Historiography by Objectives: A new approach for the study of history within the framework of the proposed Twenty-First Century School of Historiography

The paper presents a broad overview of various approaches adopted in the field of historiography across the ages starting from ancient times. It also discusses the merits and demerits of the major schools of thought and proposes a new methodology for the study of history within the framework of the proposed Twenty-First Century school of Historiography. This paper proposes a stakeholderfocussed approach towards historiography and encompasses a wide range of topics from research and definition of processes to dissemination of information to multiple stakeholders, and comprises a large number of checks and balances to prevent potential misuse of history or a one-sided interpretation of history. It also proposes a wide-range of heuristic tools to aid the researcher in carrying out his research and emphasizes objective and data-driven approaches throughout. It seeks to lay a greater emphasis on the roles and responsibilities of a historian from the point of view of the twenty-first century. The key objective of this paper is to ensure that the historian avoids the pitfalls of all ideologydriven approaches and acts in the greater interests of science, society and the education system, and that as many checks and balances as possible are put in place. We seek to reiterate that in the glamorous era of science and technology, the role of a historian can only become much more purposeful and exciting and can encompass completely new vistas of research and historiography. Although these approaches stem from the author’s research experience in Ancient India, the approaches and principles of Historiography can be put to use anywhere in the world.