Hi everyone! So I want to learn history of the world in such a way that I gain an understanding of the origin and histories of different ethnic groups (and not necessarily nations as we know them today) in different parts of the world. The majority of sources that I come up with through searching are histories of not the people, but just long string of dynasties, kings, queens and wars. And that's just boring to me, and gives little insight about the different groups of people.
As an example, I'm from Iran. I had a standard history education, but that does not translate to where Kurds, Lurs, or Baloch people (who are ethnic groups who are actually in Iran right now) fit into all of this. Or for example, when I search, say, "history of China", I get dynasties, and no insight into the different groups of people living in China today. What branch of history addresses the specific thing I'm talking about?
Essentially, you’re interested in social history. For example, if you’re interested in the history of China with an emphasis on social organization and interaction, you may want to look at the history of pop culture: literary works, plays, almanacs, personal memoirs, etc. you could also look at the history of labor, racial relations, hierarchy or language to understand how the people experienced a certain period in history.
I don’t think, at least in my experience, you would be able to call it a certain branch of history, but that you look for certain materials that pertain more to the people and less to the catalogue of events. You don’t want to look through court records to find out how an ancient farmer lived, rather, look at poetry, plays, books of the time that mention farming communities, for example. If you’re interested in a certain people, gather a couple of specific questions that you’d like to have answered, and begin looking through cultural resources to find them. That’s the fun part of history, searching for the answer in the rubble, yet unfortunately, a lot of the rubble is just a long list of dates and kings and wars of how we got to where we are today. If you need any help being pointed into the right direction when you’ve gathered your questions, you can PM me!