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Historical method is the collection of techniques and guidelines that historians use to research and write histories of the past. Secondary sources, primary sources and material evidence such as that derived from archaeology may all be drawn on, and the historian's skill lies in identifying these sources, evaluating their relative authority, and combining their testimony appropriately in order ...
In literary and historical analysis, presentism is a term for the introduction of present-day ideas and perspectives into depictions or interpretations of the past. Some modern historians seek to avoid presentism in their work because they consider it a form of cultural bias, and believe it creates a distorted understanding of their subject matter. [1]
Historical criticism (also known as the historical-critical method (HCM) or higher criticism, [1] in contrast to lower criticism or textual criticism) [2] is a branch of criticism that investigates the origins of ancient texts to understand "the world behind the text" [3] and emphasizes a process that "delays any assessment of scripture's truth and relevance until after the act of ...
For example, if a historian writes a text about slavery based on an analysis of historical documents, then the text is a secondary source on slavery and a primary source on the historian's opinion. [ 32 ] [ f ] Consistency with available sources is one of the main standards of historical works.
Comparative historical research is a method of social science that examines historical events in order to create explanations that are valid beyond a particular time and place, either by direct comparison to other historical events, theory building, or reference to the present day.
Archival research lies at the heart of most academic and other forms of original historical research; but it is frequently also undertaken (in conjunction with parallel research methodologies) in other disciplines within the humanities and social sciences, including literary studies, rhetoric, [4] [5] archaeology, sociology, human geography, anthropology, psychology, and organizational studies ...
Examples of macrohistorical analysis include Oswald Spengler's assertion that the lifespan of civilizations is limited and ultimately they decay. [3] There is also Arnold J. Toynbee's historical synthesis in explaining the rise and fall of civilizations, which also included those by other historians (e.g. William H. McNeill's The Rise of the West) inspired by his works. [9]
Silencing the Past is a meditation on the characteristics of power and how it influences the creation and recording of histories. Spanning examples from The Alamo and Christopher Columbus to the position of the Haitian Revolution in the collective memory of Western society, Trouillot analyzes conventional historical narratives to understand why certain parts of history are remembered when ...