American Civilization 100 Rough Notes

History, Historiography, and Approaches to History

1. History: inquiry of the past, present, and future; Western Tradition, Classical Greeks, Herodotus, Rationale thinking, Islamic Revolution
2. "History in its root sense means inquiry…" The stress was on the inquiry as such, regardless of subject matter, on the search for explanation and understanding. [Humans are] rational beings: if [they] ask rational questions, [they] can, by the unaided efforts of [their] intellect, discover rational answers. But first [they] must discover that about [themselves]. The Classical Greeks did, in the 7^th century B.C. (insofar as so abstract a notion can be dated at all), and thereby they established the greatest of their claims to immortality. Significantly, the inquiry was first directed to the most universal matters, the nature of being and the cosmos. Only later was [it] extended to [humans, their] social relations and [their] past." Source: The Greek Historians
3. The American Experience is rooted in the "Western Tradition," which includes cultures and

nations influenced by societies who developed west of Mesopotamia. This experience does

not preclude the existence of other cultures' (Asian, Native American, African ect.) view of

"history" as a process of inquiry.

4. You must inquire into the Past, Present, and Future in order to search for rational answers.
5. "Historiography" is the process of understanding how the environment impacts the writing of history. All disciplines undergo changes as the intellectual climate changes. Hence, different "schools of thoughts" develop and, in turn, different approaches to the discipline occur.
6. Six major historiographical phases impact the study of history and other disciplines:

Heightened Nationalism– 1700 to 1800: Patriotism encourages unity and curiosity over surrounding neighbors

Territorial Expansion – 1800 to 1890s Includes economic, social, cultural expansion; era of American grandeaur,

Politics– 1890s to 1920s world-wide instability sparks interest in American political structure

Economics– 1920s to 1930s from boom to bust economies, historians shift interest to studying capitalism

Social - Post WWII to 1960s War transforms American society: Civil Rights Movements begin; history shifts to the "bottom"

Quantitative (information age/computers) – 1970s to today?

 

7. Three "methodologies" exist in the inquiring process:

a. Linear/Progressive (western view)

b. Linear/Progressive/repetitive

___1800____1840_____1860

c. cyclical O

a. Linear/Progressive: Western Tradition wholeheartedly accept this approach. To view history on a chronological/linear perspective while learning and improving society. To build blocks of knowledge.

b. Linear/Progressive/Repetitive

some in the Western tradition reluctantly accepts this perspective it differs from the linear/progressive approach insofar that history "may" repeat itself…

c. cyclical approach suggests that history will repeat itself: wars, business cycles, religious holiday…this allows for some "comfort and security in our lives…but it is not accept by Western traditionalist….