I walked out of sophomore AP world history and human geography not only with greater historical awareness, but also the ability to utilize that awareness to engage with other disciplines. In pushing beyond mere identification and recall, APWH challenged me to shift away from passively accepting information at face-value, to understand how context and rhetoric framed knowledge. In constantly deconstructing the nature of historical and empirical evidence and the lenses in which objects of scrutiny are extracted-- especially those defined by conflict and transformations--, I learned to be conscientious of how authors’ material conditions and interests shaped the presentation of given narratives. In-class emphasis of making historical connections while reading became ingrained into my …show more content…
head; my notes became more interactive, constantly questioning the text, and drawing parallels and contrasts between other perspectives. It was one thing to list the factors “that contributed to the decline of the East and the rise of the West” just prior to the 17th century; quick phrases such as “decline of the Abbasid empire,” “Mongolian conquest,” and “late-14th century Ming Isolationism” immediately come into mind. However, in APWH, the nuances of those processes, the transnational interactions and their consequences demanded be recognized.
I had to explain that the Mongolian invasion not only sacked Baghdad-- the capital of an empire wrought with political-religious divisions-- and thus signifying the end of but also facilitated cultural-technological exchanges throughout a more stabilized “Pax Mongolica” Eurasia, including the diffusion of firearms associated with later-strengthened European feudal power. AP human geography further expanded upon these skills, especially in its focus on the interaction between people and geography, of how human-constructed realities arise from and manipulate the surrounding environment, reconciling organic social dynamics alongside systematic empirical patterns. While much of current global-geographic phenomena cannot be understood without also understanding history--of drawing national boundaries and consolidating state legitimacy, industrial-economic development and land use, regulation of transnational commodities and migrant labor across borders-- I also had to understand what distinguished them as the unique socializing forces imposed onto the environment
today. Furthermore, the AP humanities courses not only encouraged me to become critical of the “realities” inscribed in conventional text, but also challenged me to critically assess my own beliefs. I came into high school with passionate but vague principles, based on pockets of shallow compartmentalized facts plagued with historical fallacies; I was a model for typical high school cognitive dissonance. Studying sociological-historical interactions forced me confront those contradictions, revealing the surface of a world much more complex yet open-ended than I previously realized. As easy it was to make fun of the Stearns textbook, when I pushed past the petty criticisms of the language and content inside, I discovered it was much tougher and also more productive to ask why and how I deemed such historical conclusions wrong. In this, I had to interrogate the meaning of historical premises and methodologies assumed not only by the textbook, but also that of mine. In those moments-- as I analyzed European liberal discourse emerging from the Enlightenment, differentiated between the “top-down” Brazilian independence and slave-initiated Haitian Revolution, and discussed the acceleration of economic globalization-- the extent of my ignorance dawned upon me. It humbled me, made me slow down, and pushed me out of my comfort zone. I learned to swallow my pride and investigate my own ideals, to actively rethink the legitimacy of and the historical-structural basis of my core values.
The vocabulary, the storyline, and the topic are easy for the reader to read and understand what is going on. This book is intended to be read in a school setting with students and professors using it as a tool in their classroom. Godbeer writing history as a narrative makes it easier for the reader to understand, it also allows them to get an overall sense of how things were being handled. The fact that Godbeer uses primary sources of court documents and testimonies gives truth and support behind his writing, making the reader confident in his writing.
...s of the Americas, what was their life like, and how did it change when Columbus arrived ,’ wrote a student of mine in 1991. ‘However, back then everything was presented as if it were the full picture,’ she continued, ‘so I never thought to doubt that it was.’” Most students after high school, fail to analyze controversial issues in our society. What citizens know about our past is what they have learned in high school history courses.
Geography played a big role in history and made each empire unique in its own way. Geography had positive and negative effects when it comes to location, access to resources, and trade. For the Spanish and Mongol Empires, geography played a role in state formation as well as affected their strategies of rule. Considering that the Mongol Empire began in the 11th century and the Spanish Empire in the 15th century, the affects that geography had were significantly different regarding their state formation and forms of ruling, however, there were some slight similarities in the process of building up their empires. Both the Mongol and Spanish Empires were similar in that they used trade as a mechanism for expansion and connection, however, they differed in that the Mongol Empire focused on conquering territory throughout the Afroeurasian landmass while the Spanish Empire devoted its attention to overseas territory.
Nonfiction Classics for Students: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism of Nonfiction Works. Ed. David M. Galens, Jennifer Smith, and Elizabeth Thomason. Vol. 2.
