Cultural History

Raymond Williams in his book Primitive Culture argued that the “term ‘culture’ is one of the two or three most complicated terms in the English language”. It is complicated because of its verities of usages. Culture is one of the most important aspects of historical study. It emerged as an independent area of research only in modern times. It emerged after the Annales School of historiography, which promoted an interdisciplinary approach to historical studies. Cultural history places man at the centre of historical activity. Cultural history mainly focuses on:

• cultural formation of different societies
• High and low cultures
• folk and traditional cultural practices
• daily life practices
• modernity and the changes in cultural patterns
• studies on language, literature, art, architecture and other cultural productions
• studies on media and popular culture
• cultural identity, symbols and cultural hegemony

Cultural history considers culture as an important tool for social change. Cultural history began with the analysis of high culture, which is the practice of the dominant groups of society. Over the course of time analysis of low culture emerged as a reaction to the earlier studies. Cultural historians use theoretical and conceptual approaches to study cultural interventions. The popular theories used in the analysis of culture are:

• Theory of cultural hegemony by Gramsci
• Theory of Structuralism
• Theory of Deconstruction by Derrida
• Postmodern theories
• Theory of New Historicism

Cultural history further widened the interdisciplinary approach to history. The Annales School, Marxist historians, and postmodern thinkers contributed to the development of modern cultural history. Cultural history popularised the aspects of Gender studies, subaltern studies, oral history, local history, people’s history, and other counter-historical practices.