People's history  

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-'''History from below''' is a level of historical narrative which was developed as a result of the [[Annales School]] and popularised in the [[1960s]]. This form of [[social history]] focuses on the perspectives of ordinary individuals within society as well as individuals and regions that were not previously considered historically important. This includes [[women]] and the [[working class]], as well as regions such as [[India]] or [[Africa]].+A '''people's history''' or '''history from below''' is a type of [[historical narrative]] which attempts to account for historical events from the perspective of [[Lower class|common people]] rather than political and other leaders.
-The book ''[[New Perspectives on Historical Writing]]'', warns that without [[context]], ''history from below'' can become a casual definition of isolated cases [[insignificance|devoid of any real significance]]. Sharpe argues that this form of historical scholarship needs to be concretely linked to its place in history (e.g. its antecedents, consequences, etc) in a manner similar to what [[Anthropology|anthropologists]] call "[[thick description]]".+==Description==
 +A people's history (otherwise known as social history) is the history of the world that is the story of mass movements and of the outsiders. Individuals not included in the past in other type of writing about history are part of history-from-below theory's primary focus, which includes the [[Disfranchisement|disenfranchised]], the [[oppression|oppressed]], the [[poverty|poor]], the [[Nonconformism|nonconformists]], the [[Subaltern (postcolonialism)|subaltern]] and the otherwise forgotten people. This theory also usually focuses on events occurring in the fullness of time, or when an overwhelming wave of smaller events cause certain developments to occur.
 + 
 +This [[Historical revisionism|revisionist approach]] to writing history is in direct opposition to methods which tend to emphasize single great figures in history, referred to as the [[great man theory]]; it argues that the driving factor of history is the daily life of ordinary people, their [[social status]] and [[profession]]. These are the factors that "push and pull" on opinions and allow for trends to develop, as opposed to great people introducing ideas or initiating events.
 + 
 +In his book ''[[A People's History of the United States]]'', [[Howard Zinn]] wrote: "The history of any country, presented as the history of a family, conceals fierce conflicts of interest (sometimes exploding, most often repressed) between conquerors and conquered, masters and slaves, capitalists and workers, dominators and dominated in race and sex. And in such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, as Albert Camus suggested, not to be on the side of the executioners."
==See also== ==See also==
-*[[Marxist historiography]] 
*[[Alltagsgeschichte]] *[[Alltagsgeschichte]]
-*[[Subaltern studies]]+*[[Georges Lefebvre]]
*[[Howard Zinn]] *[[Howard Zinn]]
 +*[[Marxist historiography]]
*[[New labor history]] *[[New labor history]]
- +*[[Postcolonialism]]
 +*[[Subaltern (postcolonialism)|Subaltern Theory]]
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A people's history or history from below is a type of historical narrative which attempts to account for historical events from the perspective of common people rather than political and other leaders.

Description

A people's history (otherwise known as social history) is the history of the world that is the story of mass movements and of the outsiders. Individuals not included in the past in other type of writing about history are part of history-from-below theory's primary focus, which includes the disenfranchised, the oppressed, the poor, the nonconformists, the subaltern and the otherwise forgotten people. This theory also usually focuses on events occurring in the fullness of time, or when an overwhelming wave of smaller events cause certain developments to occur.

This revisionist approach to writing history is in direct opposition to methods which tend to emphasize single great figures in history, referred to as the great man theory; it argues that the driving factor of history is the daily life of ordinary people, their social status and profession. These are the factors that "push and pull" on opinions and allow for trends to develop, as opposed to great people introducing ideas or initiating events.

In his book A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn wrote: "The history of any country, presented as the history of a family, conceals fierce conflicts of interest (sometimes exploding, most often repressed) between conquerors and conquered, masters and slaves, capitalists and workers, dominators and dominated in race and sex. And in such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, as Albert Camus suggested, not to be on the side of the executioners."

See also




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