Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts

A quite brilliant (if post-modern) take on the study of history in schools. I attach both the 1999 original and a 2010 re-vamp. As the arguments over the national curriculum rage on Sam Wineburg’s question over why we should study history at all comes back to mind. Year 13 this is well worth a read (especially as he makes references to Richard White) in terms of historiography and what historical understanding actually means. Wineburg takes the position that we can never fully understand the past, but that does not equate to meaning we should not study history. He goes on to argue that we must try and appreciate our limitations in ever understanding the past. Two bits stand out:

Wineburg asks us to consider that we will never appreciate historical context ie. Did the Egyptians see as we do but draw in a different or primitive manner or did the Egyptians simply see differently to us? Importantly can we learn anything from asking this question?

Secondly Wineburg notes that the good historian engages with the past through humility, knowledge of ignorance and with heart. What lessons might there be here for school history?

Can you see any of Wineburg’s concepts working in the history classroom? How might you have tackled re-writing that textbook? Do you agree with his conclusions on the place of history? And importantly, what relevance does this have in light of curriculum reforms? Or rather, does it matter if it has relevance or not?

Comments welcome…

Need a brain break now!!

Mr F

Unnatural and Essential – This article can be downloaded from the HA here: LINK

Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts can be viewed with a JStor free account here: LINK

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