Approaching Historical Truth: Methods and Evidence in History Writing

What counts as an accurate representation of the past? What differentiates historical narratives from fictional ones? In this seminar we will learn about how historians have approached problems of evidence and explanation. In the first part of the course, we will learn about methodologies that historians have adapted from other disciplines including the natural and social sciences as well as literary and cultural studies. In the second, we will consider the politics of archives and how they affect our understanding of historical veracity. In the final part of the course, we will read a historical novel to better understand the boundaries between fiction and history.