History

““Not to know what took place before Not to know what took place before you were born is to remain forever a you were born is to remain forever a

child.child.”” Cicero Cicero

History

• History is a discipline that focuses on the study of change over time.

• The most important question in history is why?– Why did society A change?– Why did society B stay the same?

How do we study history?

• Historiography is, in essence, the history of history.

• How we have studied history in the past is different from how we study it today.

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue…

• For many years Christopher Columbus was considered a hero for “discovering” the new world.

• In the United States the second Monday in October is “Columbus Day”

and began the decimation of native populations

• In recent years historians have become more interested on the effect that Columbus had on the people who were already living in the ‘new’ world.

Where do Historians get their information?

• In history there are two types of sources:– Secondary sources– Primary sources

• Secondary sources can include books, journals, and film. They are accounts of the past based on research and analysis.

• Primary sources are accounts recorded at the time of an event. They may include diaries, eyewitness accounts, government records, ships’ logs or newspaper articles.

Gathering Archaeological Evidence

• Archaeologists use artifacts as evidence to help understand past societies

• Artifacts can deteriorate with age therefore the method known as radiocarbon dating is used

• This process measures the age of carbon in artifacts and therefore tells how old an artifact is

• Tools, utensils and weapons are all artifacts archaeologists use to learn many things about the way people lived

Bias in History: How to identify

• 1. Selection and Omission: Within a given account of a situation, some details may be ignored while others of equal value may be included. Bias through omission is difficult to detect and requires numerous sources in order to reveal it.

Bias in History: How to identify

• 2. Labels and Expressions: We often use labels and titles to describe people, places, and events. In a labour dispute, the term scab or replacement worker can each reveal a bias.

Bias in History: How to identify

• 3. Manipulation of Statistics: To support a position on an issue, numbers can be altered or exaggerated. “Thousands out of work” can numerically be the same as “only a few plants shut down.” Each expresses a different bias.

Bias in History: How to identify• 4. Considering the Source: To detect bias, one

should consider the source of the information and the source’s connection to the issue. For example, in the event of a war, is the information supplied by a reporter, military personnel from the side that is more or less equipped, the leader of the country being attacked, the United Nations, the stockholder of a munitions manufacturer, or an outsider who has no connection to the story? What is the motivation or reason why the source might have a certain opinion?

Bias in History: How to identify

• 5. Word Choice and Tone: The use of positive or negative words or words with a particular connotation can strongly influence how we view an issue. “Shut down” plants can be the same as “idled” plants. Another example of this is when company’s, “right-size”. This often means employees will be, “cut” .

Bias in History: How to identify

• 6. Generalization and Oversimplification: Intricate and complex facts sometimes become simplified or generalized into more manageable bits of information. Identifying simplifications and generalizations can reveal biases.

Bias Images

• Here are some images that all contain a bias…• Link

Cause and Effect: The Importance of Chronology

• Chronology is the placing of events into the order in which the occurred. This allows us to understand how events in history unfolded.

• For example, two of the most famous images of ancient Egypt are…

The Great Pyramids of Giza

And Tutankhamun

Cause and Effect: The Importance of Chronology

• However, by the time of Tutankhamun’s reign, the Great Pyramid was already 1200 years old.

• Tutankhamun would himself have gazed upon the magnificent pyramid as a wondrous monument of the distant past.

Conflicting Interpretations: The History of History

• Historiography recognizes that all history is the product of historians, their interpretations of the past.

• Two historians, reading the same documents and examining the same artifacts, can arrive at very different views of the same events.

Conflicting Interpretations: The History of History

• In the eighteenth century the writer Voltaire heralded Louis XIV, the absolute ruler of France in the seventeenth century, as the greatest monarch ever to have ruled France.

• During the 1930’s, when dictatorships were threatening to overrun Europe, biographies of Louis were highly critical.

• Where does the truth of Louis XIV lie?

Legends and History

• Unlike myths, which deal with the divine, and humanity’s relationship with the divine, the central characters of legends are human, and the stories usually have a basis in fact.

• Legends can act as signposts to historians and archaeologists by capturing the imagination and preserving the essence of the character, event, or society portrayed.

• From there, the great challenge is to separate fact from fiction.