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Prosopography Approaches And Applications: A Handbook
KEATS-ROHAN, K. S. B., PROSOPOGRAPHY APPROACHES AND APPLICATIONS. A HANDBOOK. OXFORD, 2007, xix 635 p. Encuadernacion original. Nuevo.
635 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
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November 16, 2014
When I did my Master’s thesis in U.S. history nearly thirty years ago, I had never heard of “prosopography,” nor, I believe had most of the younger history faculty. But having read this thick and engrossing volume, it appears that I was, in fact, doing prosopography, whether I knew it or not. It was a whole-population study of a key northeast Texas county from the 1850 census through the 1870 census, and I also used every source I could dig out of the fire vault in the old courthouse to add facts to my database of every single inhabitant of the county during that generation. I punched at least a billion IBM cards with codes for every fact in the lives of these people that I could observe, cross-tabbed every variable against every variable on the university’s mainframe, and then spent eight months analyzing and thinking about the results. A grad student at Linacre College, Oxford, would recognize my methods instantly as being good prosopographical practice -- which is nice to know long after the fact, I guess.
I’ve been reading about the method, or collection of methods, for several years now, and poring over the published projects (mostly classical and medieval), but this is the first-ever textbook published, and I wish I’d had it a decade ago. Prosopography is often defined, somewhat sloppily, as “group biography,” but that’s not really accurate. Biography is the study of a single person, and group biography is the study of a whole series or collection of single persons. Prosopography is more correctly the study of a population in the aggregate, whether all the inhabitants of a county or a country, or all the members of a profession in a certain place at a certain time, or all the persons who interact with a particular event. It’s the connections between those persons that matter, the social networks they create or that exist naturally.
The roots of prosopography go back to Theodor Momsen, but Katharine Keats-Rohan is the “mother” of the modern method, having established the UPR at Linacre in 2004. (In fact, I discovered prosopography myself through her marvelous study of Domesday Book.) She’s organized the book in as thoroughly logical manner, so just go to Page One and settle in. The first section is “A Short Manual to the Art of Prosopography” -- which is also available as a free download from the college’s website, and you should download it even if you buy the book, for ready-reference. Two essays by T. D. Barnes then address the origins of the field. The next section is “Planning a Prosopography,” six chapters on the possibilities (practically unlimited these days) and the problems you should be prepared to address. Do you include unnamed people, like the anonymous preacher who performed a marriage? How deep should you go in identifying “factoids”? The next section is an overview of the allied projects of which prosopography might reasonably become a part. (It’s a method, after all, not an end in itself.) The second half of the volume is a series of surveys, each by a different specialist, of a wide array of prosopographical projects, from naming patterns among the Goths, to personal politics among Canada’s First Nations, and from Islamic legal traditions (which involve a good deal of genealogy) to networking among English engineers in the 19th century. The bibliography, while “selective,” is still quite lengthy, and it should keep you busy for the foreseeable future.
There are really only two problems with this book. The first is the cost, which appears to be about $165 in the U.S. Even for a college text, that’s pretty expensive. However, I got a copy to read through the Interlibrary Loan System, and I shall be keeping an eye open for a used copy. In fact, that may be the only alternative. Because Amazon also claims the book is OP. (Who lets a brand new university text go out of print eighteen months after it’s published?) But it may be available directly from the UPR at Linacre. But whatever lengths you have to go to to obtain a copy of this key work, it’s going to be worth it.
I’ve been reading about the method, or collection of methods, for several years now, and poring over the published projects (mostly classical and medieval), but this is the first-ever textbook published, and I wish I’d had it a decade ago. Prosopography is often defined, somewhat sloppily, as “group biography,” but that’s not really accurate. Biography is the study of a single person, and group biography is the study of a whole series or collection of single persons. Prosopography is more correctly the study of a population in the aggregate, whether all the inhabitants of a county or a country, or all the members of a profession in a certain place at a certain time, or all the persons who interact with a particular event. It’s the connections between those persons that matter, the social networks they create or that exist naturally.
The roots of prosopography go back to Theodor Momsen, but Katharine Keats-Rohan is the “mother” of the modern method, having established the UPR at Linacre in 2004. (In fact, I discovered prosopography myself through her marvelous study of Domesday Book.) She’s organized the book in as thoroughly logical manner, so just go to Page One and settle in. The first section is “A Short Manual to the Art of Prosopography” -- which is also available as a free download from the college’s website, and you should download it even if you buy the book, for ready-reference. Two essays by T. D. Barnes then address the origins of the field. The next section is “Planning a Prosopography,” six chapters on the possibilities (practically unlimited these days) and the problems you should be prepared to address. Do you include unnamed people, like the anonymous preacher who performed a marriage? How deep should you go in identifying “factoids”? The next section is an overview of the allied projects of which prosopography might reasonably become a part. (It’s a method, after all, not an end in itself.) The second half of the volume is a series of surveys, each by a different specialist, of a wide array of prosopographical projects, from naming patterns among the Goths, to personal politics among Canada’s First Nations, and from Islamic legal traditions (which involve a good deal of genealogy) to networking among English engineers in the 19th century. The bibliography, while “selective,” is still quite lengthy, and it should keep you busy for the foreseeable future.
There are really only two problems with this book. The first is the cost, which appears to be about $165 in the U.S. Even for a college text, that’s pretty expensive. However, I got a copy to read through the Interlibrary Loan System, and I shall be keeping an eye open for a used copy. In fact, that may be the only alternative. Because Amazon also claims the book is OP. (Who lets a brand new university text go out of print eighteen months after it’s published?) But it may be available directly from the UPR at Linacre. But whatever lengths you have to go to to obtain a copy of this key work, it’s going to be worth it.
March 9, 2014
This book is edited by K.S.B. Keats-Rohan (who should be listed as "author" of this anthology).
Note that the actual title is:
"Prosopography Aproaches and Applications: A Handbook"
while "Prosopographica et Genealogica" is the series title.
K.S.B. Keats-Rohan is also the author of:
- "Family Trees and the Roots of Politics: The Prosopography of Britain and France from the Tenth to the Twelfth Century"
- "Domesday Descendants: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents 1066-1166 II: Pipe Rolls to Cartae Baronum'"
This anthology is a good introduction to the "historical version" of prosopgraphy, while anyone looking for the "sociological version" (typically using Bourdieu as a departure point) will probably have to look elsewhere, except for some practical guidance ("tips & tricks").
Note that the actual title is:
"Prosopography Aproaches and Applications: A Handbook"
while "Prosopographica et Genealogica" is the series title.
K.S.B. Keats-Rohan is also the author of:
- "Family Trees and the Roots of Politics: The Prosopography of Britain and France from the Tenth to the Twelfth Century"
- "Domesday Descendants: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents 1066-1166 II: Pipe Rolls to Cartae Baronum'"
This anthology is a good introduction to the "historical version" of prosopgraphy, while anyone looking for the "sociological version" (typically using Bourdieu as a departure point) will probably have to look elsewhere, except for some practical guidance ("tips & tricks").
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews