How should the historian approach his craft pdf

POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

FACULTY OF ARTS

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

 HOW SHOULD THE HISTORIAN APPROACH HIS CRAFT

HOW SHOULD THE HISTORIAN APPROACH HIS CRAFT

INTRODUCTION:

There are enormous differences between history and natural science, as of course, there are lesser, but considerable difference between the individual and science. Just as the science are the body of knowledge about the natural world and the physical universe produced by scientists, applying their system method of devising experiment, observing natural phenomena, recording and analyzing data, and developing and applying concept and the theory, so history is the bodies of knowledge about the past produced by historians applying the rigors method professional history, and deploying secondary sources in the analysis and interpretation of primary. The human past enfolds so many periods and cultures that history can no more form one unified body of knowledge than can the natural science. However, history is about finding things out and solving problem, rather than about spinning narrative or telling stories. 

History is a human activity carried out by an organized corps of fallible human beings, acting  in accordance with strict method and principles empowered to make choice in the language they use i:e between the precise and the imprecise, that’s corps of fallible human being known as historian. From this perspective this paper will critically analyses ‘’HOW SHOULD THE HISTORIAN APPROACH HIS CRAFT’’.First of all what is history?  Who is historian? What is a craft? And what are major steps on how should the historian approach his craft?

CONCEPT OF HISTORY

History according to John J. Anderson is a narration of event which has happened among mankind, including an account of the rise and the fall of nations, as well as of other great changes which affected the political and social condition of the human race. 1R.J Yeatman defined history as not what you thought, it is what you remember. All other history defeat itself. (2)According to Arnold J. Toynbee history not used is nothing, for all intellectual life is action, like practical life and if you don’t use the stuff well it might as well be dead.3 Therefore, history is the study of man and his environment.

According to E.H Carr defined history as a continue dialogue between the present and the past or as continues interaction between historian and his facts. (4)Therefore, history is the study of man and his environment.

WHO IS A HISTORIAN ?

Historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority. Historians are concerned with the continuous methodological narrative and research of human past event as relating to the human race, as well as the study of all history in time. If individual is concerned with event preceding written history, the individual is an historian of prehistory. Although “Historian” can be used to describe amateur and who professional historian alike, it is reserved more recently for those who have acquired graduate degrees in the discipline. Some historians thought, are recognized by publication or training and experience. History became a professional occupation in the late 19th century as research universities emerge in Germany and elsewhere. In addition historians must be objective not subjective and the qualities of objectivity are;

1. The historian must treat source with appropriate reservation.

2. The historian must not dismiss counter evidence without scholarly consideration.

3. The historian must be even handed in treatment of evidence and eschew “cherry picking”

4. The historian must not mis-translate document or mislead by omitting part of the document.

5. The historian must take the motives of historical actors into consideration.

6. The historian must weigh the authenticity of all account, not merely those that contradict a favored. 6

WHAT IS OBJECTIVITY

Objectivity is the ability of historian to look at nature not as part of himself but ability to detach himself from nature through reasoning and thereby act as rational being. Objectivity also refers as the ability of a historian to stand outside of himself and view things in a detached rational manner7. Therefore, historical facts are meaningless without interpretation or judgement.in fact, interpretation or judgment forms an essential of teaching and learning history. The matter of objectivity led to the debate as to whether or not history can be objective. Objectivity could mean impartiality.

WHAT IS CRAFT

According Advance learner dictionary 7th edition Craft is skill needed in a particular activity. 2 Craft is a skill in making people believe what you want them to believe. 3 Craft is an activity involving a skill at making things with your hands8. In the light of the above, this paper will focus on first and second definition.

MAJOR STEPS ON HOW SHOULD THE HISTORIAN APPROACH HIS CRAFT 

(I)-OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS OF HISTORICAL FACT

This is the crucial question into which we must look a little more closely. According to the common sense view, there are certain basic facts which are the same for all historians which form, so to speak, the backbone of history the fact for example; the battle of Hasting was fought in 1066.But view calls for two, observation.8

