This Element analyses the autobiographies of historians from a global perspective and looks at all eras, from antiquity to the present day. It includes twenty autobiographies: Caesar’s and Lucian of Samosata’s memories in antiquity; an autobiography of a medieval king such as Peter IV of Aragon; Vico’s, Gibbon’s and Adams’ intellectual self-accounting in modernity; autobiographical revelations and social activism of twentieth century women historians such as Carolyn Steedman, Jill Conway and Gerda Lerner; classical Chinese and Islamic traditions through the autobiographies of Sima Quian and Ibn Khaldun; the perplexities inherent in the modernisation of Japan (Fukuzawa Yukichi), China (Gu Jiegang), India (Nirad Chaudhuri) and Egypt (Taha Hussein); postmodernists such as Rosenstone; and traumatic postcolonial experiences in Africa (Bethwell Ogot), Latin America (Carlos Eire) and Southeast Asia (Wang Gungwu). This Element proposes a literary and historical approach to these autobiographies, emphasising its historiographical dimension and value.

Jaume Aurell, University of Navarra

Table des matières :

Introduction

1. Ancient politics
2. Medieval narratives
3. Western rationalities
4. Colonisation perplexities
5. Gender perspectives
6. Postcolonial and postmodern identities
   Conclusions.

Informations pratiques :

Jaume Aurell, Historians’ Autobiographies as Historiographical Inquiry. A Global Perspective, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2025 ; 1 vol., 84 p. (Elements in Historical Theory and Practice). ISBN : 978-1-00939-690-5. Prix : GBP 17,00.

Source : Cambridge University Press