How to be a Historian: Scholarly Personae in Historical Studies, 1800-2000

Description

What is unique about this volume is that is explores the history of historical studies through the prism of 'scholarly personae' (models of virtue, embodying how to be a historian). It offers a stimulating new perspective on the unity, or disunity, of historical scholarship as it existed in nineteenth- and twentieth-century. This volume offers a stimulating new perspective on the history of historical studies. Through the prism of 'scholarly personae', it explores why historians care about attitudes or dispositions that they consider necessary for studying the past, yet often disagree about what virtues, skills, or competencies are most important. More specifically, the volume explains why models of virtue known as 'personae' have always been contested, yet also can prove remarkably stable, especially with regard to their race, class, and gender assumptions. Covering historical studies across Europe, North America, Africa, and East Asia, How to be a historian will appeal not only to historians of historiography, but to all historians who occasionally wonder: What kind of a historian do I want to be?

Herman Paul is Professor of the History of the Humanities at Leiden University -- .

'Historians' identities form the subject matter of this geographically wide-ranging, well-researched and theoretically framed collection of essays.' R. C. Richardson, University of Winchester, Times Higher Education, July 2019 -- .