Historiography

Dave Coull · Historiography

Historiography is the study of the way that we study history. For example, Richard J. Evans's book "In Defense Of History" (1997) is a historiographical work. Historiography studies the processes by which historical knowledge is obtained and transmitted. Historiography examines the way that history is written, and the use of historical methods, drawing upon such elements such as authorship, the audience that the author was aiming at, sourcing, interpretation, style, and bias.

Folk who have never studied historiography can sometimes get very indignant about histories which they see as being biased, while nevertheless accepting as gospel versions of history which are (for them) more attractive, without ever really bothering to examine the processes by which they came to accept these as being The Historical Truth.

Some of the histories written in past centuries, and even right up until very recent times, show more regard for the favour of powerful contemporaries than they do for historical method; but the importance of historiography is recognised by all present day historians. They may disagree on the interpretation of history, but all present day historians would nevertheless agree that the study of the way that we study history is important.

None of us approaches the study of human history as a visitor from another galaxy, every one of us has been shaped by our own personal histories, and a simple recognition of this is an essential first step in dealing with historiography.