Herodotus who and Annales What? Historiography and the history student

Abstract

This essay focuses on the teaching of historiography to first semester graduate students and the challenges faced by both the student taking the class and the professor teaching it. Some of these challenges and problems—from both internal and external factors—that influence the teaching of this course, and teaching at the university level are addressed first. The second part of the essay focuses on the actual teaching of a historiography course. Using my own seminar on historiography as a model I first outline the course itself, including select goals and outcomes. I then break down the course and highlight random sessions with their individual goals and outcomes. At the end a summary is offered of the experience as well as some final points to consider.

Keywords:

• Johnson
• Charles
• Herodotus
• Historiography
• Teaching
• Student

Notes

[1] The weekly topics are: Greek historiography; Roman historiography; early Christian historiography; the Renaissance and Reformation; the 18th century and the emergence of nationalism; the German conception of history in the 19th century; scientific and economic history; Progressive history; the Annales school; modern trends in historiography.