Historical Theory

Historical theory has grown to encompass various schools of thought and methodology across years of historical analytics. These classes of theory consist of twelve categories, ranging from oral traditions to gender studies, psychoanalysis, and others. Each school develops from changes in historical trends, understanding, and history itself. Historians use theory to filter information, read documents, and provide perspectives to the world around them. By looking at the theory of Marxism and postcolonial perspectives, the shifts of ideas and understanding of interpreting history can be viewed to demonstrate examples of twentieth-century history and theory. Both of these schools of thought continue to influence how scholars perceive the history

Marxism reframes economic relationships to be at the core of human history, focusing on the innate need for material items. Placing economic relationships at the core of human history, Marxism focuses on the innate need for material items while simultaneously emphasizing the relationship between industry and exchange to understand humanity. Marx recognized three epochs of history, including, tribal phase, feudal phase, and capitalist phase. Following these stages, Marx theory leads to a conscious revolution from the repressed class. Once the revolution has taken place, the final stage of human history leads to socialism. This idea of social creation based on class conflict, economic repression, and the series of epochs creates the overarching theory of Marxism. The emphasis on the economic relationship in regards to human philosophy becomes the fundamental differing shift in historical approaches. The focus on the laboring class, a subject often left out of past historical dialogues makes Marxism an important school of theory in historical writing. By creating the stages of societal development that each eventually end in its collapse, Marx in such creates his

In a post World War II era of decolonization, the effects of colonization on colonized people came to light and raised questions as to the lasting effects of colonialism. Postcolonial historians aim to focus the historical perspective on the colonized people, to understand the lingering influence of colonialism, and begin to reject the colonial narrative written by European actors. The shift to postcolonial perspectives started in the years following decolonization across much of the world, influencing the question of experiences and interpretations of imperialism. The shift to postcolonial history is vital to the field at large because, like Marx, it brings a perspective from those who have been silenced by the colonial elite. The European narrative that dominated the documents, political archives, and literature on the scientific reasoning for colonialism created the historical paradigms written by those in charge. Western ideas of social Darwinism, bringing capitalism and advancements to ‘backwards’ countries comprised the rhetoric of colonialism. Postcolonial historians, however, bring culture and agency back to the colonized people. The discussion of the term postcolonial in and of itself represents the continued problems historians face. Historians question the accuracy of the word ‘postcolonial’, as European descendants of