+The Marxist Philosophy of HistoryDr. Kristen Epps

Colorado State University—Pueblo

HIST300: Historiography

+What is Historical Theory? Closely tied to literary theory and also

philosophy, but with different goals in mind—very interdisciplinary

Historical theories are compelling, but unproven, ideas and principles that help explain the past by looking at the “big picture;” in more technical terms, it is an interpretive framework or metanarrative, “a global or totalizing cultural narrative schema which orders and explains knowledge and experience”1  

It involves “close reading” of primary sources, application of a theoretical model to “test” a historical event/person, and usage of very precise vocabulary

+How Do I Recognize a Historical Theory? This interest in interdisciplinarity only comes in the mid-

twentieth century Some topics will lend themselves to a more theoretical

approach (e.g., gender studies, labor history, cultural studies, etc.)

BUT, some historians are averse to theory, so don’t assume that there is a theoretical framework in every text

It is usually associated with a school of thought (e.g., postcolonialism, postmodernism, etc.), or with the theorist who developed it (e.g., Judith Butler, Michel Foucault, Edward Said, etc.)

Look for name dropping in the text or citations (see next slide) and also usage of specific terminology and concepts

+Some Well-Known Examples

 Postcolonialism (most commonly found in Caribbean, Asian and African studies): http://postcolonialstudies.emory.edu/introduction/

Postmodernism: http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/irvinem/theory/pomo.htmlAntonio Gramsci (neo-Marxism): http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-gram.htmFrederic Jameson (neo-Marxism): http://www.uta.edu/huma/illuminations/kell19.htm Jurgen Habermas (“the public sphere”): http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/habermas/Clifford Geertz (culture and anthropology):  

http://www.scribd.com/doc/48136604/A-Short-Review-on-Cultural-Theory-of-Clifford-Geertz

Judith Butler (gender, sexuality, and “the body”): http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-butl.htm

Michel Foucault (poststructuralism, “the body,” sexuality, power, etc.): for basic terms/definitions, http://www.michel-foucault.com/concepts/index.html, and for a more detailed outline, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/foucault/

This website includes a very complete bibliography, with annotations at the end of some books that provide basic descriptions of theorists (mixed within a bunch of "regular" historians, so it is not ideal for browsing): http://www.amst.umd.edu/Research/cultland/index.html

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Karl MarxNineteenth-century Political Theorist and Revolutionary

+

Georg Hegel

Nineteenth-century Philosopher and

Historian

+Key Terms from Hegelian TheoryZeitgeist—”the spirit of the ages”

+Key Terms from Hegelian TheoryZeitgeist—”the spirit of the ages”

Determinism

+Key Terms from Hegelian TheoryZeitgeist—”the spirit of the ages”

Determinism

Dialectic Thesis Antithesis Synthesis

+Western Europe in 1815

+Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts, 1844

“The worker becomes all the poorer the more wealth he produces, the more his production increases in power and range. The worker becomes an ever cheaper commodity the more commodities he creates. With the increasing value of the world of things proceeds in direct proportion to the devaluation of the world of men. Labor produces not only commodities; it produces itself and the worker as a commodity—and does so in the proportion in which it produces commodities generally.”

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Friedrich EngelsNineteenth-century Philosopher and Marx’s Ideological Partner

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Marx Monument in London Cemetery