Microhistory

Microhistory is a genre of history that focuses on small units of research, such as an event, community, individual or a settlement. In its ambition, however, microhistory can be distinguished from a simple case study insofar as microhistory aspires to "[ask] large questions in small places", according to the definition given by Charles Joyner.^[1] It is closely associated with social and cultural history.

Microhistory became popular in Italy in the 1970s.^[2] According to Giovanni Levi, one of the pioneers of the approach, it began as a reaction to a perceived crisis in existing historiographical approaches.^[3] Carlo Ginzburg, another of microhistory's founders, has written that he first heard the term used around 1977, and soon afterwards began to work with Levi and Simona Cerutti on Microstorie, a series of microhistorical works.^[4]

The word "microhistory" dates back to 1959, when the American historian George R. Stewart published Pickett's Charge: A Microhistory of the Final Attack on Gettysburg, July 3, 1863, which tells the story of the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg.^[5] Another early use was by the Annales historian Fernand Braudel, for whom the concept had negative connotations, being overly concerned with the history of events.^[6] A third early use of the term was in the title of Luis González's 1968 work Pueblo en vilo: Microhistoria de San José de Gracia.^[6] González distinguished between microhistory, for him synonymous with local history, and "petite histoire", which is primarily concerned with anecdotes.^[6]

The most distinctive aspect of the microhistorical approach is the small scale of investigations.^[2] Microhistorians focus on small units in society, as a reaction to the generalisations made by the social sciences which do not necessarily hold up when tested against these smaller units.^[7] For instance, Ginzburg's 1976 work The Cheese and the Worms – "probably the most popular and widely read work of microhistory"^[2] – investigates the life of a single sixteenth-century Italian miller, Menocchio. The individuals microhistorical works are concerned with are frequently those whom Richard M. Tristano describes as "little people", especially those considered heretics.^[8]

Carlo Ginzburg has written that a core principle of microhistory is making obstacles in sources, such as lacunae, part of the historical account.^[9] Relatedly, Levi has said that the point of view of the researcher becomes part of the account in microhistory.^[10] Other notable aspects of microhistory as a historical approach are an interest in the interaction of elite and popular culture,^[11] and an interest in the interaction between micro- and macro-levels of history.^[12]

• Alltagsgeschichte
• English local history
• History from below
• Category:Microhistorians
• Macrohistory

• Burke, Peter (1991). "On Microhistory". In Levi, Giovanni (ed.). New Perspectives on Historical Writing. Cambridge: Polity Press. p. 254. ISBN 9780271008271 – via Google Books.
• Ginzburg, Carlo; Tedeschi, John; Tedeschi, Anne C. (1993). "Microhistory: Two or Three Things That I Know about It". Critical Inquiry. 20 (1). The University of Chicago Press: 10–35. doi:10.1086/448699. JSTOR 1343946. S2CID 197852979.
• Künzel, Geraldien von Frijtag Drabbe; Galimi, Valeria (2019). "Microcosms of the Holocaust: Exploring New Venues into Small-Scale Research of the Holocaust". Journal of Genocide Research. 21 (3): 335–341. doi:10.1080/14623528.2019.1631517.
• Tristano, Richard M. (1996). "Microhistory and Holy Family Parish: Some Historical Considerations". U.S. Catholic Historian. 14 (3: Parishes and Peoples: Religious and Social Meanings, Part Two). Catholic University of America Press: 23–30. JSTOR 25154561.

• Microhistory—The website of the Center for Microhistorical Research at the Reykjavik Academy in Iceland
• "What Is Microhistory?", Sigurdur Gylfi Magnusson, chair of the Center for Microhistorical Research
• Microhistory Network—A group of historians interested in microhistory (2007–)