This week, ending in February 19 2015:
Today's thread is for open discussion of:
History in the academy
Historiographical disputes, debates and rivalries
Implications of historical theory both abstractly and in application
Philosophy of history
And so on
Regular participants in the Thursday threads should just keep doing what they've been doing; newcomers should take notice that this thread is meant for open discussion only of matters like those above, not just anything you like -- we'll have a thread on Friday for that, as usual.
Do you think that it is really evident how fashions arise and die in academia? And do you think that such questions damage fund allocation, topic selections and analysis outcomes in a very detrimental way? E.g. I noticed how in my field every research and conference that was "hot" became in recent years mostly about "gender". But I highly suspect that this trend will shift in recent years, maybe going about inequality?
I dunno if this might qualify as a "loaded question", but I'm just curious about fashion in social sciences and possible bad effects.
For a seminar on rural histroy I'll be writing a paper/essay on food consumption in the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century. Could someone point me in the direction of some literature on this subject? I have a hard time finding general theories on food consumption in those periods. I'm most interested in what people ate and the difference between the lower classes and the upper class.