The nineteenth and twentieth centuries have been marred by global competition between developed nations, militaristically, economically, and for cultural prominence. Nationalistic competition has influenced not only the way history is studied but also how it is taught and understood by the citizens of a nation. Just as national political systems differ between nations so do the schools of national historiography. As mentioned above in Germany historiography during the nineteenth century had a focus on the state and using the past to support the political system of the future, while in France the focus was on the role of the people and the revolution in the establishing of a French national identity. As equally distorted by national interest …show more content…
Due to the coinciding nature of the professionalization of historical study with nineteenth century nationalism, historiography from this time period used the nation as a framework for the study of history. This results in the distortion of historians conceptual past into modern nations that may not have existed, during the period being studied. A national focus also causes the greatest body of research coming out of universities to be about their own nation (i.e. lack of universities offering a degree in Scottish history outside of Scotland) which could lead to possible distortion in the study of the past because of the lack of opposing study outside of the country. Historians in recent years have had to combat the distortion of the national past, as shown by those in the 1950’s and 1960’s who found it difficult to step out of the national framework that a large amount of past sources had been created under. Annales School historians like Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre, combated historical influences of nationalism by focusing on social, cultural and economic trends as a means for understanding history. Finally the nationalist framework of historical study has been combated by a focus on comparative national history, especially in counties without a strong historical tradition such as the fragmented Eastern European countries. An example of comparative history …show more content…
A sense of European superiority affected how non-western history was were portrayed in western historiography. The most prominent distorition of the past is present in the attitudes of westerners towards Africa. Africa was approached by academics in the west during the first half of the twentieth century as an anthropological subject. European academics such as those at the London based International Institute for African Languages and Cultures, placed africa in an ‘anthropologic present’ that treated Africa as a place that is static, changeless and anti historical thus enforcing and legitimising the doctrine that change must come from modern Europe. This attitude works as an antithesis to positivist European historiography of the time and helped justify national imperial endevors. Africas position as a anthropological subject as well as the idea of it as a changless society without history stunted the historical study of the region thus distorted our knowledge of African history. The attitude during imperial time to study of African history is reflected by Hengel in his lectures, The Philosophy of History, “We shall therefore leave africa…and it need not
Europe, in the late 1800’s, was starting a land grab on the African continent. Around 1878, most of Africa was unexplored, but by 1914, most of Africa, with the lucky exception of Liberia and Ethiopia, was carved up between European powers. There were countless motivations that spurred the European powers to carve Africa, like economic, political, and socio–cultural, and there were countless attitudes towards this expansion into Africa, some of approval and some of condemnation. Europe in this period was a world of competing countries. Britain had a global empire to lead, France had competition with Britain for wealth and so did other nations like Germany and Russia.
The Progressive Era is defined as the period of social activism and political reform in the United States that took place from the 1890s to the 1920s. Historians George Mowry, Gabriel Kolko, and Joseph Huthmacher all have different opinions and reasons as to whom the most influential Progressives were and what they reformed. Mowry does an excellent job explaining how the “solid middle-class” was the most impactful Progressives and how they reformed in attempt to create a classless society. Kolko expressed some good points as to why the big businesses were the majority Progressives, but only focused on business-government relations and didn’t look into social-justice. Huthmacher thoroughly explained why the urban lower class was the main Progressives and made good points on the “Bread-and-butter” issues.
The overall, topic for this week’s reading is Social Studies Textbooks and what is there point of view. In Loewen’s book, Lies My Teacher Told Me, the author makes the point that books show one-sided viewpoint of historical figures, fail to show conflict happening today, and fail to present multiple sides of an issue. The second article by David Tyack, Monuments Between Covers, talks about the idea to show that our past was full of right moments and if anything that was immoral was a small part and no big deal. Tyack points out the constant influence from political groups with different agendas fighting to influence and control what textbooks tell our countries’ children. In the last reading History Lesson by Dana Lindaman talks about the view point of American History throughout the world’s public schools’ textbooks. Overall, each of the countries diminished the role their nation played in terrible events and criticized other nations for their actions.
Gilbert, Erik & Reynolds, Jonathan T., Africa in World History. Third Edition. Pearson Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, 2012.
The Western philosophy of history has as its primary concept the concept of development, and many scholars have thus distinguished between the Western linear view of history and the non-Western cyclical one. What appears to be the case is that the dominant philosophy of history – otherwise more chillingly referred to as the ‘master-narrative’ – conceives of the history of the world as beginning with Judaism and progressing through classical antiquity and Christianity to the Enlightenment and modern liberalism.[6] What such a master-narrative leaves out, of course, is the period of the European Middle Ages (from the fifth to the fifteenth-century A.D.), a historical fact that renders more plausible – because more representative – a cyclical view of history as alternating between the Dark and the Golden Ages. Master-narratives leave no room for competing narratives, a case in point being Trevor-Roper’s statement that black Africa had no history prior to contact with the West. Trevor-Roper’s statement draws on a Hegelian relation between the concept of history and the Western concept of development. It was this Hegelian relation that allowed Hegel to essentially declare the end of history in 1806, when the Battle of Jena led to Napoleon defeating the Prussian monarchy and what Hegel presumed to be the victory of liberal democracy.[7] By the same Hegelian logic, Fukuyama was able to out-Hegel Hegel and
It is generally accepted by scholars and scientists today that Africa is the original home of man. One of the most tragic misconceptions of historical thought has been the belief that Black Africa had no history before European colonization. Whites foster the image of Africa as a barbarous and savage continent torn by tribal warfare for centuries. It was a common assumption of nineteenth-century European and American Whites - promoted by the deliberate cultivation of pseudoscientific racism - that Africans were inferior to Whites and were devoid of any trace of civilization or culture.
