Gramscian Concept of Hegemony

Antonio Gramsci was an Italian Marxist famous for his theory of Hegemony. Gramsci was arrested for his opposition to Mussolini at the age of 35. He spent his later years in prison. While in jail, Gramsci wrote Prison Notebooks which contains his ideas on society, politics, and culture. 

In the Gramscian perspective, dominant groups in a society maintain their dominance by securing the consent of subordinate groups. Gramsci called this kind of domination as hegemony. The concept assumes plain consent given by the majority of a population. However, this consent is not always peaceful. It is a set of ideas by means of which dominant groups attempt to secure the consent of subordinate groups to their leadership.

In Gramsci’s conception, societies maintained their strength through a combination of “domination” or force, and “hegemony”, defined as consent to “intellectual and moral leadership”. Gramsci argued that the ruling intellectual and cultural forces of the era constitute a form of hegemony or domination by ideas and cultural forms that induce consent to the rule of the leading groups in a society.

Gramsci argued that the working class can develop its own hegemony as a strategy to control the State. If the working class is to achieve hegemony, it needs patiently to build up a network of alliances with social minorities. The way of challenging the dominant hegemony is political activity. Here Gramsci proposed two different kinds of political strategies. They are:

• War of Manoeuvre: It is the frontal attack. The main goal is to win quickly.
• War of Position: It is a long struggle. It is a passive revolution.

Gramsci argued that in his day the press was the dominant instrument of producing ideological hegemony. The institutions such as the church, schools, and different associations and groups also played a role. 

Rene Descartes and Cartesianism

René Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician, and writer. He has been called the 'Father of Modern Philosophy'. It has been said that both modern philosophy and modern mathematics began with the work of Rene Descartes. His analytic method of thinking focused attention on the problem of how we know, which has occupied philosophers ever since.

After consideration of all the previous methods of inquiry, Descartes decided that there must be a better way to find out the true knowledge. The first principle that he finally felt was self-evident was summarized in the statement, "I think, therefore I am". The method developed by Descartes was based on the following rules:

• The first rule was never to accept anything as true unless I recognized it to be evidently such. That is, carefully to avoid precipitation and prejudgment.
• The second was to divide each of the difficulties which I encountered into as many parts as possible, and as might be required for an easier solution.
• The third was to think in an orderly fashion, beginning with the things which were simplest and easiest to understand, and gradually and by degrees reaching toward more complex knowledge, even treating as though ordered materials that were not necessarily so.
• The last was always to make enumerations so complete, and reviews so general, that I would be certain that nothing was omitted.

In short, his method required; 

(1) accepting as "truth" only clear, distinct ideas that could not be doubted, 

(2) breaking a problem down into parts, 

(3) deducing one conclusion from another, and 

(4) conducting a systematic synthesis of all things.

Descartes based his entire philosophical approach to science on this deductive method of reasoning. Descartes was highly optimistic about his plan to reconstruct a new and fully reliable body of knowledge.

Cartesianism

Cartesianism is the name was given to the philosophical doctrine (or school) of René Descartes. Descartes is often regarded as the first thinker to emphasize the use of reason to develop the natural sciences. For him, philosophy was a thinking system that embodied all knowledge and expressed it in this way.

Cartesians view the mind as being wholly separate from the body. The mind can perhaps interact with a physical body, but it does not exist in the body. In general, Cartesian thought divides the world into three areas of existence:

• that inhabited by the physical body (matter),
• that inhabited by the mind, and
• that inhabited by God.

Annales School of Historiography

The Annales School of historiography is one of the most important developments in twentieth-century history-writing. This school of historiography emerged in France with the foundation of a journal – Annales of Economic and Social History. The journal was founded in 1929 by Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre. Annals School of historiography was developed through the writings of three generations of historians. They are March Bloch and Lucien Febvre, Fernand Braudel, and Immanuel Ley Roy Ladurie. Annales School was critical of the German scientific school. They also criticised the positive tradition. The Annales School brought a paradigm shift in the writing of history. The British historian Peter Burke evaluated the contributions of this School and considered it ‘The French Historical Revolution’. 

