Abstract

Recently, there has been the lingering tendency among historians to consign history documentaries to a secondary position of relevance, especially in comparison with history presented in conventional literature. It is the position of this article that, irrespective of style peculiarities, any documentary that reflects the world, in a manner that conforms to basic historical method, is as good as historiography. The essay therefore makes a case for the acceptance of history documentaries, not merely as a subset of historiography but a mainstream feature, coequal in status as, and complementary to, printed text. The article, therefore, controverts the notion that only written history is historiography, as this amounts to resisting improvements in presentation brought about by cultural and technological change.