History and Theory

Sharlene SayeghCalifornia State University, Long Beach

Eric AlticeCalifornia State University, Long Beach

Boston Columbus Indianapolis New York San Francisco Upper Saddle River Amsterdam Cape Town Dubai London Madrid Milan Munich Paris Montréal Toronto

Delhi Mexico City São Paulo Sydney Hong Kong Seoul Singapore Taipei Tokyo

A01_SAYE7250_01_SE_FM.indd 3 10/22/13 9:40 AM

Credits and acknowledgments borrowed from other sources and reproduced, with permission, in this textbook appear on appropriate page within text.

Copyright © 2014 by Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. This publication is protected by copyright and permission should be obtained from the publisher prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or likewise. To obtain permission(s) to use material from this work, please submit a written request to Pearson Education, Inc., Permissions Department, One Lake Street, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458, or you may fax your request to 201-236-3290.

Many of the designations by manufacturers and seller to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book, and the publisher was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial caps or all caps.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataSayegh, Sharlene. History and theory / Sharlene Sayegh, California State University, Long Beach, Eric Altice, California State University, Long Beach. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-13-615725-0 ISBN-10: 0-13-615725-4 1. Historiography—Textbooks. I. Altice, Eric. II. Title. D13.S3637 2013 907.2—dc23 2013029814

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Editor in Chief: Ashley DodgeEditorial Assistant: Amandria GuadalupeDirector of Marketing: Brandy DawsonExecutive Marketing Manager: Kelly MayMarketing Coordinator: Theresa RotondoManaging Editor: Denise ForlowProgram Manager: Kathy SleysSenior Operations Supervisor: Mary FischerOperations Specialist: Eileen Corallo Art Director: Jayne Conte

Cover Designer: Suzanne Behnke Cover Image: marekuliasz/Shutterstock Director of Digital Media: Brian HylandDigital Media Editor: Learning Mate Solutions, Ltd. Digital Media Project Manager: Tina GagliostroFull-Service Project Management and Composition:

Sneha Pant/PreMediaGlobalPrinter/Binder: R.R. Donnelley Cover Printer: R.R. Donnelley Text Font: 11/13.5 Minion Pro Regular

ISBN 10: 0-13-615725-4ISBN 13: 978-0-13-615725-0

A01_SAYE7250_01_SE_FM.indd 4 10/22/13 9:40 AM

v

Preface viiAbout the Authors ix

1 The Importance of Theory in History 1Empiricism or Theory: Does It Have to Be an

“either/or”? 1Case Study: The History of Slavery 3Text Goals and Chapter Organization 5

1. Introducing Historical Materialism (Chapters 3–6) 52. Cultural Approaches to History (Chapters 7–10) 6

Your Reservoir of Knowledge—Just the Tip of the Iceberg 6

Endnotes 7

2 Professionalization of History: Time and Science in the Historical Method 8History from the Ancient World to the

Enlightenment 8From Enlightenment to Progressive History (18th–19th

Centuries) 11The Move to Objectivity, Professionalism, and Critiques

of Progressive Histories 14Endnotes 16

3 Marxist History 17Marxist and Materialist Philosophy in Historical

Context 19The Influence of Marx and Engels on Twentieth-

Century Historical Writing 23Conclusion 25Thinking Like a Historian 26

Primary Source: Jack Bryant, “Sunny Cal” 26Secondary Source: Christopher Hill, “John Bunyan and

His Publics” 27

Endnotes 31

4 The Annales School 33The First Generation—Bloch, Febvre, and “Histoire

Totale” 34The Second Generation—Fernand Braudel and the

Waves of Time 35The Third Generation—Le Roy Ladurie and Goubert:

Making the Annales French 37The Fourth Generation—Roger Chartier and the

Rediscovery of Mentalités 38Conclusion 40Thinking Like a Historian 40

Primary Source: Chart: “Share of World GDP, 1700–1890” 41

Secondary Source: Fernand Braudel, “Towards a Serial History: Seville and the Atlantic, 1504–1650” 41

Endnotes 48

5 The Transformation of Marxism—The New Left and Social History 50The British New Left 51The American New Left 53Western-European Marxism 55The Global New Left—Dependency Theory and

World-Systems Theory 57The Impact of the New Lefts: Social History 58Conclusion 59Thinking Like a Historian 59

Primary Source: “Mrs. Walter Pinkus”: Name and Address of Informant Mrs Walter Pinkus, 2710-8 60

