History

• History of Bangladesh
• History of Pakistan
• Islamic World History
• Southeast Asian History
• History of Sri Lanka
• Global History
• Chinese History

Modern historical study integrates diverse approaches to analyze the past, moving beyond traditional political narratives toward multidisciplinary and critical perspectives.

Foundational Approaches & Periodization

1. Political History: Traditional focus on leaders, states, institutions, wars, treaties, and governance.
   Core: Power dynamics & state formation.
2. Diplomatic History: Studies international relations, foreign policy, negotiations, and treaties between states.
   Key sources: State archives, diplomatic correspondence.
3. Military History: Examines warfare, strategy, technology, and the societal impact of conflict.
   Subfields: Naval history, war & society.
4. Economic History: Analyzes production, trade, labor, markets, and economic systems across time.
   Key methods: Cliometrics, quantitative analysis.
5. Social History: Focuses on everyday life, social structures, classes, groups, and lived experiences of ordinary people (“history from below”).
   Key figures: E.P. Thompson, Braudel.
6. Cultural History: Studies beliefs, values, mentalities, symbols, rituals, art, and popular culture.
   Key concept: Meaning-making.
7. Intellectual History: Traces the evolution of ideas, philosophies, ideologies, and their influence.
   Method: Contextual analysis of texts.
8. Periodization: Framework dividing history into major eras (Ancient, Medieval, Early Modern, Modern).
   Debates: Start/end dates, utility.

Major Schools & Methodologies

1. Historiography: The study of how history is written, interpreted, and contested over time.
   Core: History of history.
2. Annales School: Emphasizes longue durée (long-term structures), geography, and total history integrating all aspects.
   Key figures: Bloch, Braudel.
3. Marxist Historiography: Analyzes class struggle, modes of production, and economic determinism as drivers of change.
   Core: Historical materialism.
4. Postcolonial History: Critiques colonial narratives, centers colonized voices, and examines legacies of imperialism.
   Key figures: Said, Fanon, Chakrabarty.
5. Gender History: Explores the roles, experiences, and constructions of gender/sexuality across time.
   Intersects with: Feminist theory, Queer history.
6. Microhistory: Intensive study of small units (individuals, communities, events) to reveal broader insights.
   Example: Ginzburg’s The Cheese and the Worms.
7. Oral History: Methodology using recorded interviews to capture firsthand experiences and memories.
   Vital for: Marginalized groups, recent history.
8. Public History: Presents history to non-academic audiences through museums, archives, film, and digital media.
   Focus: Accessibility & engagement.

Thematic & Emerging Fields

1. Environmental History: Studies human interaction with nature, ecological change, and environmental consequences.
   Key themes: Climate, disease, resources.
2. Global History: Transcends national boundaries to examine interconnected processes, exchanges, and systems.
   Contrasts with: Comparative history.
3. Transnational History: Focuses on movements, connections, and networks across national borders.
   Examples: Diasporas, trade routes.
4. History of Science & Technology: Traces scientific discovery, technological innovation, and their societal impacts.
   Key lens: Context of knowledge production.
5. Memory Studies: Examines how societies remember, commemorate, forget, or manipulate the past.
   Core: Collective memory vs. history.
6. Digital History: Uses computational methods (databases, GIS, text mining, VR) for research and presentation.
   Tools: Network analysis, digital archives.

Critical Perspectives & Debates

1. Historical Materialism: Marxist framework analyzing history through economic structures and class conflict.
   Key concept: Base & superstructure.
2. Postmodern History: Challenges objectivity, questions metanarratives, and emphasizes language/textuality.
   Key figure: Hayden White.
3. Ethnohistory: Combines historical methods with anthropology to study indigenous peoples’ histories.
   Key: Indigenous perspectives & sources.
4. World-Systems Theory: Analyzes global economic structures (core, periphery, semi-periphery).
   Key figure: Immanuel Wallerstein.
5. Subaltern Studies: Focuses on recovering histories of the most marginalized groups silenced by dominant narratives (originated in South Asia).
   Key: Agency of the oppressed.
6. Big History: Traces history from the Big Bang to the present, integrating cosmic, Earth, and human history.
   Key figure: David Christian.

