Historiography – the way of History-Writing

by Harsh Kumar

History is like a story telling with no ending stories. History is far more interesting than the novels of today’s time. The process to write and do research in history all came under the term “Historiography”. It is a very broad term that tells us how history should be written.

There are various terms that came under historiography like generalisation, causation, objectivity and interpretation. Generalisation is the linkage of different facts with each other. It is through generalisation, historians analyze and interpret their materials like data, facts, or events to provide as historical accounts. For example, a generalisation is made when background information like caste, religion, occupations etc. of former Russian president Vladimir Lenin are mentioned.

  A cause is a condition that is both necessary and sufficient for bringing about an event. It is a condition that is always present when the incident ‘A’ occurs and always absent when the incident ‘A’ does not happen, that process of research is Causation. However, the relationship of necessity is significantly different from that of sufficiency in determining the cause of phenomenon. For example, floods lead to destruction of a civilization that was a sufficient condition for producing the effect – the destruction of civilization.

Objectivity in history-writing is interpretation of historical facts and events based on evidence with an aim to tell the truth without bringing wishful thinking and propaganda in it. It relies on evidence and logic rather than false stories. It aims to tell the truth. It separates history and fiction. So, objectivity plays a significant role in determining the interpretation of historical events.

Traditions to study History

There are various historic traditions to study history. Like, Greco-Roman tradition, Chinese tradition, Indian tradition, Western, Arabic and Persian, Indo-Persian traditions.

The tradition of history-writing was started in ancient Greece as the first known author of history was Herodotus. He is regarded as the ‘Father of History’. After that some historians like Thucydides, who lived in 5^th century BC, and Livy and Tacitus who lived during the Augustan era of Roman Empire can be taken to study the Greco-Roman tradition of history- writing.

The Chinese records of history-writing are so voluminous and so accurate. Chinese history-writing was strongly influenced by Confucianism which is an ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius, who lived during 6^th century BC in Chinese State.

Chinese tradition is important as it involve key elements like humanism, reverence for the past, emphasis on moral education and concern with order. Arabic historical writings first began to develop in the second century of Islam, or the 8th century AD as they were started to present life and activities of Prophet Muhammad. The history-writing in Persian on Sultanate period is traceable to 12^th century when Turks came to India, that came to known as Indo-Persian tradition of history writing.

Fakhr-i-Mudabbir, Hasan Nizami, Ziauddin Barani, Amir Khusrau etc. were the prominent historians of that time. A.H. Dodd, W.H. Chaloner etc. were prominent writers of the Local History

Approaches to History in Modern Times

There are various approaches to study history in modern times. First is Positivist Tradition that derived from the philosophy by enunciated French thinker Auguste Comte, the Empiricists tradition and German historian Leopold von Ranke’s view on historiography. Other is Marxist theories that became prominent in 20^th century, mainly led by the theories of Marx and Engels.

Another is Annales School of historiography emerged with the foundation of the journal Annales d’histoire economique et sociale (Annales of Economic and Social history) in1929 by Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre. They are a trendsetter and considered as one of the most important development in history-writing trend. Another is post-modernism history-writing is anti-modern. Critical analysis of modernity led to the development of post-modern history.

Approaches and Themes in Indian Historiography

Just like traditions there are also different school of thoughts to study History. First is Colonial Historiography that covers the history of the countries colonized during the period of colonial rule and the ideas and ideologies associated with colonialism. Second is Nationalist Approach that is influenced by nationalist ideology presented as the counter approach to the Colonial Historiography, as they were biased in history writing.

The Communist trends of history-writing adopt a communal interpretation of history to present the past of the country, they emphasized on the ideology to spread communal consciousness through writings. Marxist historians like R.P. Dutt, D.D. Kosambi also presented their views on historiography. Another was the Cambridge School that came into prominence in 1973 who advocated the elite theory of west. History from Below, Subaltern Studies etc. covers the history-writing of local peoples like peasant, tribes, common people, and they focused on the study of gender, race, caste, economic condition of local peoples and gave emphasis on environmental history also.

So, the years the process of history-writing got refine. It is important to understand the historiography first so we should learn understood history.