The Founders

The founders of the Annales movement were Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre. The Annales movement was against the German empiric school. They also criticised the positivist tradition. Instead of focusing on politics and individuals, they focused on social grouping and collective mindsets. Apart from the primary documents, they made use of a wide range of sources, including maps, folklore, and literature. They brought an Interdisciplinary approach and linked the study of the past with approaches and methods of the social sciences. They wrote history beyond the traditional chronological barriers.

Works of Marc Bloch

• Feudal Society (in two volumes)
• The Royal Touch
• French Rural History
• Strange Defeat
• Historians Craft

Bloch stressed the need for comparison - 'there is no true understanding without a certain range of comparison’. He also stressed the need to cross-question historical sources.

Lucien Febvre and the Study of Mentalities

Febvre analysed the area of emotions and beliefs. His book The Problem of Unbelief in the Sixteenth Century-The Religion of Rabelais is a critique of religion. His celebrated essay, ‘Sensibility and History: How to Reconstitute the Emotional Life of the Past’ extended the domain of history.

Fernand Braudel and the Mediterranean

Fernand Braudel wrote the book The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. The book provides an account of the interplay between the geography of the region and the power struggle between Spain and the Ottoman Turks. He placed the Mediterranean Sea at the centre of his book. The book is vast in scope and he attempted to write a total history. He continued the Annales movement, widening its focus to include long-term history and economic history.

Immanuel Le Roy Laduri

He was a leading exponent of the concept of "total history" pioneered by the French "Annales" school. His important books are:

• The Peasants of Languedoc
• Montaillou: Cathars and Catholics in a French
• Times of Feast and Times of Famines
• Territory of the Historian

Le Roy Ladurie also wrote about rural history and peasants of the early modern period, and the last thousand years of climatic history.

Features and Contributions of Annales School

• Annales School emphasised the need for interdisciplinary research in history. They established collaboration with other disciplines such as geography, sociology, economics, and anthropology.
• Annales School insisted on "a broadened and deepened history". They extended the scope of historical studies by introducing new themes and methods.
• They introduced themes such as emotions, mentalities, and human behaviour in historical research.
• They used a wide range of source materials including maps, literature, folklore, photographs, etc.
• They attacked the “mere narration of facts” and tried to interpret social phenomena.
• Annales School opposed histories of selected individuals and narrow documentation.
• They introduced the concept of “Total History” to observe the long and medium-term evolution of the economy, society, and civilization.
• They wrote history beyond the traditional chronological frames.

Annales School placed history as a part of Social Science. It was an invitation to historians to learn from Economics, Sociology, Anthropology, and Geography to assess social movements and change. In its later phase, Annales School contributed to the development of gender history, microhistory, history of minorities, and cultural anthropology.

Distortion of Historical Facts

History stands on facts and its interpretations. It is generally considered that ‘all facts are constructed facts’. This problem with the historical facts opens the possibility of distortion of historical facts for promoting specific ideologies and agendas. This can be achieved by creating events that did not happen, altering events that did happen, or omitting events altogether. Over time, knowledge of historical truth will die with those who lived or witnessed it, and the alternate version will be universally accepted as true.

The distortions of historical facts could be due to the following factors:

• Historians have no direct contact with the events that he/she is dealing with
• Loss of records and archaeological evidence
• Politically and religiously motivated elements
• Historiography handled by non-professional and non-academic groups
• Ultra-Nationalism
• Cultural imperialism

Distorting history is an effective method of erasing events from the minds of the population. It is often, a conscious method of glorifying events and people in support of state ideals and vilifying events and people in conflict with state ideals. Presenting history in a way that supports the agenda of the state, and reinforcing it through the public education system and the media can be used to control the perceptions of the populace in ways that prevent dissent and promote nationalism.

The misinterpretation of history will make distorted versions of history. Vested interests misuse history to justify their own points of view. Manipulation of facts for the sake of justifying vested arguments is a common abuse of history. The main common forms of the distortion of history are:

• Altering historical truths
• Rewriting history with fabricated stories
• Manipulation of historical facts
• Using of history as propaganda and for inclusion and exclusion of people and groups

The distortion of historical facts creates a great threat to the discipline of history and the understanding of the past. Historical facts should not be distorted to further an agenda. Good historians do not preselect the evidence according to their point of view. The very act of choosing a fact over another makes it lose its authenticity. Although subjectivity and interpretation cannot be avoided, there is a need to keep both of them distinct.

