Historiographical Issues (1 Viewer)

[Caratacus]

In the "Competing Narratives" thread (http://community.boredofstudies.org/34/history-extension/101309/competing-narratives.html) I incidentally posted a list of Historiographical Issues that I had used with my students to help focus on the two HSC questions and to help give structure and cross-relevance to their Research Project assessment task. Originally I thought to make the list as an exercise on the types of issues that might pop up in HistExt HSC Q1 (where there will also be a set source or passage to respond to). The idea was that if students wrote as many essays as they could addressing these issues, and if they organised their prepared sources from the Source Book readings and elsewhere in terms of these issues, that might be a useful form of exam preparation.

Historiographical Issues

Context of historians
1. Personal – political, cultural, preoccupations
2. Public – audience, preoccupations of an age; literary norms, standards and styles

Focus
1. of an Age
2. of a particular work or author

Judgments
passed by historians on their material, including on characters and issues

Bias
1. Of evidence
2. of historian
3. of an age or culture
4. of a particular medium

Narrative
1. Style – plain, literary, emotive, polemic, propagandistic, moralistic, sententious, dramatic, popular, scholarly or academic
2. Issues of structure – thematic, chronological, dramatic; articles, chapters, volumes
3. Effect of narrative on content eg selection of evidence, interpretation, emphases, etc.

Medium
1. Prose – articles, essays, books – issues of selection, treatment
2. Films, videos, television programs – visual evidence, simplification, treatment of textual material,
3. Multimedia – CDs, possibilities of innovative structures and presentations
4. Speeches – a talk on historical material
5. Re-enactments
6. Historical fiction – in book, film, television
7. Effect of medium on content

Purposes of History
1. Objective or "scientific" knowledge
2. History as propaganda or for "social conditioning" - as a support for nationalism, patriotism, colonialism, warfare and other political agendas
3. History as entertainment
4. History as literary or artistic creation

Sources of Evidence
1. Creation
2. Survival
3. Selection
4. Interpretation
5. Testing, reliability
6. Bias of sources
7. Incorporation into narrative
8. Effect of new technologies on use of evidence

And of course all of these issues relate directly to approaching the debates in your Case Study (HSC Q2) too. So you can generate practice Case Study Quesions like this:

Case Study Essay Preparation

1. How has ONE area of debate in the case study you have studied been differently interpreted? How might the contexts of the historians have influenced their different positions on this area of debate?

2. How have TWO different areas of debate in the case study you have studied been differently interpreted? How might the contexts of the historians have influenced their different positions on this area of debate?

3. Evaluate the role of the historiographical issue of purpose of History in relation to the differing interpretations or perspectives of historians in ONE or TWO different areas of debate in the case study you have studied . What other factors may have contributed to differing interpretations of historians?

4. Evaluate the role of the historiographical issue of focus or preoccupations of historians in relation to the differing interpretations or perspectives of historians in ONE or TWO different areas of debate in the case study you have studied . What other factors may have contributed to differing interpretations of historians?

5. Evaluate the role of the historiographical issue of sources of evidence in relation to the differing interpretations or perspectives of historians in ONE or TWO different areas of debate in the case study you have studied . What other factors may have contributed to differing interpretations of historians?

6. Evaluate the role of the historiographical issue of judgements of historians in relation to the differing interpretations or perspectives of historians in ONE or TWO different areas of debate in the case study you have studied . What other factors may have contributed to differing interpretations of historians?

7. Evaluate the role of the historiographical issue of narrative in relation to the differing interpretations or perspectives of historians in ONE or TWO different areas of debate in the case study you have studied . What other factors may have contributed to differing interpretations of historians?

8. Evaluate the role of the historiographical issue of medium of publication (eg. Print, electronic, film) in relation to the differing interpretations or perspectives of historians in ONE or TWO different areas of debate in the case study you have studied . What other factors may have contributed to differing interpretations of historians?

9. Evaluate the role of the historiographical issue of bias in relation to the differing interpretations or perspectives of historians in ONE or TWO different areas of debate in the case study you have studied . What other factors may have contributed to differing interpretations of historians?

You get the idea. If you are really keen you could prepare essays, either in full or in plan, and marshall source readings, to cover the Historiographical Issues in the first list. Of course there's no guarantee that any of them will be in the HSC, but the list does cover much of the syllabus.

Please add to the Historiographical Issues List, anyone. Later I'll post some Q! practice questions.