basic task premise

The basic premise of the research task is to

Extract the conceptual framework of Fernand Braudel's Mediterranean, dust it off, apply it to the early history of Mormonism, see what you get, and thence extrapolate.

This approach breaks down into five major undertakings

1. Enumerate the conceptual framework of Fernand Braudel's work (a.k.a. the Model Palette), namely the parts that respectively belong to
1. La Longue Durée
2. the anonymous middle duration "la durée médiane" (business cycles)
3. La Histoire événementielle
2. Update the framework using
1. earlier works that Braudel "misunderstood"
2. later works by Braudel that clarify, correct or rebalance insights
3. later works on the Mediterranean
4. later works on the conceptual problems that Braudel raises
3. Apply conceptual framework to the Rise of Mormonism 
1. reorganizing the material into temporal strata
2. within strata, identifying appropriate models for making sense of specific historiologumena
4. Evaluate the insights of the Model Palette to current State of the Art of Mormonism historiography
5. Re-contextualize the Model Palette's strengths and weaknesses within the current debates of Church and confessional historiography

In, as it were, a nutshell.