class).(yeh eik mauzouee takhmina yah andaza hota hay )
• Science and values: Value-loaded/value-laden research vs. value-free or
value-neutral research
• The examples of value-judgements: See the next slide
(II): The Examples of Value-judgements
Description of phenomenon of five students’ visit to Fit the example to an international dispute say
library Kashmir
With value-judgement: value -laden -judgement: Kashmir issue is out
come/product of British-Hindu conspiracies…
Without value- judgement: Without value-judgement: Kashmir issue is the
product of the hasty process of partition carried out
by British and the inconsistencies in the Kashmir
policies of Pakistan and India.
The Problems with Periodization(Tanveer Anjum)

• (I)Conceptual Difficulties in Generalization

• (II)The Whole Process has been Politicized
• (III)Historical Periods as Intellectual Straitjackets/ The Rigidifying
power of Periodization
• (IV)Non-academic Uses of Historical Periods
Conceptual Difficulties in Generalization(I)
What is Generalization Examples
a general statement or concept obtained by inference When we divide history into eras or epochs then it can
from specific cases. be said that we are trying to generalize a period.
Taameem; Chand Misalaun sey Nateeja Ahkaz karne;
Taameem karney ka Amal ya Waqayay
Conceptual Difficulties in Generalization(II)
• Abstraction and Generalization is a necessary adjunct/ prog of
Periodization.
• Its is difficult to conceptualize:
• What Tanvir Anjum reminds us? “ owing to the assumptions on which
a generalization is based”.
What is the crux of the issue? “what constitutes historical change in a
given-spatio temporal context”.
Abstraction and Generalization is a necessary
adjunct/ prog of Periodization.
• Why these difficulties arise?: Because periodization involves
abstraction and generalization.
• We generalize with certain frame of mind.
• What Tougher’s article reminds us?: “we are so used to thinking
about history divided into discrete periods that is easy to forget that
there is nothing self-evident or ‘natural’ about
thesecategorizations”,p.31.
Its is difficult to conceptualize what constitutes historical change in
a given-spatio temporal context.

• The main issue: Where does according to Tanvir Anjum the crux of the issue lie?:
The conceptualization of what constitutes historical change in a given-spatio
temporal context.(What you ascribe as principal factor / determining factor in
historical change?)
• What does mean by spatio (space/makani)? What is temporal(time/zamani)?
• The question arise that what factors and forces cause the change?: in other
words, the problem revolves around the question of locating indicators and
variables that determine the change.
• What the determination of indicators and variables enable us to comprehend?
(The benefits of determining indicators and variables): “ which help draw a
dividing line between eras and epochs and thus demarcate one historical period
from another”.
(III)
• There is/exists no consensus among historians regarding/concerning
indicators and variables. The inability of historians to reach or forge a
consensus has …has given birth to different modes or schemes of
periodization of history”,p.33.
• Word of advice of the author: What a historian must be mindful of?
“ of these intricacies(complicated details) of these variables of change
and continuity which form the basis of any scheme of periodization”,.
“
Abstraction(akhaz karney ka amal) : Meaning

