FAKULTET FOR UTDANNINGSVITENSKAP OG HUMANIORA MASTEROPPGAVE Studieprogram: Master i Historiedidaktikk Høstsemesteret, 2020 Åpen/ konfidensiell Forfatter: Thomas Bjåstad ………………………………………… (signatur forfatter) Veileder: Peder William Chellew Roberts Tittel på masteroppgaven: Historiografi og imperiet: En historiografisk analyse Engelsk tittel: Historiography and the Empire: A Historiographic Analysis Emneord: Antall sider: 90 Historical analysis, Historiography, British Empire History, Historiogaphic tradition. + vedlegg/annet: 103 Stavanger, 31.08.2020 dato/år Forord Ved anslutningen av denne oppgaven avsluttes 5 lærerike år ved Universitetet I Stavanger som historiestudent. Det har vært bra år med mange dyktige og kunnskapsrike forelesere, spennende emner, og et godt studiemiljø. Jeg vil gi en stor takk til min veileder Peder William Chellew Roberts for gode samtaler og konstruktive tilbakemeldinger. Takk for god veiledning og tilbakemeldinger både før og etter Covid- 19 utbruddet. Jeg vil takke min familie for at de holdt ut med meg i arbeidsprosessen gjennom oppturer og frustrasjoner. Thomas Bjåstad 31.08.20 Abstract Historiography “The History of History”. This study aims to explore how historical works is influenced by historiographical traditions and concepts. In order to explore this, two empirical works were selected covering the same period of time in British Empire history. The older was the Cambridge History of the British Empire: Growth of the new Empire, published in 1940, the newer the Oxford History of the British Empire: The Twentieth Century, published in 1999. The aim of this thesis is to examine how two historical works covering the same historical period are different because of the different eras of their publishing, and to answer the question: Which stories are told about British colonial enterprise in these two books, and how does the historical selection vary based on different historiographical traditions and historical writings changing relationship towards objectivity and content? The background for such a selection is the Imperial History´s interesting history as a debated and criticised field. Through historiographical theory, and the methods of qualitative document analysis and comparative analysis, similarities and differences were explored in content, selection, concepts, and historiographical traditions influencing each work. Sammendrag Historiografi «Historien om Historien». Denne studien har som mål å utforske hvordan det historiske verk er påvirket av historiografiske tradisjoner og konsepter. For å utforske dette har to empiriske objekter blitt valgt som omhandler denne samme perioden av Britisk imperiehistorie. Den eldste Cambridge History of the British Empire: Growth of the New Empire, publisert i 1940, den nyere Oxford History of the British Empire: The Nineteenth Century, publisert i 1999. Målet for denne oppgaven er å utforske hvordan to historiske verk som omhandler den samme historiske perioden er forskjellige på bakgrunn av deres ulike publiseringsdato, og for å besvare spørsmålet: Hvilke historier er fortalt om Britisk kolonitid i disse to bøkene, og hvordan varierer den historiske utvelgelsen basert på forskjellige historiografiske tradisjoner og historieskrivingens endrede forhold til objektivitet og innhold? Bakgrunnen for en slik utvelgelse er imperiehistories interessante historie som et debattert og kritisert felt. Gjennom historiografisk teori, og metodene kvalitativt dokument analyse og komparativ analyse, likheter og forskjeller ble utforsket på områder som innhold, utvelgelse, konsepter, og historiografiske tradisjoners innflytelse. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 6 TOPIC AND RESEARCH QUESTION ................................................................................................................................. 6 LITERATURE ............................................................................................................................................................ 7 SCOPE .................................................................................................................................................................. 8 DESIGN AND METHOD .................................................................................................................................... 8 QUALITATIVE METHOD .............................................................................................................................................. 8 Qualitative Document analysis ....................................................................................................................... 8 Comparative analysis ...................................................................................................................................... 9 THEORY ........................................................................................................................................................ 10 HISTORIOGRAPHY – “THE HISTORY OF HISTORY” ......................................................................................................... 10 Leopold Von Ranke ....................................................................................................................................... 11 The Bury and Trevelyan debate .................................................................................................................... 12 Carr ............................................................................................................................................................... 13 History is not objective: The linguistic turn ................................................................................................... 14 White´s Theory of the Historical Work .......................................................................................................... 14 Explanation by Emplotment ......................................................................................................................... 15 HISTORICAL FRAMEWORK: HISTORIOGRAPHICAL DEVELOPMENT ...................................................................................... 15 A question of Objectivity ............................................................................................................................... 15 HISTORICAL WRITING UNTIL 1940 ............................................................................................................................. 16 Beginnings to professionalization ................................................................................................................. 16 Romanticism and Whig history ..................................................................................................................... 17 Constitutional history ................................................................................................................................... 19 Revival of Traditional Liberalism ................................................................................................................... 20 Science and Empire ....................................................................................................................................... 20 War and Modernism ..................................................................................................................................... 21 HISTORICAL WRITING AFTER 1945 ............................................................................................................................ 22 Post-Modernism ........................................................................................................................................... 22 Postcolonialism and dependency studies – Critiques of Eurocentrism ......................................................... 24 Universalism and Global History ................................................................................................................... 25 Subaltern Studies .......................................................................................................................................... 28 The Objective Historian ................................................................................................................................. 30 ANALYSIS ...................................................................................................................................................... 31 BOOK STRUCTURE .................................................................................................................................................. 31 Structure Cambridge ..................................................................................................................................... 31 Structure Oxford ........................................................................................................................................... 32 ANALYSIS OF CONTENT ............................................................................................................................................ 33 THE DESCRIPTION OF IMPERIALISM AND COLONIALISM .................................................................................................. 33 Cambridge .................................................................................................................................................... 34 Oxford ..........................................................................................................................................................