History is rarely, if ever, 'innocent': all historians select their themes, sources, and methods in accordance with conscious or unconscious agendas which, more often than not, are dictated by contemporary preoccupations. It is therefore incumbent on the historian to reflect on the methodologies she uses, and to render explicit the underlying assumptions that inform his or her research. This course has three objectives: 1) to help historians at CMS think reflexively about historical methodology by reading and discussing some key texts on the practice of history in general; 2) to introduce students to key texts and theories that have been influential in historical practice in the past several decades, including those from cognate disciplines; and 3) to see how various methodologies work in practice by examining medievalist scholarship influenced by some of the theoretical approaches discussed in the course. In addition to classic attempts to define history, the course will cover the following topics: the Annales school; Marxist history; economic history; nations, tradition, 'ethnicity'; sociology and historical sociology; gender and queer studies; anthropology and history; art and history; environmental history.