Unit 5 and 6 Doing History

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 Historical research
The agreed ground rules for researching and
writing academic/professional history
or
• The diligent and scholarly investigation in all
available sources …..
• carried out with the aim of writing a scientific
document (book, article, thesis etc.)….
• in order to extend knowledge in a particular
area of history
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 Historical method
Rules that relate to
1. Collecting the material (heuristics or source finding) the
research
2. Testing the material (historical criticism)
3. Interpreting the material
4. Assimilating and presenting the material (historical writing)

the aim of historical methodology is to determine if the various

testimonies that reach us today can be accepted as sound evidence.

note: since the rules are socially determined and contingent they
are not fixed but can be subject to change.

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 Doing History: collecting and testing the
material
1. Find sources
2. Select & organise sources
 Which ones are important/will be used/omitted
 weighting
3. Interpret sources
 Verify, date, establish origin & function of sources
 Read & analyse sources (study, make notes,
checking dates & viewpoints made in source, what
can be inferred etc.)
 Use source to answer the research problem

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 Testing and interpreting sources:
2 Testing the sources.
Testing the sources
1. Testing the authenticity
 External criticism
2. Testing competence & veracity
 Internal criticism

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 Testing and interpreting sources
Testing the sources.
Testing Authenticity

External criticism: Investigating the origin and nature of the

source: time, place and circumstances.

Ask: Is the source authentic? Is the source what it seems to be?

Is it a product from the author? Is it a product from the period?
Is it in an original form or is it a reproduction? etc

• Step 1 Determine the origin of the source

• Step 2 Establish the integrity of the source (is it uncorrupted?)

Only if the trustworthiness of the source is established can the

investigation of the content be meaningful 6
 Testing and interpreting sources
Testing the sources.
Testing competence & veracity

Internal criticism
• Testing the reliability/accuracy of the statements in the
document (content of the source)
• Establishing the credibility of the witness means establishing
both his competence (that he speaks out of knowledge) and
veracity (that he is truthful).
 ‘doubt the statements as long as any grounds for
reasonable doubt can be found’.
 Check competence: Ask Could the writer have known
the truth?
 Check veracity: Did the writer want to tell the truth?
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 Testing and interpreting sources
Testing competence & veracity
Competence. Could the writer have known the truth?
Ascertain the opportunity to know the facts. Ask questions
such as:
• Was the author an eye witness?
• Who was the author (status, education, occupation,
memory, narrative skills etc.)
o Was the author a good observer?
o Was the author an expert in the field observed?
o Could the author hear/see properly?
o What was the physical and emotional state of the
author?
o What was the intellectual capability of the author?
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 Testing and interpreting sources
testing veracity
Veracity. Did the writer want to tell the truth?

Competent persons can falsify.

• Identify possible prejudice. Does the author have a personal interest
in the matter?
• To what nation, race sect, party profession, social set or other group
does the author belong?
• Note the literary form, the moral standards and prejudice of the time
o What was the mental and spiritual character of the author (social
position, religious and political views, philosophy of life etc.)
o What perspective does the author adopt
• When was the account written down?
• What was the original function of the source?
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 Testing and interpreting sources:
Prerequisites for correct source interpretation
1. Knowledge of the language
2. Knowledge of the type of source (nature and
purpose
3. Objectivity
4. Reliving the past
5. Knowing the context

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 Testing and interpreting sources:
Prerequisites for correct source interpretation
Knowledge of the language
1. Knowledge of the language
• Know the language
• Know the language used at the time of the origin of the
source
• Be familiar with conventional expressions and use of
metaphors
• Be aware of change of meanings of words
• Be aware of the possible plurality of words and meanings
• Be familiar with the context
• Be aware of the possible problems with translations
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2. Knowledge of the type of source
• What is the nature of the source

• What was the purpose of the source

Each type of source will have its own criteria of

evaluation. For example, a political platform
would not be looked at in the same way as a
diary.
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 Testing and interpreting sources:
Prerequisites for correct source interpretation
3. Objectivity

Historians must interpret sources as the author

meant them – no manipulation of evidence to
suit ‘ones pet notions’

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 Testing and interpreting sources:
Prerequisites for correct source interpretation
3. Objectivity

Definition of Objectivity
Note: ‘the subject’ is the historian, the ‘object’ is
the topic (e.g. the trans Saharan Trade 800-
13.00AD)

• Objectivity is the knowledge of the object

independent of the subject
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 Testing and interpreting sources:
Prerequisites for correct source interpretation
3. Objectivity

Subjectivity: Definition
• Knowledge of the object not completely
independent of the subject:
• The subject left an imprint on the object

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 Testing and interpreting sources:
Prerequisites for correct source interpretation
3. Objectivity

Can there be objectivity?

Arguments for:
One can just tell the facts (without any interpretation)

‘ to history has been assigned the office of judging the past, of

instructing the present for the benefit of future ages, to such high offices
this work does not aspire: it only wants to show what happened.’ Von Ranke

BUT: …..history is never based on just facts.

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 Testing and interpreting sources:
Prerequisites for correct source interpretation
3. Objectivity
Can there be objectivity?
Arguments against:

No, we all are imbued with our prejudices, bias and interests

Therefore: history is relative (some even believe that that

everyone is his/her own historian, or that history is even
rubbish).

BUT: …..history can not be left to be subjective, personalised

or propagandistic
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 Testing and interpreting sources:
Prerequisites for correct source interpretation
2. Objectivity

Obstacles to Objectivity
• Everybody is personality bound = influenced
by ego, impulse, sensationalism, compassion
etc.
• Everybody is group bound = influenced by
belonging to group: nation, religion, gender,
community etc.
• Everybody is time bound = influenced by the
spirit of the time we live in 18
 Testing and interpreting sources:
Prerequisites for correct source interpretation
3. Objectivity
Striving for objectivity

One can avoid being personality bound and

group bound through being aware of these
subjectivities

BUT:
We can not escape being time bound (only later
generations will see this subjectivity)
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 Testing and interpreting sources:
Prerequisites for correct source interpretation
2. Objectivity

• NB Being objective does not mean that one

can not have personal views in history BUT
they need to be justified, and all sides of an
issue must be considered.

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 Testing and interpreting sources:
Prerequisites for correct source interpretation
4. Reliving the past

• Historians must put themselves in the position

of the author of the source
• must rid him/herself from the norms values
etc. of their age.
• aim for ‘historical mindedness’

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 Testing and interpreting sources:
Prerequisites for correct source interpretation
5. Know the background

• The historian must have knowledge of the

background against which the events
mentioned in the source occurred.
• Historians must not lift fragments of the
source out of its context

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 Doing history – discussion points
• Students of history must examine not only the past, but
those who write about it.
• “Study the historian before you begin to study the facts. The
facts are really not at all like fish on a fishmonger’s slab.
They are like fish swimming about in a vast and sometimes
inaccessible ocean; and what the historian catches will
depend partly on chance, but mainly on what part of the
ocean he chooses to fish in and what tackle he chooses to
use – these two factors being, of course, determined by the
kind of fish he wants to catch.” Edward Hallett Carr
• Do primary sources provide access to the past?

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 Example questions
• Outline the components of the ‘historical method’.
• Discuss the purpose and importance of testing sources.
• What are the prerequisites for accurately interpreting
sources?
• What is internal criticism and what does internal
criticism investigate?
• What does external criticism investigate and why is
external criticism important?
• Why is the veracity of source important and how can
one establish the veracity of a source?
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