Dialectical view of the development of micro history
July 27, 2022 09:14 Source: "China Social Sciences" July 27, 2022 Total 2457 Author: Our reporter Yang Xue

Micro History Race rosen in the late 1970s,It is one of the contemporary western historical trends。Micro history is magnifying and conveying ordinary people's life experience and spiritual experience,To complete the micro -knowledge、From special to general historical understanding process。Through deep excavation of personal destiny,Related historical works can often attract the reading interest of ordinary readers,to get a wide range of influence。But since its birth,Micro history has also been accompanied by controversy and criticism,This reporter interviewed a number of scholars。

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"Micro History" concept is the late 1970s,From Carlo Kinzberg、Joewanni Lievi, Italian historians represented by Italian, took the lead in proposing。Danzberg pointed out,George R. Stewart (George R. Stewart) used the term "micro history" as early as 1959,Luiz Gonzalez also used this statement in a few years。But the current meaning of micro -historical science is not the same as the meaning of Gonzalez when used,Micro history at that time was synonymous with local history。1976,Kingsberg published the book "Cheese and Worm: a Smart World of the 16th Century Masters" based on the trial records of Monio,Later in 1980 translated into English publishing,From this micro history as a historical research method, walk into people's vision。Later,The influence of micro history gradually expands,bet365 best casino games Becoming a strong international trend of historicism。

Professor Edward Muir, a professor at the History Department of Northwestern University, said in an interview with this reporter,When the micro history of the 1970s and 1980s rose,Europe and the United States' belief in the big interpretation system are collapsed。In a capitalist country,Especially after the US war in Vietnam failed,Most intellectual people's belief in capitalist superiority gradually disintegrate。The result is,Research perspective to a smaller analysis unit,Even smaller than a nation -state。

American historian thinks,slavery in the south of the United States is an economic system,But its disappearance is not because of any characteristic of this system itself,but because the northerners can no longer tolerate the immoral of this system。The process of the rise of micro history is similar to this,Political events have changed the historian's view of the past,When historians cannot interpret history as the performance of the economic system,They need to be closer to real human events,This is the role of micro history。"Now,No grand theoretical system cannot capture the heart of intellectuals around the world,So,Micro history will continue to develop as the main way of historical survey。"Moore said。

  The difference between micro -history and macro history

Moore said,Micro history is more concerned about small things: individual、Village or an event。By narrating the research scale,Scholars can track individual behavior and decision -making,During the narrative process, it may involve the daily details of ordinary people,But the final goal is to use this to spy a larger range of universal character。bet365 live casino games For example,The experience of a Japanese woman left the mountain village to go to a big city to break into a big city,It can reveal more characteristics and trends about women and immigrants in this place; by observing the trial of the marriage of Florence, Italy in the 15th century,Able to reveal the attitude of people at that time for marriage and love。Examples of macro histiology include large -scale migration、War、Research on problems such as technical breakthroughs。Micro history is focused on specific individuals,And macro history focuses on the general trend that transcends any personal experience or the ability to control the event。The key difference between them is,To determine what the power of a person can work、What aspects do not work。Micro history can only answer certain questions,And many times its research is based on rich historical records。

Francesca Trivellato, a professor of history at Yale University in the United States, introduced the differences between micro -history and macro histology in an interview。First,Micro history relies on a large amount of first -hand information,Especially court records、Autobiography and notarized files and other document information,and macro historical science obtain information from indirect literature,Materials sometimes write multi -language。Next,Macro historical stories written for several centuries or even thousands of years,Expand speed。and micro history through selecting materials or restricted materials,Often adopt a common method to reveal the connection between events,Determine the cause and effect process that changes over time。Last,Macro historical Bet365 app download tendency to simplify for generalization,and micro history to make a wider generalized summary by trying to sacrifice individuals as much as possible,and emphasize personal life and events。but,Micro history is not fully denied abstract form,Because of the smallest facts and individual situations, general phenomena can also be revealed。

Another,The difference between micro history and biography is,The biography takes all the life of a person as the structure,And the former may only look at one aspect of one person,Follow the key events in his life,or pay attention to the entire village instead of one person。Micro -historical researchers and biographies The most critical difference is,When the historian is facing a problem,It will peel the cocoon by digging the historical materials of individual or groups、Find the answer,It's a bit like detective。"Micro history is a way to build answers。"Moore said。

  Disputes and criticism of micro history

Clarifying the relationship between micro history and macroex and biography,Let's take a look at the criticism and criticism of micro history,Including historians may be too deeply studying individual life experience,Pay too much attention to narrative to attract the public's attention; there are representative and effective issues in a single case; using "microscope" to see the world leads to some exaggerations.。

Criticism for these,Moore said,From the perspective of definition,Micro history is not representative,but about a special event or person。Micro historical search for "normal abnormal",Usually paying attention to some abnormal things,Because normal behavior and events will not leave a rich record like abnormalities。Bet365 app download Because of this,Micro -historians often excavate historical materials in judicial trials,Because trial can reveal other hidden assumptions about an era or culture。Those who have been discovered by judicial trials that are prohibited or permitted by law,People can see the "normal" boundary that society thought at the time。

Muer explained to,The research process of micro history is,When a historian found a record of a particularly promoter in the file,and found that it can be used to tell people some things about those who have been annihilated by history,For example, civilian、illiterate、Women's or social edge crowd,This research project has become a topic of micro history,instead of saying that scholars decided to do a micro -historical research,Then go to find the material。

For example,Ginzberg in the book "Cheese and Magnoma",Proposal questions about the characteristics of the 16th -century trial,This is a problem at the macro level。Then,Starting from this question,He narrowed the range,To understand the thinking process and belief of the local residents。Jinsberg described in detail in the book that the words between Minojo and the judge in court,Repeated strong confrontation between mainstream culture and subordinate culture in the 16th century。

  advantages and development of micro history

Although the writing method of the recycling of micro -historical science is criticized,But this is also an advantage of micro history,This way of writing can attract more readers。Micro history can restore the facts of the facts by patching together the facts from different information sources,Therefore, it is more directly based on the big social history Bet365 app download on the basis of facts,This gives readers a kind of intimacy,It seems that the text they are reading comes from the hands of the people of that era。

Moore thinks,The advantage of micro history is,It enables historians to understand the actual lifestyle of people in the past、Methods of decision -making and how to associate with others。A definition of micro history is the history of "living life"。Micro history does not depend on the power that humans cannot control,Religious beliefs、Economic Structure、Population structure, etc. to explain things,It depends on human action and decision,How people live。

Trivillato thinks,Macro analysis method often draws a general conclusion,This is related to the global historical research method that once dominated by European centralism。Micro history is not universal medicine,Can't provide a unified set of theories,but it can balance abstraction and details,Stop it in the place where contradictions before historical writing,Conclusions obtained through parallel verification,instead of arbitrarily blame structural mutations。At the same time,Micro history also provides a creative way to think about "civilization",Especially when examining the relationship between the evolution of cultural forms and the relationship between political and economic structure,This way of thinking is indispensable。

Inspiration from the thought obtained from the micro scale,It can be associated with a larger social map。Trivillato said,Due to the development of new technologies and the digitalization of files and libraries,People can find fragments about the same person or the bet365 live casino games same thing from multiple records,and put them together,Through the problems of social and cultural systems from it。From this inferred,Micro history will still occupy a place in the future of global history。

Editor in charge: Chen Jing
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