Divergierende Pfade der Mikrogeschichte

Aspekte der Rezeptionsgeschichte

Abstract

This contribution looks at the new direction microhistory in Germany and the United States has taken. As a consequence of the characteristics of microhistory and the respective conditions prevailing in the two countries, microhistory took on different shapes as early as the beginning of the 1990s. By now scholars in Germany have turned away from studies in villages and try to use microhistory in inquiries of subjects with global dimensions. Here, microhistory is used in different ways and for different purposes, but always with a stress on agency. To broaden the scope of microhistory, it has been proposed to try it for subjects that are not well documented in contrast to the source material used in general. Such endeavours are not seen in some of the latest studies from the United States where there was a strong interest in the narrative right from the beginning. The understanding of microhistory as the study of the everyday experience of common people presented as a narrative can still be found as the examination of two recent examples shows.