INTRODUCTION:
Thinking About History as a Source of Power
Make it Plain: How you think is as important – if not more important – than what you are thinking. And, who is saying what is every bit as important as what is being said in history. You need to question why some piece of history can mean so many things to many different people, and of what you can do to cut through the BS. Custer thought of the little Big Horn a lot differently that Crazy Horse did, and American history from the vantage point of the slave is far different from the point of view of the free. History gives identity to a people.
HISTORY
History is in part the incomplete written record or oral tradition of the experiences of humans through the contexts of time. Part of history is the documents, but the other part is the interpretation of the documents. While there are many types of history – such as political, economic, technological, or social history – all are dependant on documents and their interpretation. History, like language, is very plastic. Historians have been both under and have cast the spell of history for various reasons and diverse ends. An important anthropological fact here is that individual historians are products of unique interactions between their predisposition and historic context (environment through time). That is to say that people tend to be stuck in their own viewpoint and that they do things for reasons. People are historians (or vice versa). A person watching an event will see only part of what’s going down. He/she will be sensitive to some aspects of what the event offers just because of personal background. But this person – our historian – will interpret the facts when relating them to another person. The interpretation will rely on whatever it is that the historian intends to accomplish. History is really about purpose.
Think About the uses of history. Realize that history has been used to justify a multitude of conditions, institutions, and events. Perhaps most of all, history has been used as the raw material of national identity, pride, and power. Now that identity and power have turned into nationalism and war.
Critical thinking about what historians do -- "Fact Vs Interpretation"
Fact is what happened, stripped of frills, spins, or hidden agendas. Interpretation is what we think the facts mean. More importantly, interpretation is often what someone wants you to think the facts mean. History is the written record of human activities and observations. It is only a partial record. Not all the facts of every event are ever written down. Interpretation fills in the voids between facts. What historians use to fill the gaps in the factual record is called analysis, but is often really interpretive bias. Interpretive bias results from the conscious and unconscious agenda of the historian. To cut through interpretive bias, or to just make your own interpretation of historic facts requires critical thought. Critical thought is the habit of looking beyond the surface of things. Critical thought involves comparing interpretations of fact, comparing facts, and seeking the causes of both fact and interpretation.
This course demands that you participate in critical thought about the ways in which we all operate within the society and culture of the United States of America. History is the vehicle for this critical evaluation.
Watch the news. Any news, any network or channel will run the same formula. Intro story will be followed by a series of key pieces, some sports, weather, and finally a human-interest segment on pets, or obesity, on the upcoming holiday, or on children. The roles and social stereotypes will be reassuringly reinforced. No boats rocked, no challenges to established authority. Each night each channel will generally duplicate the presentations – the interpretations – of every other news show. Because it is a show. The news is not real-life. The news is an interpretation of reality. As if the all the facts can be fitted into a neat pattern, and a neat half hour. But really, the “hard” news in a half-hour show is usually only about two-thirds of the show, and, the half an hour is itself limited by commercials. We are to accept not only the limited interpretation, but also the idea that all the important issues and events of the entire world are really compressed into the fifteen minutes of “hard” news.
What does this have to do with American history? Two things: one, the evening news with its limitations and interpretive bias is very much like the bulk of the written body of American history; and two, the reassuringly reinforced stereotypes on the news are like the content of most U.S. history courses. Not this one.
Think About the uses of history. Realize that history has been used to justify a multitude of conditions, institutions, and events. Perhaps most of all, history has been used as the raw material of national identity, pride, and power. Now that identity and power have turned into nationalism and war.
Critical thinking about what historians do -- "Fact Vs Interpretation"
Fact is what happened, stripped of frills, spins, or hidden agendas. Interpretation is what we think the facts mean. More importantly, interpretation is often what someone wants you to think the facts mean. History is the written record of human activities and observations. It is only a partial record. Not all the facts of every event are ever written down. Interpretation fills in the voids between facts. What historians use to fill the gaps in the factual record is called analysis, but is often really interpretive bias. Interpretive bias results from the conscious and unconscious agenda of the historian. To cut through interpretive bias, or to just make your own interpretation of historic facts requires critical thought. Critical thought is the habit of looking beyond the surface of things. Critical thought involves comparing interpretations of fact, comparing facts, and seeking the causes of both fact and interpretation.
This course demands that you participate in critical thought about the ways in which we all operate within the society and culture of the United States of America. History is the vehicle for this critical evaluation.
Watch the news. Any news, any network or channel will run the same formula. Intro story will be followed by a series of key pieces, some sports, weather, and finally a human-interest segment on pets, or obesity, on the upcoming holiday, or on children. The roles and social stereotypes will be reassuringly reinforced. No boats rocked, no challenges to established authority. Each night each channel will generally duplicate the presentations – the interpretations – of every other news show. Because it is a show. The news is not real-life. The news is an interpretation of reality. As if the all the facts can be fitted into a neat pattern, and a neat half hour. But really, the “hard” news in a half-hour show is usually only about two-thirds of the show, and, the half an hour is itself limited by commercials. We are to accept not only the limited interpretation, but also the idea that all the important issues and events of the entire world are really compressed into the fifteen minutes of “hard” news.
What does this have to do with American history? Two things: one, the evening news with its limitations and interpretive bias is very much like the bulk of the written body of American history; and two, the reassuringly reinforced stereotypes on the news are like the content of most U.S. history courses. Not this one.