Semiotics

The word ‘semiotic’, derives from se-meîon, the Greek word for a sign. Semiotics is the academic field dedicated to the study of signs and symbols. The fundamental question in semiotics is how meanings are formed. Semiotic research approaches signs as existing in various forms: pictures, words, letters, objects, natural objects, gestures, phenomena, and actions. Semiotics explores the content of signs, their use, and the formation of meanings. It also analyses the broader systems and structures formed by signs. The two important and original contributors to the theory of semiotics are the famous Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure and the well-known American philosopher, Charles Sanders Peirce.

Ferdinand de Saussure and Charles Sanders Peirce

Saussure proposed a science that he called ‘semiology’ and stated that linguistics and other social sciences are only parts of this new field. Saussure explained semiology as ‘a science that studies the role of signs as part of social life'. In his book Course in General Linguistics, he argued that language is a system of signs in relation.

Sign: Signifier/Signified

According to Saussure, language is a system of signs. A sign is constituted of two elements: “signifier” and “signified.”

• A signifier is a sound image or its written equivalent.
• A signified is a concept evoked by the signifier.

A sign becomes a ‘sign’ only when it evokes a concept. The signified is not the object, but the concept or meaning evoked by the signifier. Saussure imagines language as a piece of paper: thought is the front and sound is the back; one cannot cut the front without also cutting the back. The sign once established “always eludes the individual or social will.” This laid the foundation for semiotics.

Charles Sanders Peirce

Charles Sanders Peirce argued that 'semiotic' was the 'formal doctrine of signs' which was closely related to Logic. He declared that 'every thought is a sign'. One of his major contributions to semiotics was the categorization of signs into three main types: (1) an icon, which resembles its referent (such as a road sign for falling rocks); (2) an index, which is associated with its referent (as the smoke is a sign of fire); and (3) a symbol, which is related to its referent only by convention (as with words or traffic signals).

Semiotic is a Theory and Methodology

Semiotics is a field of study involving many different theoretical stances and methodological tools. It represents a range of studies in art, literature, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, and the mass media rather than an independent academic discipline. Umberto Eco stated that 'semiotics is concerned with everything that can be taken as a sign'. Semiotics involves the study not only of what we refer to as 'signs' in everyday speech but of anything which 'stands for' something else. In a semiotic sense, signs take the form of words, images, sounds, gestures, and objects. Contemporary semioticians study signs not in isolation but as part of semiotic 'sign systems'. To them, Semiotics is an investigation into how meaning is created and how meaning is communicated. The study of signs is the study of the construction and maintenance of reality. Rolland Barthes, Levi Strauss, Umberto Eco, and several others contributed to the development of contemporary semiotics.

Semiotics and History

Signs are part of everyday life. Thus, semiotics proposes a method of investigation into how meaning is created and how meaning is communicated. The historical past is an outcome of semiotic relations and transmission. Semiotic historians consider history as not a phenomenal event, but as an entity producing meaning, as a signifier capable of being assigned a signified. The study of history is therefore crucial in order to understand the question of how and why sign systems change. Semiotic historians generally consider history as ‘event-messages’ and ‘history as text’. The semiotic analysis looks beyond the peripheral meaning of the message. It studies the verbal, visual, and auditory signs. Further, “wherever a sign is present, ideology is present, too”. Thus semiotics offers a tool for the analysis of deep structures that existed in the past. Thus, semiotics offer a tool for historical analysis.

Textual Analysis

Textual analysis is a method to describe and interpret a text in its context. Here ‘text’ refers to the written as well as sound and visual messages. A text is something that we make meaning from. It can be in any form – from a written text to a song or television program. The purpose of textual analysis is to describe the content, structure, and functions of the messages contained in texts.  It has been used to analyse content, bias, meanings, and perspectives in text. It is the analysis of the text with reference to the meanings, contexts, and intentions contained in messages. Textual analysis is useful for researchers working in cultural studies, media studies, mass communication, and perhaps even in sociology and philosophy. However, the method achieved greater popularity among social science scholars as well as a method of communication research.