Blij has clearly put this book into historical significance by mentioning the idea of geography and how it plays a role in societies all over the world. However, the five themes of culture regions, cultural diffusion, cultural interaction, cultural ecology, and cultural landscapes are all clearly defined within a specific context to a particular nation. Through reading this intriguing piece of literature I received the underlying notion that Blij firmly believes that landscapes of the world realm are not going to change. De Blij worldview of regions, diffusion, interaction, ecology, and landscapes has allowed him to simultaneously link issues together from the United States all the way to Southeast Asia.
Upshur, Jiu-Hwa, Janice J. Terry, Jim Holoka, Richard D. Goff, and George H. Cassar. Thomson advantage Books World History. Compact 4th edition ed. Vol. Comprehensive volume. Belmont: Thompson Wadsworth, 2005. 107-109. Print.
Russia / The Mongols and the Emergence of Moscow. Geographia, n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
James Loewen’s, Lies My Teacher Told Me, criticizes the shortcomings of American education that is associated with inaccurate histories in textbooks. First, the fact that students do not have high regards when it comes to American history textbooks, proves how unreliable the education system is. In addition, textbooks are often to blame, because they are too dull, and are rather—boring (Loewen 384), which is why it has become a requirement for students to read books, because no one wants to read those uninteresting books. Even history textbooks, they cover redundant materials which make the subject more and more uninteresting to the students. It makes the students less motivated to learn. Moreover, he also argues that the problematic issues lie within the bureaucracy. They make the decisions on what the students will learn or which textbooks they will be reading. So far, they have not done a good job. At times, history textbooks were often censored and handpicked. It may even be completely different from the rest of the [history] textbooks. These censored textbooks, often keep the students in the dark when the controversial issues are removed (Loewen 389). It really undermines the freedom of speech and emphasizes that, often, key pieces are left out that is critical to the historical event, such as exemplifying that many of his college students have never even
Located in the province of Xianjing, the Uyghurs are isolated by massive mountains, deserts, Communist China, and extreme poverty. The Uyghurs are of Turkic origin, and were one of the 9 original tribes. One of these tribes, the Ottomans, sacked Constantinople in 1459, starting the rein of the Sultans for 400 years. The superpower carved a massive empire, from its roots in Turkey, to spread from the Russian steppes to the Alps to India, and stamping their name on history in blood. European history in the 1400‘s, 1500‘s, and 1600‘s centered on the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire and the Arabic people carved two massive empires in an extremely short time. They crushed the medieval christian kingdoms around Jerusalem, and quickly started attacking Christian kingdoms in Spain, Greece, and the Balkans. These conflicts between Muslims and Christians have been the longest and bloodiest in the history of the world, and still persist today. These Ottomans are, understandably, the most wel...
Knox, P. L., & Marston, S. A. (2012). Human geography: Places and regions in global context (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Domosh, Mona, Roderick Neumann, Patricia Price, and Terry Jordan-Bychkov. The Human Mosaic: A Cultural Approach to Human Geography. 11thth ed. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company, 2010. N. pag. Print.
Starting from 3100 BC until the late 1940’s, “A Little History of The World” by E.H. Gombrich has numerous amounts of historical accounts. Between talking about different religions and philosophy to world wars, Gombrich has written it all to suit young readers. In “On The Teaching and Writing of History” by Bernard Bailyn, Bailyn has made what he thinks good history is very clear. While Gombrich provides “A Little History of The World” with a clear understanding of his own opinions, it also effectively teaches children how the world has changed. “A Little History of The World” teaches readers facts about general events, dates, and the emotional turmoil of history while staying equivocal.
The five regions illustrate Yale’s attempt to diversify the narrow track of history that signified major requirements. Now students in the Global track will touch on 5 major continents, rather than a majority history of the “West.” Even though the reforms created a wider course range, the track does not explain how these five geographic regions can give students a “well-rounded overview of historical themes and approaches.” There is no justification on why the Middle East and Africa are put in the same geographic region. A student can fulfill the Global track without taking a course in the Middle East by simply taking a course on Africa and vice versa.
“Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.” This famous quote from Edmund Burke is one that many of us are familiar with. In spite of this, many people disregard history, branding it as unimportant or irrelevant to modern-day situations. However, history is actually a quite important subject with a myriad of lessons to be learned for anybody to apply now and in the future. Additionally, history gives us much needed information about our past, keeping us from forgetting why our nations became the way they are. It allows us to draw parallels between modern events and past events to collect our best judgment and gives us the important knowledge of the origin of our modern world, giving extra credibility
History is no more confined to a monolithic collection of facts and their hegemonic interpretations but has found a prominent space in narratives. The recent surge in using narrative in contemporary history has given historical fiction a space in historiography. With Hayden White’s definition of history as a “verbal structure in the form of a narrative prose discourse” literature is perceived to be closer to historiography, in the present age (ix). History has regained acceptance and popularity in the guise of fiction, as signified by the rising status of historical fiction in the post colonial literary world.