It has been a long time since we've done a panel AMA and even longer since we have done one on Cultural History! So let this be the day where we correct those mistakes.
If history if the record of our successes and mistakes as a species, than cultural history is perhaps our way of expressing those successes and failures. While many other species have demonstrated creativity and variety of culture, none have done so as widespread or as massively as humans have. As a field, cultural history is usually dated to François Furet's 1978 essay Interpreting the French Revolution which attempted to locate the reasons for the French revolution away from Marxism and to a more general politico-cultural understanding. However, since then (and really, honestly, before) there has been an explosion in varieties of methods of cultural history.
In our last panel AMA, /u/depanneur wrote
So then, what is cultural history? Admittedly, it is a fairly nebulously defined subfield when compared to its sisters like economic or military history. Peter Burke answered the same question thusly: “it still awaits a definitive answer.” Cultural history can be done across time and space, and study nearly any aspect of a society: there exist cultural histories of animals, of clothing, of landscapes, finance, religious beliefs, warfare and so on. Burke posited that because cultural historians study such a multitude of subjects, it is their methods, not objects of study, which unites them:
“the common ground of cultural historians might be defined as a concern with the symbolic and its interpretation. Symbols, conscious or unconscious, can be found everywhere, from art to everyday life, but an approach to the past in terms of symbolism is just one approach among others.”
Which is as good of an introduction as any. We are cultural historians! Ask us anything.
Without further ado, our list of panelist-participants:
/u/flotiste Western concert music ("classical" music), from the Renaissance to the mid 20th century. Particular areas of expertise:
Background is University education in music, specializing in flute and opera performance. Am an active professional flautist and opera singer.
/u/agentdcf: I am a historian of 19th and 20th century Britain, with particular thematic emphases in culture, environment, and food. My research is a cultural and environmental history of wheat, flour, and bread, and it stands at the intersection of several (usually separate) themes and methodologies: cultural history (which I would define as histories of "meaning," broadly defined), social history, environmental history, food, science and medicine, the body, and consumption. I'm best-equipped to answer questions about food and ideas of nature, though I can take a stab at questions of cultural history across the West in the modern period. I have a lot of teaching experience in Western Civilization, world history, environmental history, and some US history (especially California, my home state); this has given me a long and global view of things, but a fairly spotty expertise.
/u/chocolatepot is a fashion historian, specializing in women's clothing from the 18th through early 20th centuries, and the author of Regency Women's Dress: Techniques and Patterns, 1800-1829. More broadly, she can answer questions relating to women and society during the same time period.
u/Stormtemplar , better known as Joe IRL is a recent graduate in literature, focusing on the Medieval period. His research interests are Medieval Literary Theory and the overlap between Oral and Literary Culture in the Middle Ages. He's happy to take a swing at any questions involving medieval intellectual or literary culture or the medieval mind generally, and has written a fair bit about the ideology of the Crusades on this sub.
/u/itsallfolklore Ronald M. James, , is a historian of the American West and a trained folklorist who has worked with Western American as well as European beliefs and traditions. He can address general topics dealing with folklore - understanding that no one can answer specific questions about all the world's traditions. Specifically, he can discuss topics dealing with the folklore/culture of Northern Europe and the American West. James is about to release a book on Cornish folklore, dealing with topics including storytelling as well as Celtic studies and its relationship to Scandinavia.
u/drylaw is a phd candidate studying native authors of central colonial Mexico and their relation to the pre-Hispanic past. For this AMA he can also talk about history writing on the Aztec-Spanish war and more generally on early Spanish America. Connected interests include transcultural studies, colonial and intellectual history.
/u/amandycat I studied a Masters degree in early modern English literature, focusing on Christopher Marlowe's drama in my dissertation. I am now part-way through a PhD on early modern manuscript culture, in particular, the way in which epitaphs are presented in manuscripts (if this kind of thing tickles your fancy, you will probably enjoy the episode of the AH Podcast I took part in recently). Ask me anything about the early modern English theatre, early modern manuscripts, and death culture!
/u/Commiespaceinvader is a PhD student writing about everyday life in Serbia under German occupation. In the course of his research he is applying cultural history as a method, especially history from below, history of everyday life and microhistory.
u/bigfridge224 aka Stuart Mickie is a lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Manchester in the UK. His research is on magic and religion in the Roman north-west, but he's happy to cover anything relating to Roman cultural or social history if he can!
/u/AnnalsPornographie, aka Brian Watson is primarily a historian of the book, but focuses specifically on the history of pornography and obscenity, with a heavy focus on histories of sexuality, marriage, and privacy. He he is the author of Annals Of Pornographie: How Porn Became Bad. He is happy to answer questions about the overlap between cultural and intellectual historians, or how the book can be a cultural force.
Also around are /u/historiagrephour and /u/sunagainstgold, I'm just waiting on their bios :)
Please feel free to address your questions to the panel as a whole or to individuals by tagging them with the /u/ tag. Also of note: not everyone is here! This AMA will run from noon today until noon tomorrow.
