Of course, for starters, in a way this can be an argument. But the historian's
craft is a well-developed and demarcated one, and goes well beyond merely being
knowledgeable about history, to the extent that one can pass exams, even pass
exams brilliantly, and not be an historian.
The historian, often but not always through applications of historiography - a
slippery subject at the best of times - and always through painful acquisition
of the professional discipline, through writing a variety of papers of fairly
limited scope and very focussed content, and watching these being refined in
the crucible of peer review, learns to do history.
I notice that not all good historians are particularly into historiography.
Some of them are empiricists to a fault; that itself might be taken up as an
example of an historiographical position.
One can't become an historian just by getting a degree, although the process of
getting MAs, M Phils and PhDs does help hone the craft. After that, one has to
specialise, to apply thought to the specialised area and come to say something
either frightfully original or painstakingly well-researched and soundly
founded on primary sources.
This is not what a student of history does, or is asked to do.
I think that the difference is in the way that an historian does things related
to history, rather than in any hypothetical underpinning of historiography.
bonobashi
Don't you think we ought to take this offline? It's so grossly off-topic.
--- On Sun, 16/11/08, Abhishek Hazra <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> From: Abhishek Hazra <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
> To: [email protected]
> Date: Sunday, 16 November, 2008, 3:34 PM
> >>Do you want to know a lot about history - and
> that's vague enough as it is
> - or do you want to be an historian? Those are two hugely
> different
> categories and states of being.
>
> well, to state the obvious, the historian has to engage
> equally with
> historiography as well as 'history'. though putting
> it this way, gives one
> the wrong impression of two apparently
> "autonomous" and separate fields of
> history and historiography...
> what's your take?
>
> abhishek
>
> On Sun, Nov 16, 2008 at 2:36 PM, Bonobashi
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> > --- On Sun, 16/11/08, Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan
> <
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> >
> > > From: Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > > Subject: Re: [silk] When I Have The Time
> > > To: [email protected]
> > > Date: Sunday, 16 November, 2008, 12:02 PM
> > > On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 10:36 AM, Udhay Shankar N
> > > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Mohit (मॊिहत) wrote, [on
> 11/15/2008 9:05
> > > AM]:
> > > >
> > > > > I need to learn how to use
> chopsticks...and
> > > swimming...and
> > > > > dancing...and smiling while stabbing
> someone.
> > > >
> > > > That reminds me of all of the various things
> that I
> > > will do When I have
> > > > The Time (small unrepresentative sample
> follows)
> > > >
> > > > * Masters degree in cryptography
> > > > * Learn Perl
> > > > * Find those treasured old college ripped
> jeans and
> > > lose 2 inches around
> > > > the middle so I can wear them, dammit
> > > > * Krav Maga
> > > > * Finish off my TBR pile (~200 books at last
> count)
> > > > * Get back to reasonable fluency in French
> > > > * Meet up with all the several dozen friends
> with whom
> > > my primary
> > > > interaction these days is occasional phone
> calls
> > > saying "we MUST meet"
> > > >
> > > > Share yours, o wise ones?
> > > >
> > > > This has the makings of a[nother] monster
> thread.
> > > >
> > >
> > > Well, seriously though, here's what I'd
> like to do.
> > >
> > > 1) Really study history - not make jabs at it.
> > > 2) Learn three languages - one European, one
> Asian and one
> > > Indic
> > > 3) Do the east coast of India bike trip.
> (I've done
> > > about a third of the TN
> > > coast, though not on one trip)
> > > 4) Go from Madras to London on the bike
> > > 5) Sleep
> > > 6) Learn to decipher old tamil/grantha/brahmi
> scripts. Work
> > > with the
> > > Epigraphical society/ASI in TN
> > > 7) At least make a list of books that I have not
> read
> > >
> > >
> > > C
> >
> >
> > Do you want to know a lot about history - and
> that's vague enough as it is
> > - or do you want to be an historian? Those are two
> hugely different
> > categories and states of being.
> >
> > Regarding your list of books, what books? Fiction,
> non-fiction, academic,
> > belles-lettres....Unless you're reasonably sure
> what you want to read, how
> > easy or difficult is it to make a list?
> >
> > Just a silly, very silly example: Just taking up the
> influence of Gramsci
> > on latter-day Marxism and how it seagues off into
> Derrida and deconstruction
> > as a literary and philosophical tool, and the links
> with subaltern studies,
> > could take a lifetime in itself. So would a
> sociological and historical
> > analysis of Georgette Heyer. Or one could just curl up
> with a good book and
> > to the devil with the serious stuff.
> >
> > My humble tuppence, which may be worth less, is that
> one needs to focus
> > fiercely to get anything intellectually or
> academically useful done within a
> > single lifetime. And it usually doesn't work even
> then.
> >
> > Did you read history in college by any chance?
> >
> > bonobashi
> >
> >
> > Add more friends to your messenger and enjoy! Go
> to
> > http://messenger.yahoo.com/invite/
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> does the frog know it has a latin name?
> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Get perfect Email ID for your Resume. Grab now
http://in.promos.yahoo.com/address