Textual analysis is a way for researchers to gather information about how other human beings make sense of the world. Through the textual analysis, it is aimed to make an educated guess from the interpretation of the text. Before approaching a text for content analysis, the researcher has to consider the following features of a text:

• There is nothing inherent in a text. The meanings of a text are always brought to it by someone.
• Texts do not have single meanings. A text can be read from multiple perspectives and thus meaning will also change.
• Texts have meanings relative to particular contexts or purposes. Thus contextual meaning has to be found.

There are several methods of analysing the text. The popular text analysing and interpreting methods are:

• Structural method forwarded by the linguists
• Semiotic approach
• Content Analysis
• Discourse Analysis formulated by Michael Foucault

Textual analysis is a way of gathering and analysing information in academic research. It involves understanding language, symbols, and/or pictures present in texts to gain information regarding how people make sense of and communicate life and life experiences. Visual, written, or spoken messages provide clues to ways through which communication may be understood. Often the messages are understood as influenced by and reflective of larger social structures. For example, messages reflect and/or may challenge historical, cultural, political, and ethical contexts for which they exist. Textual analysis theorists claim meaning resides in the dialectical process between the text and the reader, which takes place in a particular social and historical context. Therefore, the analyst must understand the broader social structures that influence the messages present in the text under investigation.

Thus, in textual analysis and its presentation, the following elements should be considered.

• A summary of the text: Before presenting the analysis, it is necessary to present a summary of the text for the readers. 
• Attention to the context: All texts are part of ongoing conversations, controversies, or debates, so to understand the text, the researcher needs to understand the larger context.
• A clear interpretation or judgment: The goal of textual analysis is to interpret the text through careful examination of its various possibilities.
• Justify the conclusions with reasonable support: The researcher needs to support his/her analysis with evidence from the text itself and sometimes from other sources.

Plagiarism

The word plagiarism is derived from Latin plagiarius, which means ‘kidnapper’, and plagiare, which means ‘to steal’. Plagiarism, specifically, is a term used to describe a practice that involves knowingly taking and using another person’s work and claiming it, directly or indirectly, as your own. The MLA Handbook defines plagiarism as “the use of another person's ideas or expressions in your writing without giving proper credit to the source”. The American Historical Association’s ‘Statement on Standards of Professional Conduct’ defines plagiarism as the appropriation of “the exact wording of another author without attribution,” and the borrowing of “distinctive and significant research findings or interpretations” without proper citation. It is a wrongful act of taking the product of another person's mind and presenting it as one's own. The practice of plagiarism is a serious violation of the ethics of scholarship. It undermines the credibility of historical inquiry. Plagiarism can also be an offense against the literary rights of the original author and the property rights of the copyright owner.

Historical knowledge is a blend of both primary and secondary sources. Historians always use prior historical knowledge to substantiate his/her argument. Thus, historical research heavily depends on the sources and interpretations produced by others. Thus, a historian should acknowledge his sources, and should never simply borrow and rephrase the findings of other scholars. In this regard, it is necessary to uphold academic integrity and ethics. 

Intentional and Unintentional Plagiarism

Intentional plagiarism is a crime. The most obvious form of inappropriate borrowing involves the exact pirating of paragraphs, pages, or entire papers or chapters without quotation or attribution. A large amount of copying involved in such cases makes the occurrence of plagiarism undeniable. This can also include simply reproducing another person’s work without his consent, paraphrasing, copying someone else's writing word for word, or using ideas that aren't your own without proper citation.

Plagiarism is often unintentional. When a historian simply links one paraphrase to the next, even if the sources are cited, a kind of structural misuse takes place. Thus the writer often indirectly claims a shaping intelligence that actually belonged to the sources. In this case, a historian usually pleads that the lapse was unintentional. But, whether intentional or unintentional, plagiarism should be avoided.