I teach AP World History to 9th and 10th graders.
Cultural and social history is obviously of far greater emphasis in college curriculum than it was a few decades ago, yet my students find them the most boring of the five AP framework categories (Social, Political, Interaction with Environment, Cultural, Economic).
I find this especially with male students- they want the battles, they want the great men and the rise and fall. Not so interested in social hierarchies/patriarchy.
What would be your advice to make complex social/cultural history more accessible/interesting for them?
Does the panel think that cultural history will reach (or perhaps has reached!) the same point of ubiquity that social history seemed to after a few decades - that its methods and questions will have become so broad and all-encompassing that virtually everyone is doing cultural history in one way or another?
Here's my opening gambit for the whole panel:
What does cultural history mean to you? How do you research something as squiggly or as weird, something that's not just the cold hard facts ma'am?
How can historians situate difficult aspects of cultural history (unpleasant attitudes, behaviors and attitudes that seem alien to many modern people, material goods that serve a somewhat obscure purpose, etc.) when we're engaging with the public without making out the past and its inhabitants as totally alien or falling into polite inaccuracies? I know this is an incredibly broad question, and any of you might have the opposite problem altogether, but feel free to approach it from whatever angle you feel like.
Hi u/depanneur
How ubiquitous is belief in Irish magic / paganism / the fae today? Has Ireland preserved some of their magicoreligious traditions better than other European regions?
What are some examples of cultural historical context (that the general educated population might not know) that would paint a commonly known historical occurrence in a whole new light?
Did Japonism have an effect on fashion in Europe? I know of the art that has been inspired by Japonism but did it affect what people wore and start any trends, was it mainly limited to just kimonos being fashionable?
u/Stormtemplar
What would be considered popular literature to a peasant of 12th century Europe? Right at the cusp between a literary culture and an oral one, Europe in the premodern period must have been awash with legends, ancient folklore, and biblical allegory. We're any predominant before the Crusades? If so, was this due to direct involvement from the Church or was it a symptom of a highly Christianized society?
How hard is it to get a more whole picture of a cultural history when literacy for poorer people was relativity low. Also a second question what is looked for to build a cultural history for a non writing people.
Big thanks to all the contributors to the panel!
How do cultural historians incorporate concepts like contingency and individual choice into their understanding of their subjects? A lot of social and cultural history gets stereotyped as vast impersonal forces driving history, with all of us just along for the ride, so I'd be interested in seeing how these different forces interact.
The late Medieval "Book of Hours" (or books as if I understand correctly there were innumerable different versions) was a mega popular and important literary and religious work, surpassing in numbers any other written work in circulation, including the Bible. How did this come about, and why was the Book of Hours so popular?
In a light of a recent controversy about cheongsam, when a Canadian teenager was accused in the most ignorant and ironic fashion of "culturally appropriating" this autochthonic Chinese dress, I would like to ask how prevalent were fusion dresses like this? Have Japanese or Koreans crafted dresses similarly influenced by the Western fashion? Have "Oriental" styles influenced the Western fashion?
How did child pornography become not just illegal, but deeply immoral?
I read (don't ask me where) that magazines containing child pornography were sold semi-openly in Northern European countries until the 70s. Taking a glance at Wikipedia article on the US legislation, the laws against it begun picking at the 80s. Nowadays the stigma of associating with any sexual crime related to children is often worse than one associated with a murder. This for me indicates a deep cultural shift.
You all seem to talk about cultural transmission by way of books or oral history. What about other media? I'll give an example: after WW2 most italians were uneducated. Many had only a few years of school and had not even finished the elementary schools (5th grade) and many were complete analphabets. Television changed all this. On the Rai tv channel a school teacher began to give lessons on writing, reading and other basic stuff and the rate of alphabetisation changed dramatically. That's why the Rai channel was called "mamma Rai" (mother Rai) for a long time, by the way.
Hi /u/itsallfolklore, I know it's not your specialty but maybe you could recommend me some literature on pre-Christian West Slavic folklore? I'm not particularly picky, anything that you think or heard is worthwhile I'd be willing to check out. Thanks!
Big thanks to all. I worry this maybe pushing the bounderies a tad, but how would you all define "Diaspora", specifically around the 10th century in Northern Europe? I'm doing an undergrad level essay on it and am happy with what I have, just wondering what other people think.
Somewhat related, how far would you say Scandinavians and Vikings could be entwined as a culture? Ie were they the same, or would you think Vikings were just one section of society?
Best
/u/agentdcf -- re: the 19th century especially, I was wondering if you have come across sources that mention composting (now a very common practise in organic gardening/farming) as I have found little mention of it. Also, how was human waste dealt with by farmers — did they incorporate it into manuring practises? again, I find little mention of this… Finally, have you found sources mentioning what methods of pest control farmers employed for wheat and other crops, since at that time there were no petro-chemical solutions? Thanks!