Regional & Specialized Histories

Focused studies examining specific geographical areas, cultures, or interdisciplinary niches through contextualized methodologies.

Regional Histories

• Sinology: Historical study of China using classical Chinese sources, emphasizing dynastic cycles, philosophy, and socio-political evolution.
  • Key: Confucianism, Silk Road, imperial examinations.
• Byzantine Studies: Explores the Eastern Roman Empire (330–1453 CE), analyzing its theology, bureaucracy, and artistic legacy.
  • Key: Constantinople, iconoclasm, Justinian Code.
• Indology: Examines South Asian civilizations (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh), focusing on Vedic traditions, empires, and colonial impacts.
  • Key sources: Sanskrit texts, epigraphy.
• African Diaspora Studies: Traces global dispersal of African peoples through slavery/migration and cultural resilience.
  • Themes: Creolization, resistance movements.
• Mesoamerican History: Studies pre-Columbian cultures (Aztec, Maya) and Spanish conquest legacies in Central America.
  • Key: Codices, urban ceremonialism.
• Islamic World History: Analyzes dar al-Islam societies from 7th c. onward, integrating religious, scientific, and political developments.
  • Key: Caliphates, translation movements.
• Slavic Studies: Focuses on Eastern/Central Europe (Russia, Poland, Balkans), exploring orthodoxy, serfdom, and socialist transitions.
  • Key: Kievan Rus’, collectivization.
• Pacific History: Documents Indigenous Oceania, colonial encounters, and environmental adaptations across island nations.
  • Methods: Oral traditions, voyaging reconstructions.
• Atlantic History: Investigates interconnectedness of Africa, Europe, and the Americas (15th–19th c.) through trade/slavery.
  • Core: Triangular trade, creole societies.
• Caribbean Studies: Examines plantation economies, maroon communities, and postcolonial identity in island nations.
  • Key: Sugar revolution, diaspora cultures.
• History of the Global South: Centers the experiences and perspectives of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Oceania.
  • Rejects: Eurocentrism.

Specialized Histories

• History of Medicine: Traces healing practices, disease theories, and healthcare institutions from antiquity to bioethics.
  • Landmarks: Germ theory, NHS systems.
• Urban History: Studies city development, spatial segregation, and infrastructure as reflections of societal change.
  • Key: Industrial cities, suburbanization.
• Business History: Analyzes corporations, markets, and entrepreneurship within institutional contexts.
  • Focus: Industrial revolutions, globalization.
• Food History: Explores culinary traditions, agricultural innovations, and eating habits as cultural markers.
  • Examples: Columbian Exchange, green revolution.
• Disability History: Centers experiences of disabled communities, policies, and evolving social perceptions.
  • Key: Eugenics, ADA activism.
• History of Emotions: Examines how cultural norms shape affective experiences (love, anger, grief) across eras.
  • Method: Textual/visual analysis of feeling.
• Legal History: Traces evolution of laws, jurisprudence, and justice systems in societal contexts.
  • Key: Magna Carta, civil rights litigation.
• History of the Book: Studies material texts, printing revolutions, and literacy’s societal impacts.
  • Key: Gutenberg, digital archives.
• Sports History: Investigates athletic practices as reflections of nationalism, gender, and commercialization.
  • Case: Olympic diplomacy, Title IX.
• History of Capitalism: Critiques economic systems’ development through labor, finance, and consumption patterns.
  • Debates: Plantation vs. industrial capitalism.

Decolonial & Minority-Focused Histories

• Indigenous Historiography: Prioritizes Native epistemologies, oral histories, and resistance to settler-colonial narratives.
  • Key: Land sovereignty, survivance.
• Queer History: Recovers LGBTQ+ experiences, subcultures, and rights movements often erased in mainstream records.
  • Methods: Archival recovery, oral history.
• Black Feminist History: Intersectional study of race, gender, and power centering Black women’s agency.
  • Key figures: Cooper, Davis.

