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History vocabulary · Historiography and Historical Thinking

Reading against the grain

Meaning in history, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In history, reading against the grain means: Interpreting a source to recover meanings or experiences that its creator did not intend to emphasize.

In Turkish: kaynağı amaçlanan anlatının tersinden okuma

How it is used

Ground the reading in evidence; resisting the author's framing does not authorize invention.

Example sentences

  1. Reading against the grain, she used police reports to examine workers' networks.

    A surveillance document yields information beyond the official purpose.

  2. The seminar practised reading against the grain of a landlord's complaints.

    Complaints can reveal tenants' strategies as well as the owner's views.

Common collocations

  • reading against the grain
  • read a source against the grain
  • biasA one-sided view that makes a source or a writer favour one person, group or explanation, so that the account is not fully balanced or complete.
  • source criticismThe careful evaluation of a historical source to judge where it came from, who made it and why, and how reliable and useful it is for a particular question.

More terms: Historiography and Historical Thinking

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