historiographies

Historiography is the study of how history is written. It concerns the methods, theories, and debates surrounding the writing of historical narratives, including how historians select, interpret, and present sources and how historical knowledge itself changes over time.

It examines sources (primary and secondary), the handling of evidence, narrative form, and the influence of context, ideology, and purpose. It also considers biases, representation, and the politics of memory in shaping historical narratives.

Historiographical traditions vary across periods and cultures. Classical and biblical historiography gave way to more empirical archival methods in modern times, while the Annales School emphasized long-term social history. Marxist historiography foregrounds economic structures, and feminist and postcolonial approaches critique exclusion and power relations. Cultural history and social history emphasize ideas, daily life, and shared practices.

Historiography is not the same as history itself; it is the study of how histories have been written, interpreted, and revised. It engages with questions of objectivity, interpretation, and source reliability, and it evolves with new sources, methods, and perspectives.

In practice, historiography helps explain disagreements among historians and shows how historical narratives develop over time. It functions as a meta-level inquiry about knowledge production within historical disciplines.