Forms of Plagiarism

• Intentional Plagiarism or Direct Plagiarism: It is the word-for-word transcription of a section of someone else’s work, without attribution and without quotation marks. It is a severe form of plagiarism and it is a punishable crime.
• Mosaic Plagiarism or Remix: In this form, phrases and terms are lifted from the source and sprinkled together without attribution. The author does not use exact original sentences or words, but takes the idea or main points of the content and presents that by using their own wording and sentences.
• Self-Plagiarism or Recycle: It occurs when an author duplicates his or her own previous work or mixes parts of previous works.
• Paraphrasing - Find and Replace: In paraphrasing plagiarism, a writer usually copies or takes a central idea or some essential points from someone else’s work. After using some synonyms and restructuring the sentences, they add that content to their work and present it as their content without proper attribution.
• Accidental Plagiarism or Unintentional Plagiarism: Accidental plagiarism occurs when a person neglects to cite their sources, or misquotes their sources, or unintentionally paraphrases a source without attribution. Proper note-taking methods and knowledge of proper citation are necessary to avoid accidental plagiarism.

How to avoid plagiarism

• A basic rule of good note-taking should be adopted to distinguish carefully between the exact quotation and paraphrase.
• Always cite the source borrowed from the others (directly or indirectly), and thereby acknowledge the original author. Cite all sources and present full details of these in the list of references.
• Always use quotation marks to distinguish between the actual words of the writer and your own words. Quotation marks should be used to indicate the exact words of another.

Most cases of plagiarism represent a failure to properly paraphrase, quote, and cite sources. Presently academic institutions regulate several rules to prevent plagiarism in research. Plagiarism checking software is available for free to check the degree of plagiarism in a research paper.  

Book Report and Book Review

Book reports and book reviews are the two ways to know about a published book. While book reports intend to report the existence or release of a book, the book review offers a thorough analysis of the contents of the book.

Book Report

As Barzun and Graff have pointed out a report is an important means of communicating the contents of a publication to a wider audience. Book reports serve the purpose of making the readers aware of the existence of particular literature which has just been realised by the publishers. Book reports normally appear in the literary columns of national and international dailies and even of vernacular newspapers. Not frequently, book reports are also found in the pages of journals and magazines. Book reports are also available on the internet. The book report acquaints the interested reader and students about the existence of a particular publication addressing a particular theme.

The contents of a book report give a short description of the author’s profile, the title, the theme its divisions into chapters. It also presents the general outlay of the publication. It also reports on the contents which can be used either by the layman or the interested scholar. Book reports play a valuable role as Arthur Marwick points out in the dissemination of publications. Book reports are different from Book reviews. The reporter does not claim any authority of knowledge about the theme handled by the author of the book. There is no criticism or comparative study involved. The release or existence of the work is just reported.  

Book Review

The book review is an indispensable part of the critical evaluation of new knowledge sources that are produced at a rapid speed. A book review is different from a book report as it does not merely proclaim the existence of a work. The book review is a scholarly critique of a publication undertaken by an authority, on his individual initiative, or on behalf of an institution. The book review evaluates the new publication or edition in relation to existing literature acclaiming the scholarship of the author or condemning the mediocrity of the work.

The book review systematically analyses a new addition to the corpus of knowledge by evaluating, comparing, and criticising in the light of received historiographical knowledge. The reviewer sharply peruses the book, examining the presentation of the theme and ideas, its print, grammar, sentence construction, errors in spelling, cover design, and more importantly the knowledge it claims to have produced.

The book reviewer in reputed publications can raise the acceptability of the book to popular heights and bring fame and fortune to the author. At the same time, a book review can destroy the intellectual claim of a new author and diminish the popular consumption of the work.

The scholar, researcher, student, or the interested layman is today confronted by a boom in publications or a flood in information through the print media. He/she is unable to keep pace with the speed at which new works are produced. The reader has of necessity to be selective. He/she has to be guided and directed toward good and standard publications. He/she must not be misled by old wine in a new bottle or spurious works claiming to be scholarly. The book reviewer plays the role of an erudite guide. Academicians, the scholarly world, and lay readership have come to depend greatly on critics of known intellectual integrity who review books for reputed journals, magazines, newspapers, etc.

It is the book reviewer who directs the innocent as well as the discerning reader to the new publications in bookstalls or libraries. The reviewer helps the reader in discovering ‘a must-read book’ or ‘indispensable read’. Society needs the book review as a dependable guide to a genuine scholarship at a time when it is inundated by publications of various hues and shades making tall claims.

