DEFINITION OF TERMS
History, Historical Consciousness, Identity
History can be said to be the study of past events. According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, history is a chronological record of significant events often including an explanation of their causes.
R.G. Collingwood in The Idea of History says ‘History is a kind of research or inquiry… the form of thought whereby we ask questions and try to answer them (9). For him, history is important to man because it is for self-knowledge, and man is expected to know himself. He further says history finds out
Actions of human beings that have been done in the past … proceeds by the interpretation of evidence is a collective name for things which are called documents, and a document is a thing existing here and now, of such a kind that the historian, by thinking about it can get answers to the questions he asks about past events(9-10).
When one studies history, one looks
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Culture according to oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary is the customs and beliefs, art, way of life and social organization of a particular country or group. Culture refers to the customs, practices, languages, values and world views that define a social group. Cultural identity therefore is the identity or feeling of belonging to a group. It is a part of a person’s self-conception and self-perception and is related to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class or any kind of social group that has its own distinct culture. According to Pratt, as a ‘historical reservoir’, culture is an important factor in shaping identity. Cultural identity is both characteristic of the individual but also of the culturally identical group of members who share the same cultural identity. Cultural identity is important for people’s sense of self and how they relate to others. A strong cultural identity can contribute to people’s overall
History - the study of past events, particularly in human affairs. Asking me to write about the History of Flagger Force is like asking me to write my autobiography. I say this because I am officially the longest tenured operations employee in King of Prussia. Much like we say every member of our field staff remembers their first week on the job, I remember my first week on the job also.
Courtney Lachney The Progressive Era Critical Thinking Activity Essay Rubric History shows how humans grew. It shows where we all originated from and how we made up our laws and such. History has brought about a lot of change. There are so many different ideals and beliefs that originated in the past. There were so many wars and killing sover things that were sometimes for the worst.
Usually the information conversed in history classes reflect the building blocks of what is occurring in our society and world of today. As the world changes around us, our picture frame in history changes as well. “It’s written and rewritten in each generation. The events of the present, of the contemporary age, always help us reframe the events of the past. And the events of the past always help us to reframe the age we’re living in.
History is made from stories, stories that have been passed from generation to generation, eventually written down and recorded as a record. Most often History is written by the powerful, the victorious, and so facts can become twisted and history can grow to not truly reflect reality. In context, the winners of a game may justly say they won but intentionally leave out the penalties they took or the goals the other team scored. Similarly, this happens in history and so history must be revised upon the discovery of new facts and evidence to be able to do justice to the reality of events.
“In that inevitable taking of sides which comes from selection and emphasis in history, I prefer to try to tell the story of the discovery of America from the viewpoint of the Arawaks, of the Constitution from the standpoint of the slaves, of Andrew Jackson as seen by the Cherokees…” (Zinn, A People’s History of the United States, pg. 10). Society as a whole expects historians to be impartial, to report the events of the past as they happened, without incorporating their own thoughts into these events. We choose to believe that they are politically neutral, that they have no bias, and that they report history fairly and that everything occurred the way they say. However, as historian Howard Zinn points out in A People’s History, most historians have succumbed to the disturbing trend of glossing over and sugarcoating some of history’s most horrific events, excusing them as necessary for “progress,” and then moving on.
America has gone through a lot as a country. Without its past, it wouldn’t be what it is today. The main point of learning our history is to be knowledgeable of what has constructed our present, such as America’s wars, segregation, slavery, and everything that has molded the United States of America into the country that it is today. Our founding fathers took great care in giving us a Constitution, to make sure we all have equal rights and responsibilities. History has molded our present and determined our future as a country.
After imitating this strategy, I learned that historians must be able to narrow down the information they are provided and choose only the specific details that is most valuable to the topic under investigation. However, this may come at an expense. It is difficult to decide what is valuable and what is insignificant, and there will always be some useful details that may be left
The Effects of Racial Identity and Colorism on the African American Community It was recently heard from one of Barry University’s biology professors that all human beings are about 99 percent alike on the genetic level. However, there is so much division between the same humans in the world today. How could this occur between individuals who are essentially the same in regards to DNA? The answer can be found in one’s consideration of personal identity.
Historians Analysis of American History In history, many historians have written their own interpretations of American history. All historians want to reveal their analysis of the topic through persuasive essays and show why their interpretation is most relevant to the continuous development of American history. As history grows becoming more and more complex and extensive, more historians begin analysing and interpreting history through their own eyes. But new historians can only base their essays on the previous interpretations created by previous historians.
This, however, cannot be done with every piece of information we acquire since it is not humanly possible. Memory therefore proves to be a untrustworthy way of knowing that can only be trusted in very specific cases like the ones pointed out previously. Historians always try to get the most unbiased and true information possible in order for them to then share their knowledge, but this is only viable to a certain limited point. A solution to this everlasting limitation is receiving information from as many sources as possible and then coming out with one’s own conclusions. Doing so might not conserve the truth in historical information, but it is the closest we can get to acquiring knowledge through the use of
The culture of a community is defined by the living patterns of the members of the society. Culture has an important place in one’s identity. Identity is a process of becoming, constructing from the matrix of similarities and difference. Culture is a source of reviving the cultural identity. The culture enables us to locate our identity in a cultural space.
Culture and ethnicity are two broad and varied terms that are used repeatedly in our society to describe people of different races and religions. The United States is full of different cultures and ethnicities. African Americans have different cultures, beliefs, and views of the healthcare system. For example, most African Americans that live in the US today are descendants from their ancestors that came from Africa.
In This Fleeting World, author David Christian gives the reader a round and precise perspective of world history in a succinct book. Using a different form of periodization than most world historians, he is able to divide world history into 3 major eras along with subordinate eras. This is shown in the “Three Major Eras of World History” Chart on page 103 of the book. This Fleeting World focuses mostly on technological and social change when talking about the development of societies.
Our history or our past is what defines our existence in the present. It decides what measures we should take to safeguard our future. Through history we identify with who we are, where we come from and what defines us as a person. Take our history away from us and we are left alienated and confined to a world that is meaningless. George Orwell 's novel 1984 is a 20th century political novel, that depicts a dystopian society built on a totalitarian ideology.
History suffers from ideological, epistemological and methodological weaknesses and the fact that historians face these limitations and problems in order to gain complete knowledge of the absolute and undeniable truth do indeed support Voltaire’s allegations. So what is history? The most agreed upon definition is that it is merely a study of past events. However it should be noted that the past and history are two very diverse terminologies.