Studying History

History and Time What is it to study history? Few of the usual perceptions of the field really capture the essence of the discipline. For example, we may think of history as the study of human experience in a past that is removed from us. Yet many historians today deal with events and social developments so recent as to be virtually contemporary. Once history was classified as "past politics" -- devoted to the study of politics, war, and diplomacy, to the exclusion of almost everything else. Today's history embraces social, cultural, and economic history-- the history of everything -- and deals with the history of all people, not just political and social elites. Sometimes we think of history as characterized by a chronological and narrative approach to explanation -- "one damned thing after another," as one critic unkindly put it. In fact, modern historical study relies strongly upon comparative analysis and structural models of society and behaviour that give greater meaning and depth to the narratives of history.

The essence of history as a field of study is its comprehensiveness. While other disciplines of the modern university claim particular elements of human experience and human concerns, history boldly tries to embrace them all. On the one hand, it articulates the uniqueness of the individuals, cultures, and events that constitute the human past and the human present. On the other, it explores the great commonalities of human experience and social existence. Most historians agree that historical understanding differs from other forms of knowledge mainly in its insistence that nothing human can be fully understood except in terms of its historical evolution.

Historians are notoriously eclectic. Over the last few decades they have borrowed so heavily from the social sciences that by now historical study has become the point of intersection of the methods of the sociologist, the psychologist, the demographer, the economist, and the political theorist. Interaction with the social sciences has revolutionized historical study, broadening its scope, deepening its theoretical consciousness, and enhancing our awareness of the socio-economic structures that determine historical experience. More recently, say some observers, the influence of anthropology and ethnography have led historians "back to consciousness," to a concern for culture and how historical actors create meaning through their actions and experiences. Most recently, the influence of literary theory has induced historians to look again at the narrative conventions that mark their field, to experiment with new literary forms, and to think again about the relationship between history and fiction as literary genres.

To the student, history offers a dazzling (and sometimes bewildering) array of fields, approaches, challenges, and opportunities. The study of history demands imagination, flexibility, a sense of realism, curiosity about people and their experience, and an intense love of a good story. And its rewards are more than just intellectual. Historical study provides an excellent foundation for careers in secondary and advanced teaching; for archival and museum work; for the post-graduate study of law and administration; and for careers in politics, journalism, public service, policy development, business, the foreign service, or work abroad. Alone or combined with the study of other disciplines, history offers a liberal educational foundation for the subsequent pursuit of most careers and professions.