Ideas and Methodologies in Historical Research

91 Pages·2022·2.809 MB·English

by  Vladimer Luarsabishvili

Ideas and Methodologies in
Historical Research
This book explores the versatile nature of historical methodology
and its use in interdisciplinary research. Based on the historical
overview of the appearance of one sort of historical ideas and dis-
appearance of another, the book aims to demonstrate a wide range
of possibilities of research in the field and to show how the pursuit
of historical truth may facilitate the formation of collective mem-
ory and how the application of research tools can explain events in
the contemporary world.
Vladimer Luarsabishvili is a Professor of the School of Politics and
Diplomacy at New Vision University. He has founded a book series
Rethinking Society. Individuals, Culture and Migration (NVU Press,
2020) and edited Rethinking Mamardashvili. Philosophical Perspec-
tives, Analytical Insights (Leiden, Brill, 2022).
Routledge Approaches to History
45 Family History and Historians in Australia and New Zealand
Related Histories
Edited by Malcolm Allbrook and Sophie Scott-Brown
46 Writing Russia
The Discursive Construction of AnOther Nation
Melissa-Ellen Dowling
47 How to Write About the Holocaust
The Postmodern Theory of History in Praxis
Theodor Pelekanidis
48 The Politics of Time in China and Japan
Back to the Future
Viren Murthy
49 Nation and the Writing of History in China and Britain,
1880–1930
Asier H. Aguirresarobe
50 Ideas and Methodologies in Historical Research
Vladimer Luarsabishvili
51 Clarifying the Past
Understanding Historical Commissions in Conflicted and
Divided Societies
Cira Palli-Asperó
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.
routledge.com/Routledge-Approaches-to-History/book-series/
RSHISTHRY
Ideas and Methodologies in
Historical Research
Vladimer Luarsabishvili
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Vladimer Luarsabishvili
The right of Vladimer Luarsabishvili to be identified as
author of this work has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may
be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used
only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-032-28404-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-28408-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-29673-7 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003296737
Typeset in Times New Roman
by codeMantra
To my father

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1 Methods and theories of historical studies 6
2 Historical past 20
3 Structuralism and post-structuralism 23
4 Memory studies. Social amnesia 27
5 Archive as an institution of active memory 36
6 Postmemory and Ectopic Literature 42
7 History as literature, narrative and practice 57
8 Microhistory 64
Conclusion 70
Index 77

Acknowledgments
This short book on ideas and methodologies in historical research
is a humble act of gratitude to all those who had helped to form my
understanding of history and its role and importance for today and
tomorrow. My former colleagues from the Archive of the Minis-
try of Internal Affairs of Georgia, as well as from the Institute of
National Remembrance of Poland provided inspiration to plan, elab-
orate, and shape this work. The members of editorial and advisory
editorial boards of the book series Rethinking Society. Individuals,
Culture and Migration (of which I am an editor since its foundation
in 2020), together with authors who published their texts in its vol-
umes, contributed enormously to my interdisciplinary approach to
history. My very special thanks go to my students – both in Georgia
and Chile – for fruitful academic communication. And finally –
my gratitude to colleagues at Taylor and Francis/Routledge and to
an anonymous reviewer, which made possible the publication of
this book.