1. It is not with facts like these that historians is primarily concerned, it is important to know that great battle was fought in 1066 and not in 1065 or 1067, and that it was fought at Hasting and not at East borne or Brighton. The historian must not get this wrong9, but when point of this is raise , I am reminded of Housman’s remark that “accuracy is a duty, not a virtue”. To praise a historian for his accuracy is like praising an architect for using well-seasoned timber or properly mixed concrete in his building. It is a necessary condition of his work, but not his essential function. It is precisely for matters of this kind that the historian is entitled to rely on what have been called “auxiliary science” of history, archeology, epigraphy, numismatic, chronology and so for the historian is not required to have the special skill which enable the expert to determine the origin and the period of a fragments of pottery or marble to decipher an obscure inscription or to make the elaborate astronomical calculations necessary to establish precise date. These so called basic facts which are the same for all historian, commonly belong to the category of raw materials of the historian rather than history itself.9

2. The observation is that the necessity to establish these basic fact rest not on any quality in the facts themselves, but on a prior decision of historian. In spite of C.P Scott’s motto, every journalist knows today that the most effective way to influence opinion is by the selection and arrangements of the appropriate facts. It is used to be said that facts speak for themselves. This is of course untrue. The facts speak only when the historian calls on them. It is he who decides to which fact to give the door and in what order or context. It was I think, one of the Pirandello’s characters who said that a fact is like a sack, it won’t stand up till you have put something in it, the only reason why we are interested to know the battle was fought at hasting in 1066, is that historian regard it as a major historical. It was historian who has decided for his own reason that Caesar’s crossing of the petty stream, the Rubicon is a fact of history, whereas the crossing of Rubicon by millions of others people before or since interests nobody. The facts that you arrived in this building half an hour ago on foot or on bicycle or in a car, are just as much a fact about the past that Caesar crossed the Rubicon. But it will probably be ignored by historians; professor Talcott Parson once called science “a selective system of cognitive orientation to reality”. It might perhaps have been put simpler, but history is among other things, that the historian is necessarily selective.  Believe in a hard core historical facts existing objectively and independently of the interpretation of the historian is a preposterous fallacy but one which is very hard to eradicate.10

                          (II)-TRUE AND PRECISE INTERPRETATION OF HISTORICAL FACT

What happened in the past profoundly affect the all the present in our lives and will indeed, affect what happens in the future. In almost every city, town, village or country throughout the world, considerable proportion of the buildings currently in existence were built in past times to meet the need and aspirations of human beings now dead and societies now in greater or lesser degree. This is most obviously so with respect to great temple and cathedral, fine palace and manor houses and castles, city hall, houses of parliament and public building, but it is also true of the most humdrum street and the nearest housing. Looking areas of conflict across the globe experience death and destruction 11.e.g North eastern Nigeria, Syria, Kashmir, Israel and Palestine, North and South Korea etc. Past movement population, past oppression by them-mighty of them-weak, religious faith and communal identities established in the past, often the very distant past everywhere are the fundamental cause of tension and conflict. System of government, political ideas (radical as well as conservative) belief about art and culture, educational practice, customs ad behavior are all products of the past and remote.12

Put this way the case that the past is important, the past s all pervasive, that indeed we can’t escape from the past, is pervasive, but what exactly is “the past” from the example given, clearly it signifies “what actual happened”- even have taken place, societies which have risen and fall, ideas and institution, eating habit, marital customs, all aspects of human behavior. In the pasts, matter large and small. All that is clear enough; but the big difficulty of the past is by definition it does not actually exist now, it is “past” it has gone for good. This related both to that elusive but all-absorbing concept “Time” and to the fact human morality.13

More important is the phenomenon of the passing of time, fascinating as is shown by all the literature, weighty and trivial, about defying time, about time capsules and travel in time but ineluctable, as well all in the every depth of our fiber appreciate.14 In addition society that could be completely molded by its immediately preceding period have to have a structure as malleable as a virtually invertebrate. It would also have to  be a society in which communication between generations was conducted, so to speak in a language “the children having contact with their ancestors only through the mediation of their parents.15

Now this s not true, it is not true even when the communication is purely oral, for example take Kaduna metropolis as a case study, because working condition keep mother and father away all day, the young children are brought up chiefly by their grandparents, consequently with the molding of each mind, there is backward step joining the most malleable too the flexible mentality, while skipping the generation which is the sponsor of change.16 Finally what of those things past which seem to have lost all authority over the present-faith which have vanish without a trace, social form which have miscarried techniques which have perished? Would anyone think that even among these; there is nothing useful for his understanding? That would forget that there is no true understanding without certain range of comparisons; provided of course that comparison is based upon different and that the same time related realities.17