Secondary Source: John Styles, “Time Piece: Working Men and Watches” 61

Endnotes 65

6 Environmental History 68Natural History Through the Frontier Thesis and the

Longue Durée: Roots of Environmental History 69

ConTenTs

A01_SAYE7250_01_SE_FM.indd 5 10/22/13 9:40 AM

vi Contents

Approaching the Environment—Material or Cultural? 70

A Global Environmental History 72Conclusion 74Thinking Like a Historian 75

Primary Source: “Wheat” 75Secondary Source: Richard Grove and Toyin Falola,

“Chiefs, Boundaries and Sacred Woodlands: Early Nationalism and the Defeat of Colonial Conservationism in the Gold Coast and Nigeria, 1870–1916” 78

Endnotes 92

7 Post-Structuralism and Deconstruction 95Modernism and Structuralism 96Postmodernism 97Post-Structuralism 98

Discourse 99Normativity 99The Gaze 100

Deconstruction 100A Conclusion—Influences on the Profession 102Thinking Like a Historian 103

Primary Source: Ordinary’s Account, 19th July 1700 103Secondary Source: David Gaimster, “Sex and Sensibility at

the British Museum” 106

Endnotes 110

8 Cultural History 112Interdisciplinary Origins 112Early Historical Studies of Culture 114The ‘Linguistic Turn’ 117Defining the History of Culture—Some

Conclusions 118Thinking Like a Historian 119

Primary Source: “The Reconstruction Policy of Congress, as Illustrated in California” 120

Secondary Source: Robert Darnton, “The Great Cat Massacre, 1730” 121

Endnotes 127

9 Feminist and Gender History 129Feminism—A Political Movement 130From Women’s History to Feminist History 131Gender Theory and History 134Queer Theory 136Conclusion 137Thinking Like a Historian 137

Primary Source: Revisit Chapter 5’s “Mrs. Walter Pinkus” 138

Secondary Source: Tanika Sarkar, “Women in South Asia: The Raj and After” 138

Endnotes 143

10 Subaltern Studies, Postcolonial Theory, and the History of Race and Nation 145

Europe and the New Imperialism 145Postcolonial Theory 146Subaltern Studies 149Theories and Histories of Race and Nation 150Conclusion 153Thinking Like a Historian 153

Primary Source: Arthur Horner, “Homecoming: Sour note from an Ungrateful Patrial” 154

Secondary Source: Partha Chatterjee, “Bengal: Rise and Growth of a Nationality” 154

Endnotes 163

Glossary 166Further Reading 170Index 174

A01_SAYE7250_01_SE_FM.indd 6 10/22/13 9:40 AM

vii

Making the decision to write yet another textbook on twentieth-century historiography when there

are already so many on the market may seem puzzling to some readers. This text was actually a long time in the making, emerging organically from our teaching styles and the nature of the core curriculum program at California State University, Long Beach. Our experiences in leading undergraduate seminars in Theory and History convinced us of the value of such a course. Our students consistently emerge better prepared to read second-ary works more critically and to consider more complex modes of interpreting primary documents. At the same time, we were frustrated by our inability to find a text that seemed suitable to the class. Many were pitched too high, appropriate for faculty or advanced graduate students, but would lose our bright undergrads. Those tailored more for undergraduates sometimes seemed to sacrifice sub-stance in the name of readability. We each tried several texts in our classes but none quite hit the nail on the head for us in terms of providing the kinds of interconnectiv-ity between activism, philosophy, and the construction of meaningful stories about the past. So, after several years under our belt of teaching this course, of comparing our experiences helping students develop more sophisticated critical-reading skills, of researching different approaches to history, we had a conversation in our office and asked ourselves, “why not write our own book?” So we ap-proached the then editor, Charles Cavaliere, about the project who very enthusiastically supported our book proposal and the beginning stages of writing. Charles has since left Pearson, but we thank him for his early support of this project. Since then, we have since been blessed with three helpful editors: Rob de George, Ashley Dodge, and Nicole Suddeth, all of whom supported this project whenever we found our energy waning.