Review of Literature

A review of literature is an essential part of the research process. The term ‘literature’ here, refers to the collection of all the scholarly writings on a particular topic. These writings can be in the format of books, periodicals, journal articles, conference proceedings, dissertations, online articles, etc. After the selection of a research topic, the next step in the planning phase of a research study is the review of the literature. It simply means becoming familiar with the existing literature, and a way to understand the existing knowledge on a particular topic.

The literature review is an integral part of the research process and makes a valuable contribution to almost every operational step. In the initial stages of research, it helps to establish the theoretical roots, clarity of ideas, and methodological practices on the present research topic. Later in the process, the literature review serves to enhance and consolidate the knowledge base of the researcher and helps to integrate his/her findings with the existing body of knowledge. It also helps to compare the findings of the researcher with other studies. A review of literature helps to identify the sources which were already used and interpreted.

Literature review in historical research is intended to understand and analyse the historical background, different historical perspectives, and different historiographical accounts on a particular topic. Historical reviews are focused on examining historical research on a particular topic from its starting point to its scholarly evolution over the course of time. The purpose is to place research in a historical context and to establish a linkage with existing knowledge.

In historical research, a literature review has many functions. The important among them are:

• To provide an understanding of the historiographical context of the present study
• To highlight exemplary studies on the topic
• To summarise, synthesise and analyse the arguments of different historians/authors
• To compare and contrast different authors’ views within the existing research
• To Identify research gaps and conflicts in the previous studies
• To justify the need for the present research problem
• To provide a theoretical and conceptual background for the present study
• To establish relationships between previous studies/theories
• To place the present research within the historiographical context

Identification of landmarks and any seminal publications relating to the research topic is the first step toward the review of the literature. The literature on a topic can be found in two types – the major works and the works based on them. Further, literature related to a particular topic may deal with two types of information: (1) Universal and (2) Specific. The initial purpose of a literature review is to establish the uniqueness of a research topic by placing its roots in the existing studies. A literature review with depth and breadth demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of the literature and confirms that the researcher is up-to-date with existing knowledge on the present research topic.

For a better review, the researcher needs effective and critical reading. While presenting the review, the information obtained from different books and journals needs to be sorted under the main themes and theories. The agreements and disagreements among the authors should be highlighted. Various arguments should be substantiated with specific quotations and citations from the literature. It is also important to identify unanswered questions or gaps. The literature review can be organised thematically, chronologically, by the historiographical trend, by the development of historical events, ideas, and theories, etc.

Reviewing the literature is a continuous process. It begins before a research problem is finalised and continues until the report is finished. Literature reviews can help and guide the researcher in an appropriate direction by answering several questions related to the topic area. It enables the researcher to position his/her research in the broader academic community.

Discourse Analysis

The concept of discourse in simple terms refers to written and spoken communication between people that goes beyond a single sentence. In humanities and social sciences, the term discourse describes a formal way of thinking that can be expressed through language. Discourse is ‘a group of ideas or patterned way of thinking which can be identified in textual and verbal communications. The philosopher of history Michael Stanford, in his A Companion to the Study of History defines ‘history as discourse’.

Discourse analysis is a research method for studying written and spoken language in relation to its social context. It also analyses how meanings are established, used, challenged, and changed in written and oral communications. It is an interpretive method of analyzing textual and verbal communication. Discourse analysis is commonly understood as the analysis of the interrelationships between language, power, and society. It is also called critical discourse analysis.

Discourse analysis aims to understand:

ü  How language functions

ü  How language is used in real-life situations

ü  How language use relates to its social, political, and historical context

ü  How meaning is constructed in different contexts

ü  How people communicate in a specific context

ü  How values, beliefs, and assumptions are communicated

ü  How communication is used to achieve social goals

Steps in Discourse Analysis

There are many different approaches and techniques to conduct discourse analysis. A general structure is given below:

         1         Begin with a clearly defined research question

         2         Select a range of material that is appropriate to answer the research question

         3         Establish the social and historical context in which the material was produced

         4         Thoroughly examine the content of the material for themes and patterns

         5         Examine the function and meaning of the language used to convey the themes or patterns

         6         Draw conclusions

Michel Foucault and Discourse Analysis

Michel Foucault is one of the most influential postmodern thinkers, who made popular contributions to the analysis of the knowledge-power relationship. His major works consist of:

