Historiography
Start date : 19th October 2019
Historiography is a method that involves researching into past events and developments that have happened over time. It is used to make a meaning and an understanding of what has happened.
An area of research that I think would be interesting to look at using historiography would be looking at how attitudes towards the LGBT community have changed over time and what significant events took place which caused attitudes to change towards that subject. This could be done by researching through old history books and looking at what laws were in place at the time regarding LGBT laws as it was illegal to express homosexuality in public areas in most countries until recent years. Another way that this subject can be researched through reading literature and seeing the changes in the portrayal of gay, lesbian and bisexual characters within storylines.
I think that historiography is a good method to use when analysing different viewpoints on a media piece throughout time. It is also good for linking recurring events and trends in the media, as well as identifying certain events that caused a change to happen.
However, one problem that can occur when using historiography as a research method is that we can never be sure if the historical text is accurate or not as it is not possible for us to go back in time, this means the validity of the text is unknown. This is called as Epistemological Fragility.
References –
Kackman, M. (2018) ‘History and Historiography’. in The Craft of Criticism. Ed.by Kackman, M., Celeste Kearney,M. New York: Routledge, 254 – 266