In terms of organization, we decided simply to model the text after our own syllabi, following the trajectory of history writing in the West from professionalization in the late nineteenth century through the end of the twen-tieth century. We also wanted to make this book a reader and have therefore included where possible works that have had demonstrated success in our classrooms or were chosen specifically to provide a broader under-standing of particular theories. Another aspect to this reader was the conscious decision to include primary as well as secondary sources. We approached the task of composing this book with the idea that we were not just teaching theory but preparing young historians for their encounters with primary documents. We knew other historiography readers did not attempt to have students role play particular theoretical positions to give them a sense of the worldview of the historians they read about in the text. This book does both.

As with all books, this one has benefited from the direct and indirect help of students, colleagues, and friends. From our graduate-school seminars in which we debated particular approaches, to our own courses, we owe debts of gratitude. Sayegh’s work with schol-ars Jacques Derrida, Fredric Jameson, Mark Poster, Lawrence E. Klein, Kenneth Pomeranz, and Robert Moeller not only helped her to better conceptualize her own point of view, but also to think about how she might teach this material to her own students. For Altice, the list of scholars who have shaped his understanding of history and the attempt to apply theory is equally long: Joyce Appleby, Steve Aron, Barbara Loomis, Paul Longmore, Ellen Dubois, and Henry Yu all contributed, sometimes in ways they may not even realize.

We are very thankful to our friends and students who read all or parts of this manuscript. Danielle Cook,

PrefaCe

To our families, with love and gratitude for their patience, and to our students, without whose earnest desire to learn, this book would not have been written.

A01_SAYE7250_01_SE_FM.indd 7 10/22/13 9:40 AM

viii Preface

Stefanie Lira, and John Marquez provided unique student perceptions and insight about where students might have problems with particular explanations. David Sheridan, our colleague and good friend who also teaches this class, has listened to numerous comments and explanations on approaches to the text, giving help-ful advice as to direction and language. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Laurie Chin Sayres who patiently read every single chapter of this book—some chapters more than once. Her fresh set of eyes and her own expe-rience of teaching the history and theory seminar helped us to ensure the clarity of our discussions. Her constant support for this project, her fantastic listening skills, and her unwavering friendship have been priceless.

Sayegh would like to thank California State  University, Long Beach for the Fall 2011 sabbatical that enabled her to finish a large portion of the manuscript. The Department of History, particularly the chair Nancy

Quam-Wickham, has also provided emotional and in-tellectual support for us over the last two years.

We would like to thank all of the blind reviewers, whose perceptions, teaching reflections, and compara-tive analyses were absolutely invaluable. We would also like to thank these reviwers: Todd Berryman, Hendrix College; Yung-chen Chiang, DePauw University; Robert LaFleur, Beloit College; and Anne Wohlcke, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

The editorial staff at Pearson and PreMedia Global has been wonderful as we moved this book into produc-tion. We thank Nicole Suddeth, Kathleen Sleys, Melissa Sacco, Sherry Sprague, Sneha Pant, and the countless others who helped transform this manuscript to a book.

Finally, we would like to thank our families: Chris, Fred, and Bridget Canada (Sayegh), and Miki, Kan, and Victoria Altice. Patient, loving support is the best sup-port in the world.

A01_SAYE7250_01_SE_FM.indd 8 10/22/13 9:40 AM

ix

A self-described (and student-acclaimed) “ theory head,” Sharlene Sayegh received her Ph.D. in his-

tory and critical theory from the University of California, Irvine. She has taught in the Department of History at California State, Long Beach for 15 years, where she also serves as the department’s core curriculum coordinator. She is the University’s Director of Program Review and Assessment, helping to guide the campus into best prac-tices for student learning and engagement. A winner of the university’s Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award as well as the World History Association’s Teaching Prize, she remains committed to enhancing student learning and to sharing ideas about effective teaching with her colleagues. She is currently working on a mi-crohistory of women, business and identity formation

in eighteenth-century London, but still finds time to fly kites with her family, read Harry Potter, and watch the occasional television show.

Eric Altice received his Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Los Angeles. He taught in the Department of History at California State University, Long Beach, for nine years, and currently teaches for UCLA through the Global Classroom classroom in Nanjing, China.

A life-long traveler with earlier experience of living and teaching in China and Japan, he is currently work-ing on a variety of essays exploring globalization, class formation, culture, and identity, while studying Chinese and maintaining a personal project of compiling a list of good, cheap, Chinese restaurants in Nanjing.

abouT THe auTHors

A01_SAYE7250_01_SE_FM.indd 9 10/22/13 9:40 AM

A01_SAYE7250_01_SE_FM.indd 10 10/22/13 9:40 AM