ü  History of Madness and Civilization;

ü  The Order of Things;

ü  Archaeology of Knowledge;

ü  Discipline and Punish; and

ü  History of Modern Sexuality

Foucault's work gave the terms 'discursive practices' and 'discursive formation' to the analysis of particular institutions and their ways of establishing orders of truth in a given society. Through his various case studies, Foucault analyzed modern institutions and their ways of establishing orders of truth. He proved that power, knowledge, and truth are interconnected. He examined the discourses of madness, clinic, sexuality, and punishment from the perspective of the power-knowledge relationship. Through this he analysed the way in which discourse distinguishes between legal and illegal killing; or between proper and improper sexual conduct; or between the sane and the insane, the normal and the abnormal.

Foucault considered that the meaning of language is conditioned by social structure, culture, and discourses. Language is related to knowledge in various ways. Language, therefore, is the primary object studied by discourse theory. Discourse analysis emphasizes analysis of the power in-built into social relations. He considered that:

§  By shaping our perceptions, discourse generates the world of our everyday life

§  Discourse generates all forms of knowledge and truth.

§  By analysing the discourse, one can find the speaker’s identity.

§  Power and knowledge are inter-related

§  Power is always present and can both produce and constrain the truth.

§  Discourse affects the person's perspective and it is impossible to avoid discourse.

Foucault’s discourse analysis can be used to explore the power-knowledge-truth relations through the language and its various structures.  It helps to understand the way in which societies organize knowledge and truth. Thus, discourse analysis is about the people and their social worlds. 

Exposition

It is the final stage in historical research and a part of the concluding operation. It is the process of the presentation of research work in the most attractive and interesting way. It represents the actual writing of the thesis. It is the presentation of historical facts in an intelligent, intelligible, interesting, and knowledgeable way. Facts must be presented in a fascinating way. Originality, clarity, and lucidity are the hallmarks of exposition. The ideas are to be arranged in a logical order, and imagination plays a key role in exposition. The presentation of sources, its analysis, and interpretation are depended on the nature of the research problem.

The Writing Plan

A well-outlined plan for presenting the thesis must be adopted. The text of the thesis is the most important section in the organization of a research report. The quality of the report is mainly examined. It is the original production of the researcher. The report of the main body serves the function of demonstrating the competence of the researcher. The whole thesis should be divided into chapters and further sub-themes. The general format in presenting the textual body is:

Introductory Part: It consists essentially of the statement of research inquiry. The main purpose of this chapter is to indicate the need and scope of the study. It is reported in the past tense form of work completed. The problem objectives, hypotheses, cauterization, and limitations of the study are to be reported precisely.

Review of Related Literature: The existing knowledge on the topic must be examined. The review chapter is devoted to the development of the problem statement or the object of the inquiry. It is the balancing chapter of the research report.

Key Chapters: Chapters can be divided into thematically, problematically, or any other method suited for the present research problem. In the chapters, subtitles can be placed to present different aspects of the study. This is the place in which the researcher raises his arguments. These chapters can provide the opportunity to analyse the available sources to reach new interpretations. It also provides the opportunity to establish historical truth regarding the present research problem. Generalization, conceptualization, and theorization can be framed in these chapters.  

Conclusion: This part concludes the study. It also posts the important findings of the study and also presents the thread for further research in the field. 

The Writing Style

A language is a tool for writing. Historians tend to write in ordinary language that ordinary people can read and understand. This is certainly a charm of the craft of history. Historians try to write in a language that captures the spirit of the historical period, event, or character, that appeals to a contemporary audience. The language of the historian is normally simple, direct, and comprehensible. However, there may be a complexity of evidence or arguments. Most people can read and enjoy history because it uses ordinary language. Using ordinary language well is, therefore, one of the historian’s most important tools. Research writing is communication between the researcher and the reader. Hence, attention should be paid to writing the research report. It should be clear in presentation, easy to read, and accurate in statements. The following points must be kept in mind at the time of writing the thesis:

• Readability and the flow of the presentation
• Clarity in arguments
• Command over language
• Avoidance of superfluous language
• Logical paragraphing
• Correct use of punctuations and quotations
• Technical terms should be explained
• Keep the lucidity of the explanation
• Avoidance of complex sentences
• Avoidance of colloquial language
• Avoidance of personal porous as I, We, You, Me, My, Our and Us

The writing must be focused on a way to find out the answers to the pre-set objectives.  