• Abstraction (from the Latin abs, meaning away from and trahere , meaning to draw) is
the process of taking away or removing characteristics from something in order to
reduce it to a set of essential characteristics.
• In object-oriented programming, abstraction is one of three central principles (along
with encapsulation and inheritance). Through the process of abstraction, a
programmer hides all but the relevant data about an object in order to reduce
complexity and increase efficiency.
• In the same way that abstraction sometimes works in art, the object that remains is a
representation of the original, with unwanted detail omitted. The resulting object
itself can be referred to as an abstraction, meaning a named entity made up of
selected attributes and behavior specific to a particular usage of the originating entity.
• Abstraction is related to both encapsulation and data hiding.
By engaging memory/bringing into focus
memory what does she try to impress upon us?
Tanvir Anjum’s Contention
The apparent cultural and institutional inertia that is
generally taken to be continuity is nothing but a slow
and gradual change.
What is Inertia
a property of matter by which it continues in its
existing state of rest or uniform motion in a straight
line, unless that state is changed by an external force
Indicator Variable
1a: a quantity that may assume any one of a set of
values
b: a symbol representing a variable
2a: something that is variable
b: a factor in a scientific experiment that may be
subject to change
3:
What is Variable?
• a variable is a value that can change, depending on conditions
• A defining variable is a symbol, such as x, used to describe any
number. When a variable is used in an function, we know that it is not
just one constant number, but that it can represent many numbers. ...
A variable is a letter, or a symbol used to represent any number.
• Social Science: A variable in research simply refers to a person, place,
thing, or phenomenon that you are trying to measure in some way.
• A variable is a non-constant object of enquiry.
• a factor in a scientific experiment that may be subject to change
Independent Variable
A number or amount whose values does not depend
on the value of another element in the same
mathematical expression. (group of symbols
representing an amount or idea).
A variable whose value does not depend on another
variable.
Dependent Variable
A number or amount whose values depend on the
values of another element in the same mathematical
expression. (group of symbols representing an amount
or idea)
A variable whose value depends on another variable.
(II) The Whole Process has been Politicized
• The Whole Process has been Politicized.
• What happens at times? At times, the criterion of periodizing history
is consciously and unconsciously politically driven. Examples..
• How historians have challenged the concepts of historical periods and
their underlying assumptions?
• Why periodization tends to become politicized?
• What historians fail to consider?
• What inference can we draw from the debate?
ꙴ The Whole Process has been Politicized.
(Politically Driven)
• What is meant by politicized?
• How the phrase coined?: Because the whole issue of periodization
has been politicized.(….involvement of different perspectives)….
• Conceptualizing politicized? “to make something or someone political,
or more involved in or conscious of political matters": Cambridge
Dictionary
• another explanation: Not remaining value-neutral; biased; becoming
tilted or predisposed toward a particular perspective.
• “The criterion of periodizing history is consciously and unconsciously
politically driven”.(Tanvir Anjum)
Factors Contributing toward Politicization of
Periodization in a Nutshell:(I)
• (I) The criterion of periodizing history is consciously and unconsciously politically driven”.
• (II)They began to consider periodization as sacrosanct. Real…
• (III)They ignore the fact that :(I)political considerations and assumptions behind it
served the interests of its formulators(James Mill 1817), and;(II) They fail to acknowledge
that how hidden biases creep into the process of periodizing or writing history;
(IV)the habit of historians to generally take historical periods for granted( the accept
periodization/schema of periodization on its face value) and uncritically accepted by
historians(its implications/consequences for their accounts) historical account too
become a source of perpetuating the biases and prejudices
• What they should have done? Try to eliminate or minimize historical/correct/overcome
biases
• They end up perpetuating them:
Factors Contributing toward Politicization of
Periodization in a Nutshell:(II)
• (IV)Historians are not critically aware of the limitations of their works.
(conscious or unconscious influences on their work).
• (VI) Their intellectual training reinforces these notions /concepts in
their minds.
Further Explanation: Politics of
Periodization(Examples)
The Periodization of History based How James Mills Periodized Indian The Application of the concept of
on Religion History in 1817? Progress on Periodization
Jews Hindu Period Stone Age
Christians Muslim Period Agricultural Revolution
Muslims British Period Industrial Age
Pre-Modern
Modern
Post-Modern
How historians have challenged the concepts of historical periods
and their underlying assumptions?

• By “arguing that certain historical periods reflect the hidden biases of

those who had drawn them”, p.34.
• (I) History written under colonialism.
• (II) History written from written from perspective .
What Historians fail to Consider?

• The blunder that historians commit while Periodizing history?:

“ A historian accepting and using a particular scheme of periodization
may not be mindful of( what they ignore/fail to realize/overlook) these
political considerations and assumptions behind it, which serve the
interests of its formulators”,p.34.
• Why it so happens?
“Since historical periods are generally taken for granted and
uncritically accepted by historians their historical account too become a
source of perpetuating the biases and perjudices”,p.34.
What Inference can we draw from the
debate?
• Historians are not critically aware of the limitations of their works.
(conscious or unconscious influences on their work).
• Or their intellectual training reinforces these notions /concepts in
their minds.
(III)Historical Periods as Intellectual Straitjackets

• The meaning of “straight jacket”: In what sense does Tanveer Anjum use
straitjacket? In a [ figurative sense alamiti sense /way]….
• How do they restrict historical imagination? They tend to restrict historical
imagination, particularly when historical periods become firmly rooted in academic
traditions. (Colonial; anti-colonial; (Hindutva: Vedic/Hindu ; Islamic; Modern; Post-
modern)
• How should they take historical periods? But how they tend to misconstrue them?
“Instead of taking historical periods as a conceptual construct, historians start
perceiving it as historical reality”.
Conceptual Constructs(tasawariti takeel/ taabariat) vs Historical reality
• The implications:
The Implications of Periodization
• “Thus…thinking of historians”.
“ As generally…go beyond them”,p.34.
• By offering the examples Tanvir Anjum is emphasizing/laying stress
on the “rigidifying power of periodization”.
• To make (inflexible; biased/ preconditioned/ uncritical)..
• It rigidifies (frame of mind/thought pattern/ perspective)
While engaging Green she further elaborates the point:

• “Once firmly drawn and widely accepted period frontiers can become
intellectual straightjackets that profoundly affect our habits of mind-
the way we retain images, make associations and perceive the
beginning, middle and ending things”, pp.34—35.
• Analyzing Green’s excerpt: What does he mean by habits of mind?
• “the way we retain images, make associations and perceive the
beginning, middle and ending things”.
• Main Crux?How it changes/gets into habits of mind:
(IV) Non-Academic Uses of Historical
Periods
• Think about academic uses: (value-neutral; it would be critically self-aware of its
limitations….; it would tend to steer clear away from biases; dispassionate)
• What do we mean by non-academic? “For propaganda; political; emotional”
• What happened with the passage of time? The depositing of a thick layer of
meaning of historical periods making them value-loaded and biased.
• Its consequences: Periodization has lost its neutrality as a concept.
• How have the concepts gained common currency? How have they acquired
loaded connotations? Their usage/deployment as ordinary terms in everyday life.
• Further implications: How the non-academic usage enters historical construction?
“Further complicates their scholarly usage for historiographical purposes”,p.34.
• Specific example of the usage of the term “Medieval”.
Specific example of the usage of the term
“Medieval”.
Medieval as a concept in History It has come to denote derogatory
connotations in everyday speech
and language.
Examples: Reference to the
Medieval Psyche of Taliban;
Medieval mindset of feudal lords
Medieval Islam
Locating varied indicators and variables for determination of
historical change, Indian history has variously been
Periodized: The 3 major schemas
(I) Temporal (36—43) (II) Religious/Communal (43—44) (III) Using Colonialism and De-
colonization as marker/dividing
line (44—45).
Ancient Hindu Precolonial
Medieval and Muslim Colonial and
Modern( eras ). And British (periods). And Postcolonial (eras)
Shaun Tougher: Periodization and Perspective

• Defining/Conceptualizing Perspective
• The Factors affecting/Influencing Perspectives
• Examples
Defining/Conceptualizing Perspective
The Importance of Perspective in
History
In an attempt to understand this
complex age the issue of
perspective is crucial.
(we can omit the reference of
complex age by generalizing it. As
Shaun Tougher is referring to the
Middle Ages).
What is Perspective?
(I)The Context in which we view
things: Modern; premodern/
colonial; postcolonial
(II)The frame of mind with which
we see/view things.
What is Perspective?
A perspective is a particular way of
thinking about or viewing
something especially one that is
influenced by your beliefs or
experiences.
The concept that the reading
conveys: History above all means
perspective– the view of human
events in their total setting of time,
place and institutions.
• (I) Where one stands to view the period.( West
or East, North or South) affects once sense of
it.(different parts of the world experienced
different fortunes).
The Factors
• West: Orientalist
affecting/Influencing
• East: Occidental Perspective(I)
• North: Developed North
• South: Underdeveloped South/ Developing/
Developing
The Factors affecting/Influencing Perspective(II)

• (II) There is also issue of where one is looking ahead to: historians have different
end points to reach.(linear; cyclic; spiral; progress)
• (III) Particular territorial or cultural concerns which affect perspective:
(Eurocentric; Occidental; oriental; anti-colonial)
• (IV ) Contemporary concerns can also influence how periods are understood and
constructed. Example: As we have seen the changing political and intellectual
circumstances of the Twentieth century, which resulted in the institution of a
positive and long concept of antiquity, This is now being challenged by a rival
model of decline and fall. Which itself may be a response to current economic and
cultural crises”. (p.41; in the middle of the last paragraph)
Some Helpful
• (I)It is also evident that different
Insights into periodizations can co-exist following
Periodization(I different cultural or national perspectives.

) • Examples:
.
 • (II)The thing historians should remember about
periodization: (a)Historians need to know not just the
Some Helpful details of the period they study but also why their
relevant periodization/s came to exist. (b)The
Insights into circumstance, perspectives and judgements which
Periodization(II) result in creation and maintenance of specific
periodization(c) tell us much about the frameworks,
assumptions and beliefs which colour and shape the
writing of History.
• Elaboration:(a)need to know not just the details(b)
factors that condition or influence periodization, and;
(c) what does periodization tell us about?
Some Helpful
Insights into
Periodization(III
• (III) Periodization is history, too.
)
 How does
• “Periodization of history is indispensable for
historiographical purposes”,p.46.
Tanveer
Anjum Sum
up the
debate?
How does Tanveer Anjum Sum up the deb How do How does Tanveer
Anjum Sum up the debate? (II)

• She points towards the limitations of

periodization:
“In a nutshell, the prevalent modes of
periodization are unable to adequately
explain the historical realities taking
into account the historical changes as
well as continuities in a given time”.
What periodization has failed to
consider? (To adequately explain the
(I)historical realities taking into account
(II)the historical changes as well as(III)
continuities in a given time”,p.46.
How does she sum up the debate: Her word of
advice:

• Given these…to be explored”,p.46. “Given these many and other problems,

which restrict historical thinking, alternative schemes of periodization of
Indian history may usefully be explored”.
The exploration of alternative schemes of India history.
• Why are these considerations necessary to enhance the universal
applicability of the periodization….