MLA History Seminar: Microhistory

A case of disputed identity in a 16th-century French village. A peasant woman's murder in a 17th-century Chinese village. A giraffe who sailed on the Blue Nile from Sudan to Paris in 1825. These topics have all been studied through microhistory, a historical methodology, first formalized in the 1970s, focusing on understanding the past through a careful analysis of an understudied event, person, place, or object. Often disrupting traditional historical narratives, microhistory focuses on the smallest details in primary sources, contextualizing them within their cultural contexts, while also paying attention to questions of agency. Microhistories focus on individuals and groups that other historians have overlooked, but they also have drawn criticism for relying on official institutional sources that may mask their voices and perspectives. In this seminar, we will explore key microhistory texts and developments from the past 50+ years, from foundational texts using trial records to study medieval and early modern Europe (e.g., Ladurie, Montaillou; Ginzburg, The Cheese and the Worms; Davis, The Return of Martin Guerre), to studies of colonial America (e.g. Ulrich, A Midwife's Tale, Boyer and Nissenbaum, Salem Possessed), through more recent developments, including 21st-century global microhistories (e.g., Sharkey, Crossing Continents). What can historians learn from studying unusual events or people instead of what appear to be the average or common experiences in the past?  Do microhistories truly center understudied people, or reproduce the perspectives of those in power? And how can historians best manage the complexities and uncertainties of primary source analysis while still telling persuasive, evidence-based stories? Assignments include weekly reading blogs, leading and participating in class discussions, and writing a final seminar paper.