Foundational Methods
Proposed that "Man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun" and to understand human behavior, one must have "thick" descriptions to explain the layers of cultural influence
Geertz, "Thick Descriptions", anthropological turn
Cultural historian who explored the symbolism associated with the great cat massacre in France during the late 1730s
Darton, The Great Cat Massacre, microhistory and anthropological turn
Concerned with silences in the archives and the way power dictates how historical narratives are written
Trouillot, Silencing the Past, postcolonialism
Widened the scope of historical studies to consider environmental and geological changes over a long period of time and then gauge the resulting social and economic changes
Bloch, The Historian's Craft, the longue durée of the French Annales School
Argues that historians should break away from the traditional narrative structure and be more interdisciplinary by using methods associated with literature
White, The Practical Past, postmodern theory (sometimes called poststructuralism)
Examines the small acts of resistance to oppressive systems of authority and the private discourse of subordinate groups
Scott, Hidden Transcripts, subaltern studies
Examined the material conditions of the working class and the distinct cultural values that grew out of their shared experience as laborers
Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class, historical materialism (based on Marxist theory and Hegelian dialectic)
Explores the mental world of sixteenth century France by deconstructing signs and symbols in cultural narratives, yet also reflects on the limitations of sources and our inability to ever truly know the past in its entirety
Davis, The Return of Martin Guerre, microhistory and postmodern theory
Questions how we can ever truly recover the lived experiences of people suffering from systematic oppression and deconstructs official state documents to reveal instances of subaltern agency
Spivak, "Subaltern Studies: A Historiography", subaltern studies