What is an Intellectual History?

• An intellectual history is a narrative of a particular topic, issue, or event.  Because of our focus on contemporary issues, the intellectual histories students write should be histories of the present. 

• These narratives will generally have three components: the relevant past, the problematic present, and the possible or desired future.  Past, present, and future need to be fused together to create a coherent narrative.  The relevance of the past is that it explains the present.  The projection of possible futures is similarly grounded in the analysis of the present.  Drawing these connections between past, present and future requires students to collaborate intensively on the project.

• The problematic present will form the conceptual core of these projects.  What does it mean to talk about a problematic present?  It means to problematize the present in one way or another.  What are the difficulties, conflicts, controversies, or the unresolved dilemmas that exist in the present day for a particular topic or issue?  Student must engage in some preliminary research to define what these are.  Once the problematic present has been defined, then the relevant past and possible futures begin to come into focus.  The relevant past inquires into the historical roots of the problematic present.  The possible future considers the different ways in which the current situation might evolve, including proposals for the ways in which current issues should be addressed.

• The discussion so far is abstract and schematic.  Let us consider an example.  Suppose a student is interested in studying welfare.  The inquiry must begin with some understanding of what is problematic about welfare in the present.  There are lots of ways to problematize the issue based on readings on the topic or, perhaps, discussions with case workers or welfare recipients.   This student might conclude that the current welfare policy is defective because it leaves former recipients with jobs that do not pay a living wage.  The analysis of the present must be able to demonstrate why this is the case.  Research into the relevant past must explain how the realities of the working poor have emerged in the contemporary United States.  Consideration of possible futures must examine a number of different scenarios for how this problem may develop over time.  Included in this would be assessing proposals for change (i.e., raising the minimum wage, increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit, spurring unionization, strengthening the educational and job training aspects of welfare reform).

 

Edited from FGCU's Dr. Richard Coughlin's site.