Major civilizational zones and their historical trajectories

South Asian History

• Core Civilizations: Indian Civilization • Pakistan History • Bangladesh History

• Themes: Monsoon Systems • Indo-Islamic Synthesis

East Asian History

• Core Civilizations: Chinese Civilization • Japanese History • Korean History

• Themes: Tributary Systems • Sinic Cultural Sphere

Southeast Asian History

• Core Civilizations: Khmer Civilization • Indonesian Archipelago • Vietnamese Resistance

• Themes: Monsoon Marketplace • Indianization of Southeast Asia

Islamic World History

• Subsystems: Arab Civilization • Persianate World • Turkic Steppe Nexus

• Themes: Ulama Networks • Sufi Orders

Mediterranean History

• Core Civilizations: Roman Legacy • Byzantine Studies • Ottoman Empire

• Themes: Mediterranean Connectivity • Christian-Muslim Interface

African History

• Regional Nodes: Sahelian States • Swahili Coast • Bantu Expansion

• Themes: Oral Traditions • Trans-Saharan Trade

European History

• Subsystems: Medieval Feudalism • Protestant Reformation • European Colonialism

• Themes: State Formation • Scientific Revolution

American History

• Core Epochs: Pre-Columbian Civilizations • Settler Colonialism • Atlantic Revolutions

• Themes: Columbian Exchange • Plantation Complex

Cross-regional connections and historical networks

Silk Roads History

• Hubs: Samarkand • Malacca

• Flows: Buddhist Transmission • Plague Diffusion

Indian Ocean History

• Key Actors: Gujarati Traders • Zheng He Expeditions

• Institutions: Monsoon Marketplace • Port City Polities

Global Labor History

• Labor Regimes: Slave Systems • Indentured Networks • Digital Precariat

• Resistance: Maroon Societies • Union Internationalism

Core analytical categories across time and regions

Imperial Systems

• Legitimation Models: Mandate of Heaven • Divine Kingship • Colonial Biopolitics

Revolutionary Waves

• Epochs: 1789–1848 • 1917–1939 • 1945–1979 • 1989–Present

Textual Traditions

• Civilizational Canons: Vedic • Confucian • Greco-Roman • Islamic Hadith

Technological Regimes

• Modes: Agrarian • Industrial • Digital

Environmental History

• Transformations: Neolithic Revolution • Fossil Fuel Transition

• Crises: Little Ice Age • Anthropocene

Global era-periodization by region

Ways of doing global historical analysis

Comparative History

• Case Studies: Revolutionary France vs. Haiti • Mughal-Ottoman Bureaucracies

Digital History

• Tools: Network Analysis • Spatial Humanities • Text Mining Archives

Oral History

• Focus Areas: Postcolonial Memory • Indigenous Temporalities

Alternative historiographical approaches

Decolonial Historiography

• Frameworks: Subaltern Studies • Southern Theory

Gender Archaeology

• Revisions: Queering Antiquity • Domestic Labor Value

Counterfactual History

• Thought Experiments: Mongol Atlantic • Industrialized Ming

Knowledge infrastructures for historical research

Digital Repositories

• World Historical Dataverse

• Connected Histories

• Pelagios Network

Conceptual Frameworks

• Annales School: Longue durée • Conjuncture • Event

• World-Systems Theory: Core-Periphery • Hegemonic Cycles

• Big History: Cosmic → Planetary → Human

• Start with subsystems: Use Indian Ocean History to trace Monsoon Marketplace flows

• Trace connections: Map Silver Trade to Ming Taxation Crisis

• Scale-jump: Link Black Death (local) → Feudal Crisis (regional) → Renaissance (global)

• Apply analytical lenses: View Mongol Empire through Environmental History, Global Economic History, and Religious Pluralism

Recommended Works:

• Fernand Braudel – Civilization and Capitalism

• Andre Gunder Frank & Barry Gills – The World System

• Kenneth Pomeranz – The Great Divergence