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Introduction to History: Sources and Methods

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Course Type Course Code No. Of Credits
Discipline Elective NA 4

Course Details: The overall structure of the course will familiarise student with how facts are gathered and interpreted. They will gain an understanding of various sources of information like textual and oral traditions as well as material remains. They will reflect upon debates in historiography and become aware of the need to exhibit the past through museums and other forms of display.

Summary The course gives a basic understanding of the past and history through oral, written and material sources. When trying to arrive at an understanding of the idea of history in an earlier period, a distinction has to be maintained between how the past is understood and represented, and a perception of the past as specifically historical. The first module will begin with EH Carr’s classic text that suggests History is a continuous process of interaction between the historian and his facts, an unending dialogue between the present and the past. The second module will draw from the Vedic corpus and Sangam literature to reflect on the on the Indian past. Initially most of the knowledge was transmitted orally and later compiled in a written form. Epics, when not composed as a formal literary genre, carry an element of embedded history. Many were often oral compositions, until they are collated and connected through a narrative and presented in the written form later. Another form of writing is biographies and chronicles which gained prominence with the spread of Jainism and Buddhism. The biographical genre required the subject to be presented in a historical form for the narrative to be authentic. The written traditions of the past will be contrasted to the fluid oral and bardic traditions of ancient and medieval India to bring out the various interpretations of the events. The third module will look at material or tangible remains of the past. Coins, epigraphs, Inscriptions and archaeological objects not only provided information on dynasties and chronologies but land grants recorded property transactions, and reflected a significant change in the economic structure of kingdoms. This gradually led to reading them as texts. The next module will throw light on the act of writing itself and how it can be used as an ideological ploy to convey a specific understanding of the past. The final module will bring together the representation of past through exhibitions in various forms.

Objectives

    • To understand the distinction between, past and history,
    • What is the role of fact and interpretation in writing history
    • To gain an awareness about the kind of ‘sources’ (written, material, oral)

Expected Learning Outcome:

On the completion of the course, students will

    • Understand the relevance of history in present times
    • Realise that we do not simply discover or recover the past but history writing is a creative process where we add meaning to facts.

Overall structure:

This course is organized around five units.

 

Topic / Unit

Duration

1.

Sources, facts and interpretation

2 weeks

2.

Oral traditions and written texts

3 weeks

3.

Artefacts and archaeology

2 weeks

4.

Historiography

3 weeks

5.

Exhibiting the past

2 weeks

Required Readings

EH Carr, What is History? 1961, Chapter 1, 2 and 4. Herodotus Histories (select chapters)

Shashi Bhushan Upadhyay, Historiography in the Modern World, 2014, pp.1-67

Upinder Singh, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India, 2008 (pp.1-80)

Sentila T. Yanger, Vignettes on Nazhu The Festival of the Pochury - Naga of Müluori , ITRHD, 2017 pp.55-60

Tanuja Kothiyal, Persistence of memory, never mind history: Padmavati is as real for Rajputs as their famed valour, Scroll, Jan 29, 2017 https://scroll.in/article/827966/persistence-of-memory-never-mind-history-padmavati-is-as- real-for-rajputs-as-their-famed-valour

Thapar Romila, The past before us. 2013. (Select Chapters)

Burling, R. (2007). Language, Ethnicity and Migration in North-Eastern India. South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 30(3), 391–404. doi:10.1080/00856400701714039

The code of Hammurabi https://www.gutenberg.org/files/17150/17150-h/17150-h.htm D N Jha, Ancient India, A historical outline 2006, (Introduction)

Hazarika Manzil, Prehistory and Archaeology of North East India 2017. Sunil Kumar, The present in Delhi’s past: five essays 2011.

T V Mahalingam, Studies in South Indian Archaeology, Epigraphy, architecture and sculpture 1978.

Braudel, La Mediterranee 1949.

E.Sreedharan: A text book of historiography 500BC to AD 2000, 2004. (select chapters) Shashi Bhushan Upadhyay, Historiography in the Modern World, 2014, pp.411-571

Kavita Singh, ‘The museum is national’, IIC 2002.

Kavita Singh’s book included in Last section : No touching, no spitting, no praying: The Museum in South Asia. 2015

Tapti Guha Thakurta, Monuments, objects, histories, 2004 (select chapters)

Pedagogy:

Instructional design

The course will be primarily conducted as a seminar. Students are expected to read and come for a discussion in class Special needs (facilities,requirements in terms of software, studio, lab, clinic, library, classroom/others instructional space; any other – please specify) None

Assessment structure (modes and frequency of assessments) :

The course will have three types of assessment situations.

  1. Essay based on first and second module (30%) (Students will be evaluated on the introduction, inclusion of content based on readings, arguments and conclusion)
  2. Presentation and written work after a field visit (30%) (The presentation should be clear, engaging and relevant to the module. The written work should be coherent and demonstrate engagement with class material and ideas)
  3. Summative Exam/ class assignment (40% ) (It will be based on the entire syllabus)

 

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