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History vocabulary · Historiography and Historical Thinking

History from below

Meaning in history, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In history, history from below means: An approach emphasizing the experiences and actions of people outside powerful elites.

In Turkish: aşağıdan tarih

How it is used

It concerns whose activity becomes central, not simply the use of small local examples.

Example sentences

  1. The workshop used history from below to examine servants' petitions.

    People usually seen as background become historical actors.

  2. Her history from below follows how dockworkers organized a boycott.

    Ordinary people's collective choices help explain change.

Common collocations

  • write history from below
  • a history from below approach
  • social classA group of people in a society who share a similar economic position, such as wealth, occupation or education, and often similar status and opportunities.
  • microhistoryAn approach to history that studies a small unit in great detail, such as one person, village, event or court case, to throw light on larger questions.

More terms: Historiography and Historical Thinking

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