Essay on Challenges Facing Historians

The methods used in historical writing was based on pre-documented historical events secondary sources. Contextually I faced multiple challenges often related to the source and reliability of the content. History presents reality and objective research that aims at providing credible information to the society^[1]. The investigation presented multiple limitations, including relevance to modern historical context integrations^[2]. The societal significance of history illustrates how far the methods used in accumulating such information were designed and how objective the researcher exhibited the approaches in the research. Basically, historical writing requires a well-developed thesis and objective and relevant knowledge which is presented through the writer’s historical behavior.

The challenges faced in the investigation was the credibility of the source. Naturally primary sources presents first and information is always first-hand accounts from a period of history in time. The major problem with harvesting from sources relies entirely on how the source might have been biased^[3]. The agenda of the history and forms a very critical aspect of how biased the source will be treated. Historians with specific agenda will always tune the research to fit their particular needs as well as overwhelming beliefs in social cultural dynamics. This is the reason behind many differences that exist between approved sources of historical information. Apart from the historian’s agenda and their cultural beliefs one common factor that affect historians concerning legibility of information that they are researching about for instance how far we are interested the piece of history or how relevant the research is presented based on the case analyzed. Historians may only find it relevant to capture cases they find interesting to study. These challenges differ from science and mathematics, which are purely based on practical experimentations and conclusions.

Archive-based information primarily faces distortion from the historian biasness – which is considered one great impact on the reliability of the historical content written by specific people. In essence, biasness is a multi-dimensional problem, that emanates from all aspects of historical documentation^[4]. Biasness of the sources can be mitigated by studying multiple sources while objectively enquiring for the same piece of information. As has been stated above, the relevance of information must not be pegged on personal interests. The objectivity of the study should be geared on finding a non-partisan reliable information, reliably collected on the basis of the significance of the study.

The historians are responsible for making reliable content by use of multiple sources on the same subject and at the same time decide which events are historically relevant from problems emanating from the historian’s biasness and eligibility there are associated cases where accuracy and reliability of sources used by historians are questioned^[5]. Missing information and damaged artefacts as well as lack of diversity among historians presents multiple challenges when it comes to understanding the best sources of information for specific subjects. Historical in understanding the underlying contexts of the strategy of the research requires an extensive analysis of accuracy of the sources.

References

Adeoti, E. O., & Adeyeri, J. O. (2012, December). History, the Historian and His Work: Issues, Challenges and Prospects. International Journal of Educational Research and Technology, 3(4), 36-41.

Creveld, M. (1983, October). Thoughts on Military History. Journal of Contemporary History,, 18(4), 549-566.

Difficulties | The Discipline of History. (2004, February 27). Retrieved January 10, 2021, from https://www.umass.edu/wsp/method/history/difficulties/discipline.html

Engelbrecht, C. (2019). Limitations in History, Part 1: Problems with Historical Facts.

Idealism Vs Positivism. (n.d.). Retrieved January 10, 2021, from https://raffleshistorynotes.weebly.com/idealism-vs-positivism.html

Problems of History. (2019, May 22). Retrieved January 10, 2021, from https://alphahistory.com/problems-of-history/

[1] E. O. Adeoti and J. O. Adeyeri, “History, the Historian and His Work: Issues, Challenges and Prospects,” International Journal of Educational Research and Technology 3, no. 4 (December 2012)

[2] M. Creveld, “Thoughts on Military History,” Journal of Contemporary History, 18, no. 4 (October 1983)

[3] C. Engelbrecht, “Limitations in History, Part 1: Problems with Historical Facts,” 2019.

[4] “Problems of History,” Alpha History, last modified May 22, 2019, https://alphahistory.com/problems-of-history/.

[5] E. O. Adeoti and J. O. Adeyeri, “History, the Historian and His Work: Issues, Challenges and Prospects,” International Journal of Educational Research and Technology 3, no. 4 (December 2012)