Historical research
Historical research
Upon returning from a year-long homestay in Auvergne, I took A-levels in English, French and History. I hadn’t intended to take history, but did so because my Histoire-Geo teacher, Mr Groissard, had inspired me to do so.
I went on to read history and French at the University of Manchester. My dissertation was on the origins of Apartheid in 1930s South Africa, but my true passion was French history. Much later I would become fascinated with the history of Saint Denis, where I bought my first flat.
Historical facts
One of the best courses I ever took was the historiography part of my A-level in history. We covered topics like the concept of progress in history, objectivity, historical facts, cause and effect, inevitability, and change and continuity. One of the books we studied was 'What is History, by EH Carr'. The book is based upon a series of lectures at the University of Cambridge in 1961.
According to Carr facts fall into two categories: "facts of the past", that is, historical information that historians deem unimportant, and "historical facts", information that historians have decided is important. Carr contended that historians quite arbitrarily determine which of the "facts of the past" to turn into "historical facts", according to their own biases and agendas . This book has a profound influence on my critical thinking skills and the way I approach my research. Click on the image to read a PDF file of this seminal work.
