Historiography

Some of the common questions of historiography are:

1. Reliability of the sources used, in terms of authorship, credibility of the author, and the authenticity or corruption of the text. (See also source criticism).
2. Historiographical tradition or framework. Every historian uses one (or more) historiographical traditions, for example Marxist, Annales School, "total history", or political history.
3. Moral issues, guilt assignment, and praise assignment
4. Revisionism versus orthodox interpretations
5. Historical metanarratives

Issues engaged by critical historiography include:

• What constitutes a historical "event"?
• In what modes does a historian write and produce statements of "truth" and "fact"?
• How does the medium (novel, textbook, film, theatre, comic) through which historical information is conveyed influence its meaning?

Comment:

In social contexts, the personal history of the worker, criminal, social deviant, mental patient, varies according to the historiographical tradition or framework (school of thought, philosophy, world system) of the reporter/journalist/case worker. As well as the credibility of the informer (grass, Wicked Messenger, scientific researcher, intelligence sources).