Prerequisites

• General knowledge of time periods and major protagonists of European and world economic and social history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries;
• familiarity with key subperiods in nineteenth and twentieth century historical studies;
• comprehension of relevant historiographical vocabulary (i.e., terms such as socio political, legal and economic, etc.);
• ability to analyze historiographical texts The goals of this module are to introduce students to research methods in history and to encourage critical thinking regarding the themes, approaches, theories and authors that have shaped the field over the last two centuries. The specific focus will be the complex relationship between history and social science, with particular attention to the influence of the sociologists on the School of Annales and the importance of the interdisciplinary dialogue.

Principal topics:

• What is History?

• The history of History

• Historical facts, historical sources and their limits

• The archives

• History as text

• M. Weber and E. Durkheim and the School of Annales

• History and Social Sciences: the importance of the interdisciplinary dialogue

• Comparative history

• Models and methods

• Central concepts (social role; status, class, elites; social mobility; power, patronage and corruption; conspicuous, consumption and symbolic capital)

• Central problems (function and structure)

• Social history and middle classes

• Network analysis

• Microhistory and quantitative history

• History of territory

• Histoire croisée

• Digital history and digital resources for the history of territory

• World history and transnational history.

The goals of this module are to introduce students to research methods in history and to encourage critical thinking regarding the themes, approaches, theories and authors that have shaped the field over the last two centuries. The specific focus will be the complex relationship between history and social science, with particular attention to the influence of the sociologists on the School of Annales.

Knowledge and skills to be acquired:

• Knowledge of the basic rules of historical research, in particular the primary methods of reading, cataloging and interpreting sources;
• deepened understanding of new historiographical perspectives;
• ability to reflect critically on the role of historical knowledge in confronting contemporary social problems.

Lecture with multimedia aids, sources and presentation in powerpoint. Particular attention will be devoted to student discussion of materials covered in class and in readings in order to ascertain the level of students‘ understanding.

Oral exam.

Partial oral exam (if requested by the students).

At the beginning of the course written test on topics of contemporary history.

Module Research Methods in History

Graduate Program in Sociology and Social Research (Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale – LM 88)

A.Y. 2018-2019 – Professor Elisabetta Caroppo

Semester I
Credits 6
Hours 45

Objective

The goals of this module are to introduce students to research methods in history and to encourage critical thinking regarding the themes, approaches, theories and authors that have shaped the field over the last two centuries. The specific focus will be the complex relationship between history and social science, with particular attention to the influence of the sociologists on the School of Annales and the importance of the interdisciplinary dialogue.

Some of the topics and themes covered are:

• What is History?

• The history of History

• Historical facts, historical sources and their limits

• The archives

• History as text

• M. Weber and E. Durkheim and the School of Annales

• History and Social Sciences: the importance of the interdisciplinary dialogue

• Comparative history

• Models and methods

• Central concepts (social role; status, class, elites; social mobility; power, patronage and corruption; conspicuous, consumption and symbolic capital)

• Central problems (function and structure)

• Social history and middle classes

• Network analysis

• Microhistory and quantitative history

• History of territory

• Histoire croisée

• Digital history and digital resources for the history of territory

• World history and transnational history.

Textbooks

On research methods in history:

M. Bloch, Apologia della storia o mestiere di storico, Torino, Einaudi, 1998

or

A. Marwick, The New Nature of History. Knowledge, Evidence, Language, Houndmills – Basingstoke – Hampshire, Palgrave, 2001

On the relationship between history and social sciences:

P. Bevilacqua (a cura di), A che serve la storia? I saperi umanistici alla prova della modernità, Roma, Donzelli, 2011

Knowledge and skills to be acquired

• Knowledge of the basic rules of historical research, in particular the primary methods of reading, cataloging and interpreting sources;
• deepened understanding of new historiographical perspectives;
• ability to reflect critically on the role of historical knowledge in confronting contemporary social problems.

Prerequisites

• General knowledge of time periods and major protagonists of European and world economic and social history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries;
• familiarity with key subperiods in nineteenth and twentieth century historical studies;
• comprehension of relevant historiographical vocabulary (i.e., terms such as socio political, legal and economic, etc.);
• ability to analyze historiographical texts.

Teaching methods and materials

Lecture with multimedia aids, sources and presentation in powerpoint. Particular attention will be devoted to student discussion of materials covered in class and in readings in order to ascertain the level of students‘ understanding.

Evaluation method

Oral exam.

Terms of reservation and dates of the exams

Students can reserve their examination using the VOL system. International Students can reserve their examination by contacting the professor directly by email (elisabetta.caroppo@unisalento.it).

On research methods in history:

M. Bloch, Apologia della storia o mestiere di storico, Torino, Einaudi, 1998

or

A. Marwick, The New Nature of History. Knowledge, Evidence, Language, Houndmills – Basingstoke – Hampshire, Palgrave, 2001

On the relationship between history and social sciences:

P. Bevilacqua (a cura di), A che serve la storia? I saperi umanistici alla prova della modernità, Roma, Donzelli, 2011