When the United States entered the First World War, the government took over all radio operations and shut down both professional and amateur radio broadcasters. The use of radio was reserved exclusively for the war effort. In the air, radio was used for the first time between multiple planes and the ground to keep formations and lead the pilots to their targets. This was the beginning of air traffic control and walkie-talkies. In addition, soldiers who had been wounded were entertained in the hospital by news and music played over the radio. Although radio was not allowed back into public until 1919, it continued to be used by troops coming home to entertain each other and was even used for dances. All of radio’s uses from the war soon became prevalent in everyday life and radio has been used in these ways ever since. Our lives are filled with constant sound most of it coming from the radio being on all the time; whether in the car or at home, music, news, weather, and traffic are provided through radio. There is a station for everyone. Moreover, when we travel by plane, airports would be chaotic and have no way to tell who is taking off and landing if not for radio use to control the traffic and make everything run smoothly. Many jobs also have much use of radio needed to communicate with other workers in careers such as law enforcement and trucking.
In the first segment of his film series, Different but Equal, Basil Davidson sets out to disprove the fictitious and degrading assumptions about African civilization made by various Western scholars and explorers. Whether it is the notion that Africans are “savage and crude in nature” or the presumed inability of Africans to advance technologically, these stereotypes are damaging to the image and history of Africa. Although European Renaissance art depicts the races of white and black in equal dignity, there was a drastic shift of European attitudes toward Africa that placed Africans in a much lower standing than people of any other culture. The continent of Africa quickly became ravished by the inhuman slave trade and any traditional civilization
The way countries, nations or states act and base their policies on many times reflect what their past was like. This is very true in the case of Africa. The only problem is that Africa is said to have no history. This just means that Africa’s many cultures did not affect the way imperialists and other influences acted towards the huge continent. Everything was based on their interests and consequently this meant that the way of dealing with Africa in every way was based on Western traditionalists. To this we must answer the question how has the Western World affected Africa’s present stage and what must be done to undo what is wrong and hopefully correct this situation.
When looking at different themes throughout history, it seems as though nationalism has been brought to the center stage. While some philosophers have supported nationalism, and other criticized it, the ideals of nationalism have been the driving force of many pivotal events through out history.
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney, was one of the most controversial books in the world at the time of its release. The book seeks to argue that European exploitation and involvement in Africa throughout history. This is the cause of current African underdevelopment, and the true path to the development is for Africa to completely sever her ties with the international capitalist economy. Rodney describes his goal in writing the book in the preface: “this book derives from a concern with the contemporary African situation. It delves into the past only because otherwise it would be impossible to understand how the present came into being and what the trends are for the near future” (vii). Rodney writes from a distinctly Marxist perspective by arguing that the inequalities inherent in European capitalism and required exploitation of certain countries in order to sustain capitalism.
The twentieth century constantly grappled with the idea of literary history, and the ambition it entailed, as an attempt to explain the laws governing the evolution of literature, the coherence of literary periodization, the inter-linkages and exchanges between genres with reference to either the movement of history as an ever-present backdrop or in reference to formal aspects of the literary system itself. The last decades of the century threw this ambition into disarray. Positivist literary historiography claimed a certain degree of objectivity, valorized a group of writers and texts, created problematic distinctions such as popular and mass literature and foregrounded the dominance of certain genres in certain periods among other questionable
Since the 19th century, the world has experienced the birth of a phenomenon called nationalism. Nationalism can be defined as “loyalty and devotion to a nation; especially a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all other and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interest as opposed to those of other nations” (Merriam Webster). Nationalism states that a nation, defined by common cultural, ethnic, or historical elements, is inclined to establish an “independent political community based on shared history and common destiny” (Mastin, 2008). Shared history and common destinies are the collective fate of a nation, a belief in which nationalism is deeply rooted. During the 18th century, European and Asian states were composed of multiethnic empires and dynasties. These monarchies were very diverse ethnically, historically, and linguistically, leading to a weak national identity for those under their rule. As organized, more modern sub-states of a larger empire began to identify their collective fate along with their cultural, political, and ethnic unity, nationalism arose giving way to the creation of nation states. Both the American and French Revolution were a direct result of nationalism. In the 19th century, nationalism was a particularly strong force as it typically was the key element for the independence and national unification of many nations in Europe and North America. (The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed, 2012) Since the 19th century, nationalism and a strong national identity remain some of the most powerful political forces as seen in its postulation of World War I and II as well as the conflict currently unfolding in Ukraine. Where there is not unified identity, a governm...
Nationalism is an ideology based on the basis that an individual's devotion and loyalty to the nation-state surpass other individual or group interests:nation is the central entity which is a sense of identity and belongingness for the citizen.They always place their nation first before any other individual,group or country.When people attached to their nations deeply,they would sense emotions toward their nations-usually very intense or excessive.Nations are bodies that seek to be strong and pursue power by any means.Nationalism assumes that every nation has enemies that are intent on weaken such nation.It can be offensive to other nationalities when they want to explain how their nation is the best.
Throughout history, Africa has been a vulnerable player in the eyes of the rest of the world. From the slave trade to various civil right injustices that have taken place over in every century, from what we have studied in this class, we have been able to see the lasting impact on the continent as a ramification of certain events occurring. Using various sources from the text, which serve as evidence, and help prove how the western world exercised its power in order to capitalize on the African continent and exploit the African people and land.