Магистратура 2025/2026

Научно-исследовательский семинар "Микроистория"

Статус: Курс по выбору (Мусульманские миры в России (История и культура))

Кто читает: Институт классического Востока и античности

Где читается: Факультет гуманитарных наук

Когда читается: 1-й курс, 3 модуль

Охват аудитории: для всех кампусов НИУ ВШЭ

Язык: английский

Кредиты: 3

Контактные часы: 24

Course Syllabus

Abstract

Microhistory was one of the new trends in writing history in the late twentieth century and by now, it has become a widely recognized approach. As it stands with one of its legs in the tradition of structure-oriented social history and with the other in the group of the approaches that can be classified as cultural history, it offers a possibility to blend the approaches of social and cultural history. Cultural history regards society as a discursive phenomenon that is invested with meaning – so the historians’ main task is to search for meaning. But the approach of the cultural historians, who seek understanding (Verstehen) and want to find meaning, cannot take them closer to the past than where the authors of their sources were; cultural historians cannot learn more about the past than these knew about it. This fact makes it necessary for the historian to employ different approaches, too, and also to look for explanation – as social history, for example, has always been doing. Social history gives explanations using the vast array of the methods of current social sciences. These explanations are usually of an a posteriori character (pointing to factors of which historical actors themselves were not aware of) and they can be also multiplied. Actually, I am convinced that it is only within the very circumscribed framework of a microhistorical investigation, that we can effectively blend the approaches of social and cultural history. Thus, microhistory possesses chances better than usual in arriving at valid new historical understandings. It is therefore important for students of history to get acquinted with microhistory. Educational objectives: The course consists of a series of 12 seminars and is intended as an English-language introduction to the approach of microhistory covering both its theory, its methodology and its variations: the original Italian microstoria, its impact on French and German historiography and those works that can only be called microhistorical using a looser definition of the term. Participant students will get acquinted with some of the classical works of microhistory and also some of the most recent works available, while a special attention will be given to the recent microhistory of the Muslim world. The reading list will be finalized in agreement with the participants taking into consideration their preferences. Course requirements: Participant students are required to read complete books in English (unless they are available in Russian translation: this will be sorted out at the first class of the course) from one week to the other and discuss these in the class. Missed readings should be made up for before the end of the course. Beyond this, no additional tasks are to be performed, e.g. no writing of essays will be necessary. At the end of the course, an oral examination will take place covering the compulsory literature of the complete course. Educational objectives: The course consists of a series of 12 seminars and is intended as an English-language introduction to the approach of microhistory covering both its theory, its methodology and its variations: the original Italian microstoria, its impact on French and German historiography and those works that can only be called microhistorical using a looser definition of the term. Participant students will get acquinted with some of the classical works of microhistory and also some of the most recent works available. The reading list will be finalized in agreement with the participants taking into consideration their preferences. Course content: 1. Introduction 2-4. Classical works of microhistory 5-7. The microhistory of the 1990s-early 2000s. 8-11. Recent works of microhistory 12. Summary Course requirements: Participant students are required to read complete books in English (unless they are available in Russian translation) from one week to the other and discuss these in the class. Missed readings should be made up for before the end of the course. Beyond this, no additional tasks are to be performed, e.g. no writing of essays will be necessary. At the end of the course, an oral examination will take place covering the compulsory literature of the complete course.