historiography

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/20/2022
  

  A Finnish Historian's Ambitious Rethinking of Native American History Draws Praise and Criticism

  Pekka Hamalainen describes a four-centuries long continental war between settlers and indigenous Americans during which the indigenous frequently won. Critics, including Native historians, contend he doesn't reckon with the ultimate consolidation of conquest. 

• 
• SOURCE: The New Republic
  9/9/2022
  

  Black Historians Know There Has Never Been Objectivity in Writing the Past

  by Keisha N. Blain

  "Black historians have long recognized the role of the present in shaping our narratives of the past. We have never had the luxury of writing about the past as though it were divorced from present concerns."

• 
• SOURCE: TIME
  9/15/2022
  

  The Promise and Peril of the "Third Reconstruction"

  by Peniel E. Joseph

  At a time when the nation is balanced precariously between advocates for multiracial democracy and white nationalists, it is important to understand the history and the incompleteness of the expansion of freedom and democracy during Reconstruction. 

• 
• SOURCE: Perspectives on History
  9/13/2022
  

  Historicizing the Legitimacy of LGBTQ History

  by Marc Stein

  The AHA's newsletters reveal a protracted and frequently bitter debate about the boundaries of the discipline as scholars in the early 1970s worked to establish gay and lesbian people and communities as subjects of study. 

• 
• SOURCE: Perspectives on History
  9/7/2022
  

  History as Love and The Presentist Trap: Responses to James Sweet

  by Malcolm Foley and Priya Satia

  Two historians respond to the AHA president's essay by reflecting on the politics of historical research and of speaking publicly about the past. 

• 
• SOURCE: Humanities
  9/5/2022
  

  All History is Revisionist

  by James M. Banner Jr.

  "The collective noun for a group of historians is an “argumentation,” and for good reason. At the very dawn of historical inquiry in the West, historians were already wrestling over the past, attacking each other."

• 
• SOURCE: Foreign Affairs
  9/5/2022
  

  W.E.B. DuBois's Insight on Race and the Global American Century

  by Zachariah Mampilly

  Both racism and anticommunism helped to minimize the impact of DuBois's thought on international relations, contributing to significant blind spots in the liberal international order. 

• 
• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  8/29/2022
  

  Was the AHA President's Essay Just a Tempest in a Teapot?

  Did James Sweet's essay unleash a storm of recrimination and anger? Sure. But maybe also useful scholarly self-reflection? 

• 
• SOURCE: A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
  8/29/2022
  

  What Happens When People Who Don't Know Historical Methods Spout Off About Historical Methods

  by Bret Devereaux

  "It is going to end up being rather involved because to explain why a shallow critique of a discipline’s methods is shallow, you have to explain how that discipline functions and why it does so."

• 
• 8/28/2022
  

  The Personal is Critical: How Should Early Americanists Think of David McCullough as a "Gateway" to History?

  by Rebecca Brenner Graham

  Historians' tributes to David McCullough underscore the need to respect popular "gateways to history" but to also find gateways without gatekeeping. 

• 
• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  8/24/2022
  

  History is Always About Politics

  by Joan W. Scott

  The tradition of the discipline has cast politics as an object of study, but deliberately ignored the way that writing history is tangled up with who wields power and how.

• 
• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  8/23/2022
  

  Two Cheers for Presentism

  by David A. Bell

  Now that the dust has settled over the AHA President's controversial essay, it's time to consider more carefully how the present informs the work of historians, and how to do "presentism" right. 

• 
• SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
  8/22/2022
  

  A Public Debate on Presentism is Joined by Far-Right Trolls: A Big Week for the AHA

  by Colleen Flaherty

  IHE Reporter Colleen Flaherty gives a rundown of the recent debate over AHA President James Sweet's essay on past and present in the profession, and its growth into a genuine online event – in case you missed it.

• 
• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  8/19/2022
  

  When Did Racism Begin? The Fractious Historical Debate Explained

  by Vanita Seth

  Historians of the medieval and modern periods disagree about whether documented prejudices in earlier eras are "racism" or whether the term necessarily implies modernity. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  8/20/2022
  

  India in a Different Voice

  by Maya Jasanoff

  Learning Hindi during a sabattical presented a researcher with the chance to engage with Indian history outside of the frame of English, and to grasp the power struggles pushing the country toward authoritarian nationalism today. 

• 
• 7/31/2021
  

  Interview: Joyce Berkman on the Value of History and the Historian's Mindset

  by Erik Moshe

  “It’s much better to develop one’s mental toolbox, one’s skills, rather than necessarily master huge bodies of knowledge.”

• 
• SOURCE: Public Seminar
  7/25/2022
  

  Michael Hattem on the Creation of "American History"

  Michael Hattem discusses his book which argues that the creation of a particularly American historical memory was a nation-building project that began from the first moments of independence. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  7/15/2022
  

  How to Be an Honest Historian

  by Imani Perry

  "At this historic juncture, teaching history through the study of human relationships is paramount. But that requires all of us, even people who are politically strident—as I admit myself to be—to engage in an earnest and open dialogue about what constitutes a good society and fair treatment. And it also means stomaching some disturbing thoughts."

• 
• SOURCE: Foreign Policy
  7/1/2022
  

  Is the Ukraine War the Start of a New Period of History?

  by David A. Bell

  The idea that the Russian invasion will be seen as a turning point by future scholars is tempting given the immediate seriousness of events. But two years ago, people were saying the same thing about the COVID pandemic. 

• 
• SOURCE: Slate
  6/6/2022
  

  Reading History for "Lessons" Misses the Point

  by Daniel Immerwahr

  "We read past authors as a sanity check. They reassure us that we’re not alone in what we see."