Hidden Figures

The theme for EHA 2022 is Hidden Figures. Economic history is a broad field spanning time and space using methodologies that range from broad synthetic histories to more narrowly focused examinations of a particular event, place, or period. Yet, our work often excludes the activities, agency, or contribution of particular groups or societies due to the challenges of finding quantitative evidence. To give two examples. Women are often invisible due in part to name changes in marriage or being seen as legally passive actors. Indigenous societies are considered as distinct and separate from the societies or economies in which they reside. Our focus on the most visible may not matter, but it may lead to distorting the historical reality we seek to understand.