HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE HISTORIAN: TOWARDS A CREDIBLE HISTORICAL SCHOLARSHIP

The goal of achieving objectivity in historiography is a lofty and noble one. Objectivity is the heartbeat and spine of history. It distinguishes history from propaganda, journalistic pieces and fiction. Regrettably, most extant historical scholarship are documented without undiluted commitment to the truth, making historical objectively a wild goose chase. This is attributable to a multitude of daunting challenges. Against this backdrop, this study, relying on secondary sources of historical research, interrogates the nexus between historiography and the historian and project possible and actionable solutions to achieve historical objectivity. This work finds that the major cause of the impossibility of error-proof history is due to the personality of the historian, complex nature of man’s actions in the past and the attitude of the government to research, to mention but a few. Given that a credible historiography is very critical in the pursuit of any scientific knowledge, the paper recommends, among other things, that the historian must painstakingly investigate his/her raw materials as no source is perfect and complete, adopt complex problem-solving approaches like the interdisciplinarity, multidisciplinarity, cross-disciplinarity and transdiciplinarity, and be totally committed to truth. Only then can “true history” be attained.AbstractThe goal of achieving objectivity in historiography is a lofty and noble one. Objectivity is the heartbeat and spine of history. It distinguishes history from propaganda, journalistic pieces and fiction. Regrettably, most extant historical scholarship are documented without undiluted commitment to the truth, making historical objectively a wild goose chase. This is attributable to a multitude of daunting challenges. Against this backdrop, this study, relying on secondary sources of historical research, interrogates the nexus between historiography and the historian and project possible and actionable solutions to achieve historical objectivity. This work finds that the major cause of the impossibility of error-proof history is due to the personality of the historian, complex nature of man’s actions in the past and the attitude of the government to research, to mention but a few. Given that a credible historiography is very critical in the pursuit of any scientific knowledge, the paper recommends, among other things, that the historian must painstakingly investigate his/her raw materials as no source is perfect and complete, adopt complex problem-solving approaches like the interdisciplinarity, multidisciplinarity, cross-disciplinarity and transdiciplinarity, and be totally committed to truth. Only then can “true history” be attained. The goal of achieving objectivity in historiography is a lofty and noble one. Objectivity is the heartbeat and spine of history. It distinguishes history from propaganda, journalistic pieces and fiction. Regrettably, most extant historical scholarship are documented without undiluted commitment to the truth, making historical objectively a wild goose chase. This is attributable to a multitude of daunting challenges. Against this backdrop, this study, relying on secondary sources of historical research, interrogates the nexus between historiography and the historian and project possible and actionable solutions to achieve historical objectivity. This work finds that the major cause of the impossibility of error-proof history is due to the personality of the historian, complex nature of man’s actions in the past and the attitude of the government to research, to mention but a few. Given that a credible historiography is very critical in the pursuit of any scientific knowledge, the paper recommends, among other things, that the historian must painstakingly investigate his/her raw materials as no source is perfect and complete, adopt complex problem-solving approaches like the interdisciplinarity, multidisciplinarity, cross-disciplinarity and transdiciplinarity, and be totally committed to truth. Only then can “true history” be attained.