(III)-STRICT ADHERANCE TO HISTORICAL METHODOLOGY

Historical methodology comprise the techniques and guidelines by which historian use primary source and other evidence such as ethnography, archeology etc., to research and to write histories in the form of the account of the past. The question of the nature and even the possibility of a sound historical method is raised in the philosophy of history as question of epistemology. However the study of historical methods and the different ways of writing history is known as histography.18

In addition, in the study of history as an academic discipline; primary source include; Artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, a recording or any other source of information that was created at the time under study.4 it serves as an original source about the topic! Secondary source are historical materials or information base on primary sources. A secondary source may be a primary source depending on how it’s used. For example a memoir would be considered a primary source in research concerning its author or about his/her friend characterized within it butt the same memoir would be a secondary sources if it were used to examine the culture in which its author lived “primary and secondary” should understand as relative term with sources categorized according to specific historical contexts and what is being used.19

(IV)-FACTUAL HISTORICAL CRITICISM

Criticism is the process of evaluating the qualities of an information source, such as its validity, reliability and relevance to the subject matter under investigation. 

There are six source of criticism according to the Gilbert J. Garraghan

1. When was the source, written or unwritten produced (Date)?

2. Where was it produced (Localization)?

3. By whom was it produce (Authorship)?

4. From what pre-existing materials were it produced (Analysis)?

5. In what original form was it produced (Integrity)? 

6. What is the evidential value of its content (Credibility)? 

The first four are higher criticisms. The fifth lower criticism is an external criticism. The sixth and final inquiry about a source is called internal criticism. This type of inquiry is known as source criticism.20

The 19th century Fetishism of fact was completed and justified by a Fetishism of documents. The documents were art of the covenants historian approached them with bowed head and spoke of than in an awed tones.If you find it in the document, it is so, but what, when we get down to it, do these documents the decrease, the treaties, the rent-roll, the blue books, the official correspondence, the private letter and diaries-tell us. No document can tell us more than what the author of the document thought-what he thought had happened, what he taught ought to happen or would happen or perhaps only what he wanted others no think he thought or even only what he himself thought, what he can make any use of them, what he makes of them is, if I may put it that way, the processing process.21 

(V)-HISTORICAL APPROACH& ANALYSIS

William Dugan strong argued that knowledge relating to historical period is extended back into the earliest times. This methodology involve taking and archeological site that has historical account relating to recent period and then excavating it to establish continuity back into prehistoric times. The historical data then becomes the basis of analogy and homology for the study of the prehistoric communities at both particular site and other sites in the region.21 However, the 19th century was viewed as an extension into the past of the ethnographical documented record. Human behaviors of the archeological past were seen as nearly identical, the result of this particular view was the development and regular use of what come to be. 22

In addition, this process involves creating time based sequences of artifact by starting with the list of cultural traits related to specific artifact types and then working into the past by determining which artifact types were held by archeologically represented culture. Through this theoretical sorting, one can study more than ethnic identification by establishing time based sequences. After ethnic identification and chronology has been established, the direct historical approach becomes the basis of analogy.23

Similarly very few text point out that the direct historical approach was used based on three purposes.

1. To understand the human behaviors that were thought to have produced particular portion of archeological record.

2. To construct relative chronologies of materials and  

3. To identify the cultural association of an archeological manifestation.24

In conclusion ‘it can be seen from the above discussion that the historian approach his craft by knowing his facts interprets and analyzing them in a methodological way.

                                                      REFERENCE

1 Carr, E.H: What is history? Harmondsworth, Middiesex, Penguin Book,1964.

2 Bloch, Marc: The historian’s craft,Manchester, Manchester University Press 1954.

3 Alagoa,E.J: The Relationship between History and other Disciplines,Tarekh,vol.6 no 1,Historical methodology, Historical society of Nigeria 1978.

4 Marwick, Arthur: The new Nature of History, Palgrave 2001.

5 Collingwood,R.G: The Idea of History ,London Oxford University Press 1964.

6 Fadeiye D.j : Essay on Historiography and method of Teaching History ,for  NCE and undergraduate, Immaculate-city Publisher, Lagos 2004.

7Oyedele E.O: Lecture note on methodology, History Department, Kaduna State University. 2013.

8 Yahaya D:Lecture note on Historiography, History Department Kaduna State University, 2013.