FAK3103 Theory and Method in History, Part 1 7.5 credits

Perspectives on historical research, historiography, sources and criticism of sources, methods in historical research, explanations in historical research as well as in the social sciences in general.

For the research student after the course to be able to account for, discuss, analyse and apply historiographical practices - international as well as national Swedish, different perspectives on science in general and historical research in particular, important themes and problems recent historical research, sources and criticism of sources, methods of historical research, construction of explanations in historical research in relation to those of social science in general and to have reflected on the course literature in relation to the topic of the thesis.

Eligibility to be accepted in the graduate programme History of Technology.

Ernst Breisach, On the Future of History: The Postmodernist Challenge and its Aftermath (Chicago, 2003); John Lewis Gaddis, The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past (Oxford, 2002); Georg G. Iggers Historiography in the Twentieth Century (1997); Peter Burke, What is Cultural History? (Cambridge, 2004); Miguel A. Cabrera. Postsocial History: An Introduction, eng. övers. (Lanham, Md., 2004); Elizabeth Clark, History, Theory, Text: Historians and the Lingustic Turn (Cambridge, Mass., 2004); Lynn Hunt, ed., The New Cultural History (Berkeley, 1989); Russell Jacoby, "A New Intellectual History?", The American Historical Review 97 (1992), 405-424; Keith Jenkins, ed., The Postmodern History Reader (New York, 1997); Dominick Lacapra, "Intellectual History and Its Ways", The American Historical Review 97 (1992), 425-439; Peter Novick, That Noble Dream: The "Objectivity Question" and the American Historical Profession (Cambridge, 1988) m.m.

Literature is announced within a month before the course starts.

If the course is discontinued, students may request to be examined during the following two academic years.

• UPP1 - Essay, 7.5 credits, grading scale: P, F

Based on recommendation from KTH’s coordinator for disabilities, the examiner will decide how to adapt an examination for students with documented disability.

The examiner may apply another examination format when re-examining individual students.

Active participation in seminars and independently written essays.

Per Högselius

• All members of a group are responsible for the group's work.
• In any assessment, every student shall honestly disclose any help received and sources used.
• In an oral assessment, every student shall be able to present and answer questions about the entire assignment and solution.

The course is mandatory for licentiates as well as Ph.Ds in the graduate programme in History of Technology.