Generalisation

Generalisation is a process of framing principles, theories, and concepts by establishing the relation between facts, and it is a part of the exposition. The process of generalisation begins with the grouping of the facts. Facts must be grouped, arranged, and organised according to its similarities and dissimilarities. The next step is called serialisation, which is linking up the events according to the research plan. Reasoning and further interpretation of the facts is the next step. It helps the researcher to organise his facts in a defined manner. Interpretation promotes communication and understanding. Establishing a connection or relation between the facts is the next stage of generalisation. This factual connection enables the researcher to outline general schemes or principles. It helps the researcher to make general statements and formulates concepts and theories. A generalization must be based upon a balanced approach.

Synthetic Operation

The synthetic operation is concerned with joining, grouping, arranging, explaining, and interpreting the data. It broadly involves:

1. Determining particular facts
2. Grouping of facts
3. Constructive reasoning

The word “synthesis” means the combining of separate parts, elements, etc. to form a complex whole. In historical research, the term “synthetic operation” refers to “joining, grouping, arranging, explaining and interpreting the data so as to make the narrative meaningful and interesting”. It is a process whereby several ideas are grouped and arranged in a rational and meaningful manner.

Arrangement of Facts

Grouping or arranging or classifying facts is a vital step in the synthetic operation. Facts are to be grouped according to some definite plan. The selection, the grouping, and the arrangement of facts are the sequential steps in the process of synthesis. Historical facts may be grouped on the basis of chronology, topic, geography, personality, institution, problem and concept, and so on. Each method has its own merits and demerits. However, the best system of the grouping of facts is the combination of both the chronological and thematic systems.

1.   Chronological Arrangement

Chronology is the very basis of the historical structure. It is the backbone of history. Without dates, the true causal link would be missed. The chronological arrangement of sources is one of the popular methods of historical narration. Historians always use broad chronological divisions as ancient, medieval, and modern. The chronological arrangement put forward a defined sequential organisation of facts. However, this arrangement often reduces history to a mere list of events.

2.   Topical/Thematic Arrangement

Historical facts can also be arranged on the basis of the subject. When facts are arranged on the basis of topics or themes, it becomes thematic. This arrangement helps the historian to present his facts beyond the chronological boundaries. Further, this provides more readability to the historical narrations. The topical arrangement needs the mixing up of several facts together to present the topic. However, this arrangement often neglects the significant change that had taken place over a period of time.

3.   Other Arrangements

Geographical or regional arrangements of facts may be used in the studies on different localities.  Personality based arrangement is useful to present biographical studies. Similarly, institution-based arrangements can be used to present social and economic problems. Historical facts can also be grouped on the basis of the development of certain concepts.

Constructive Reasoning

Constructive reasoning plays a significant role in the synthetic operation. In the absence of adequate facts, the reasoning is essential to fill any gaps. The reasoning may be positive or negative. It is the process through which a historian attempts to draw valid conclusions. There are two types of reasoning:

Positive reasoning: Positive reasoning allows historians to draw certain inferences from the facts established. In this process, historians establish a fact with the support of a document and infer some other facts which the document has not to mention. From the study of a given set of facts, it is possible to infer the existence of the other connected facts. Thorough knowledge of particular facts is necessary for positive thinking.

Negative reasoning: In this process, a historian infers a point in the absence of any definite indication of that point in the records. Negative reasoning is thus an assumption of the existence of a fact, which cannot be found in the records. It can be assumed that some facts may not be recorded or may be lost over a period of time. Similarly, certain facts are not recorded by the contemporary writer because of fear of authority. Thus formulating certain facts without any recorded documents may be unavoidable in historical research.

The researcher must be careful and cautious while drawing inferences on the basis of constructive reasoning. When several inferences point in the same direction, it can be taken as a fact. Similarly, some of its gaps can be filled with positive assumptions. In short, constructive reasoning is the most efficient tool for historical construction.