Historical Method

By Prof. K.A.S.M. Ishrat Alam | Aligarh Muslim University

Learners enrolled: 379 | Exam registration: 18

ABOUT THE COURSE:

Objectives:

To understand the criteria of testing ‘facts’ in history.
To appreciate the problem of selection of facts in reconstructing history.
To examine sciences by whose aid history be reconstructed.
To trace the evolution of historiography as a discipline.
To comprehend the multiplicity of ways in which major changes in history can be explained
To survey the major modes of historical interpretation, Marx, Weber, Bloch, etc.
To study major trends in Indian historiography, colonial, nationalist, communal, Marxist, etc.
To learn how to pursue research in history and draft a thesis, paper, or book.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: UG/PG/Ph.D. Students

Summary

Course Status :	Ongoing
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	History
Credit Points :	4
Level :	Postgraduate
Start Date :	20 Jan 2025
End Date :	11 Apr 2025
Enrollment Ends :	03 Feb 2025
Exam Registration Ends :	28 Feb 2025
Exam Date :	25 Apr 2025 IST

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Week 1:

Role of Subjectivity in History and in the exact sciences.
EH. Carr's ""historical facts"".

Week 2:

Causation in history vs. accidents:
Popper's critique of ""Historicism"".
Expansion of scope of history as time and audience extend.
Post-modern critiques of Meta narrative in history, including critiques of 'Orientalism'

Week 3: Ancillary Sciences:-

Archeology: Identification of Cultures from physical finds.
Dating Methods. Theory of Archeology: Gordon Childe.
New Archaeology

Week 4:

Other aids to History: Paleography, Epigraphy, Numismatics, Diplomatic.
Auxiliary Sciences:-
Geography, Anthropology, Linguistics,Sociology, Economics, Political Science, Philosophy, Influence of Mathematics and Statistics on Historical Method.

Week 5:

Origins of historical narrative.
Greek Historiography: Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon.
Latin: Tacitus.

Week 6:

Medieval India: Barani, Abul Fazl.
Rise of Historical Criticism during the Renaissance in Europe (upto 1600).
The effects of European “Enlightenment”.

Week 7:

Main features of Modern Western Historiography; Italian Renaissance Historical Narrative; Francesco Petrarch, Leonardo Bruni, Flavio Biondo, Jean Bodin, Lorenza Valla, Nicolao Machiavelli, and Rene Descartes etc.

Week 8:

Gibbon & inter-civilizational history. Hegel, Ranke and the German School.
Historical Materialism; Karl Marx's, concepts of social evolution, class, successive modes of production, superstructure, ideas vs material forces.
Cyclical theory of civilizations: Spengler, Toynbee.

Week 9:

Max Weber: ‘Sociological’ approach to History.
Marc Bloch: Comprehensive and Comparative History.

Week 10:

Contemporary Trends: World-System' analysis (Braudel). 'New History' (Ladurie). 'Post modernism' (Edward Said) and 'Subalternity' (Rajnit Guha).
Indian Historiography: Contributions of European Orientalism. Imperialist and Nationalist Schools: H.E. Elliot, V.A. Smith; R.C. Dutt and Mohammad Habib. Communal trends (R.C. Majumdar and I.H. Qureshi). Marxist trends (D.D. Kosambi, R.P. Dutt ).

Week 11:

Categories of sources: (Primary documents; secondary sources, contemporary texts; later texts; oral testimony)
Criteria of source criticism: linguistic tests; internal consistency; comparison with other sources; motivation behind documents (private motives vs. public declarations). Lewis Namier's structural analysis'.

Week 12:

Language-studies & reconstruction of 'unwritten' history.
How to write: Style and substance. System of referencing.
Modes of preparation of Bibliography . Index.

Books and references

1. Shashi Bhushan Upadhyay, Historiography in the Modern World Western and Indian Perspective, OUP, 2016
2. John Marincola, Greek Historians, Oxford, 2001
3. E.H. Carr, What is History?, London, 1990 [1961].
4. M. Bloch, The Historian's Craft, 1964 [1953]
5. W.H. Walsh, Philosophy of History; An Introduction, New York, 1960.
6. C.H. Philips ed., Historians of India, Pakistan and Ceylon, Oxford University Press, London, 1961.
7. R.G. Collingwood: The Idea of History.
8. Robert W. Fogel: ‘The Limits of Quantitative Methods in History’, in American Historical Review, April 1975, pp.329-350.
9. Irfan Habib: Interpreting Indian History.
10. Irfan Habib: ‘In Defence of Orientalism — Critical Notes on Edward Said’, Social Scientist, Vol. 33 (12), pp.
11. Ralph Berry: How to write a Research Paper, 2nd ed. Oxford, 1986
12. John Tosh: Why History Matters, 2nd Edition, London 2019 [2008]
13. John Tosh: The Pursuit of History, 5th Edition, London/New York, 2010 [1984, 1991, 1992, 1996]
14. John Tosh, ed.: Historians on History, 2nd Edition, London, New York, 2009 [2000]
15. Dipesh Chakrabarty: The Calling of History: Sir Jadunath Sarkar and His Empire of Truth, Chicago, 2015.

Instructor bio

Prof. K.A.S.M. Ishrat Alam

Aligarh Muslim University

Professor K.A.S.M. Ishrat Alam has been teaching since 1989 in the Centre of Advanced Study in History, Department of History, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. His area of interest is economic history of Medieval India. He was awarded Junior Research Fellowship-National Eligibility Test (JRF-NET, 1984) and Indo-Dutch Reciprocal Fellowship (April 1986-April 1988). He has published many articles and two jointly edited books. He held the position of Member Secretary (Chief Executive Officer), Indian Council of Historical Research (2008-2013), Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India; Secretary, Indian History Congress, 2015-2017, and also served as Chairman & Coordinator of the Centre of Advanced Study, Department of History, AMU, Aligarh.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

Date and Time of Exams: April 25, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of INI and AMU .

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- INI team

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