Interdisciplinary Approach in History

In simple terms, interdisciplinarity can be defined as a collaboration of two or more disciplines around a joint theme. Roland Barthes maintained that ‘interdisciplinarity means the creation of a new object of study that no existing discipline owns’. The interdisciplinary approach in history refers to the use of methods and techniques of two or more other disciplines in historical research. A historian’s perspective is a very broad perspective. A historian cannot limit the scope of history. This is a holistic approach and establishes the relationship between history and other disciplines of social science and it is also related to the natural sciences.

Generally, the interdisciplinary approach is adopted in order to achieve the following objectives:

1.      To answer a complex question;

2.      To address broad issues;

3.      To solve problems that are beyond the limit of one discipline; and

4.      To achieve unity of knowledge

An interdisciplinary study is a process of answering a question, solving a problem, or addressing a topic that is too broad or complex to be dealt with adequately by a single discipline. It relates to different disciplines by integrating their insights to construct a more comprehensive understanding. The interdisciplinary approach in history represents historians' use of concepts and techniques developed by scholars in other disciplines.

Contributions of Annales School

In the modern context, the interdisciplinary approach in history was well-established by the works of the Annales School of historiography. It was widely considered as one of the most important developments in twentieth-century history writing. Annales School formally emerged with the foundation of the journal ‘Annales of Economic and Social History’ in 1929 by Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre. It emphasized the necessity and benefits of adopting themes by breaking disciplinary boundaries.

Consequently, newer themes were taken for the historian’s exploration. Marc Bloch himself created a two-volume book, The Feudal Society, which gives a comprehensive account of feudalism.  Lucien Febvre studied the area of emotions and beliefs and produced a celebrated essay, ‘Sensibility and History: How to Reconstitute the Emotional Life of the Past’. History was thus beginning to become a part of the Social Sciences.

It was an invitation to historians to learn from Economics, Sociology, Anthropology and Geography. Later, Annales historians such as Fernand Braudel (studied the Mediterranean by depicting thousands of pictures), Georges Duby (the study of marriage, family, and women), Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, Robert Mandrou, Jacques Le Goff (studied the history of mentalities) and many others contributed to the development of the interdisciplinary approach to history.

Stages of Development

The interdisciplinary approach to history mainly passed through three stages regarding its adoption of disciplinary themes.

(i)   At the beginning stage, it was primarily confined to the "social sciences". Historians adopted themes, concepts, and techniques from sociology, economics, political science, and anthropology for new ideas and analysis.

(ii) In the second stage, historians began to use the techniques and methods of statistics and mathematics to a lesser degree. Quantitative analysis of data, diagrams and statistical charts found its way to historical writing.

(iii)    In its later stage, historians have turned to "humanistic" disciplines such as language studies, poetics, literary criticism, and philosophy. Now new theories and concepts like structuralism, new historicism, epistemology, ontology, and other philosophical theories found its place in historical study.

The Postmodern Intervention

The postmodern thinkers totally rejected the idea of ‘disciplinary boundaries’. The writings of postmodern thinkers exhibit this new turn of interdisciplinary studies. Michel Foucault’s books like Madness and Civilization, The Birth of the Clinic, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, and The History of Sexuality give the best examples of this new turn in the interdisciplinary approach. The postmodern thinkers brought philosophical concepts and theories to the study of history.  

Benefits of Interdisciplinary Approach to History

• The interdisciplinary approach broadened and deepened the study of history
• It brought new themes and ideas to historical writing
• It extended the domain of history 
• It elevated history from a mere narration of facts to a knowledge-producing subject
• It brought philosophical concepts, theories, and ideas to historical analysis 
• It brought new kinds of sources, methods, and techniques to historical writing
• It opened the possibilities of using multiple theories, concepts, and methods in historical research
• It integrated the best elements of disciplinary insights in order to generate a more comprehensive perspective.

On the whole, the interdisciplinary approach to history changed the course of historical writing and initiated the emergence of new branches in history.