Lecture: Martin Stark: Historical Network Research: The Case of a Rural Credit Market in the 19th Century

Over the last decade, network analysis has made its way from a fringe theory to a minor but established methodology in historical research that goes beyond a purely metaphorical use of the network term. A substantial number of studies on different topics and periods have shown that network theories and formal network methods derived from other disciplines can be fruitfully applied to bodies of historical sources. The lecture will introduce and discuss important concepts, methods and theories in the study of social networks based on selected case studies.  A focus of the lecture will be on data collection and data visualization, as these topics are of most practical interest for scholars in history and cultural studies.

The lecture is held in the framework of the workshop “Data Collection and Visualization of Networks in History and Culture”, which is organized in collaboration by the GCSC, the Herder Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe and the Centre for Media and Interactivity (ZMI), and held on November 16 at the Herder Institute (Marburg).