PRESENTED BY:
Mr.
ABDELKADER
30-10-10
Aims and objectives
1. The aims of this unit are to:
2. 1- help you read more closely texts written by
historians
3. 2- show you how to identify key points and
minor supporting arguments
4. 3- Introduce you to different branches of history
5. 4- Help you to form your own opinions about
historical material
6. 5- Help you develop critical readings of
historian’s work
7. At the end of the unit you will be able to:
handle historical texts with greater skill and
confidence
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Humans have always been interested in past
lives and civilizations.
They want to know who lived before their time,
how they lived, and what happened to them.
We can answer these questions through the
study of ‘History’ to know the past, including
the prehistory of man, all the way back to our
human origin.
What is ‘History’, and why do we study it?
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History is a branch of knowledge that records
and explains past events.
History is about change and continuity over
time and space.
We study the past from many perspectives,
such as political, military, and diplomatic
developments, economic, social, and cultural
development, and the role of religious ideas
and beliefs in shaping human experiences.
What does
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
mean?
30-10-10
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Autobiography has been described as a ‘personal
history’, as a record of events and circumstances
have gone into the making of a single life.
Memoirs of one’s life written by one’s self
Collective History: history of peoples, nations,
societies
Writing an autobiography involves more than simply
recording ‘the facts.’ The way a writer selects and
arranges these facts requires them to interpret their
own history and the things they feel are important in
shaping their identity…
There is a tendency that collective
history is concerned mainly with the
lives and influence of the powerful
and the great
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HISTORY FROM BELOW: is concerned with
social and economic change and how those
changes were experienced by and involved
the participation of ordinary people.
A people's history or history from below is a type of
historical narrative which attempts to account for
historical events from the perspective of common
people rather than political and other leaders.
A people's history (otherwise known as social
history) is the history of the world that is the story
of mass movements and of the outsiders.
Individuals not included in the past in other type of
writing about history are part of this theory's
primary focus, which includes the disenfranchised,
the oppressed, the poor, the nonconformists, and
the otherwise forgotten people.
Georges Lefebvre (6 August 1874–28 August
1959) was a French historian, best known for
his work on the French Revolution and
peasant life. He coined the term "history
from below", which was later popularised by
the British Marxist Historians.
We study history for a variety of reasons:
to understand people who thought and acted
differently than we do in our own time
to seek self knowledge
to make sense of a time radically different from our own time
to find a sense of distance from the present to aid us in placing
our own times in perspective
to help us understand how we got to where we are now
a whole host of other reasons
We study the past from many perspectives, such as political,
military, and diplomatic developments, economic, social,
and cultural development, and the role of religious ideas
and beliefs in shaping human experiences.
What do Historians do?
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Historians are the scholars (scientists) who study past
civilizations, analyze past events, and tell us about what
has happened in the past.
Historians expose themselves to a wide range of human
experiences for a better understanding of history.
Some historians deal with global issues like the origins
of World War I (WWI).
Others take a deep historical approach, and they closely
study a community within a carefully bounded period to
recover deeply buried experiences and meanings.
Historians study the origins of conflict as well as the
impact that such conflicts have upon those caught up in
them.
Some historians work on the very recent past, while
others may study societies in the far distant past.
HOW DO HISTORIANS STUDY HISTORY
Historians do this by studying a variety of •
different materials including:
objects used in the past, Official documents,
autobiographies; family papers; photographs;
buildings; documentary films; literature;
paintings; arts = source materials or sources
Such study of history involves far more than
amassing facts. It involves paying attention to
the argument – to the way writers shape
their material and formulate their ideas…
Different Kinds of History
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Historians study different aspects of history.
These aspects are known as the ‘Kinds of
History’, and they are many.
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The most common Kinds of History are:
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Artifactual (tools and weapons)
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Cultural (humanities)
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Economical (finances)
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Political (military)
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Religious (beliefs)
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Social (structure)
1/15/09
Interest in History
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People live in the present, and they plan for as well as
worry about the future.
However, they have been always interested in the past.
Historians study the past to figure out what happened,
and how specific events and cultural developments
affected individuals and societies.
Historians also revise earlier explanations of the past,
adding new information and/or revising existing
answers to historical questions.
The more we know about the past, the better we can
understand how societies have evolved to their
present state, why people face certain problems, and
how successfully others have addressed those
problems.
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History offers a storehouse of information about
different societies, and how people behave;
therefore, history helps us better understand people
and societies.
Understanding the operations of people and
societies is difficult; yet, many historians make the
attempt.
Example: How can we evaluate war if the nation is
at peace – unless we use historical materials?
There are many arguments over the importance of
history, and these still go on today.
There are many different reasons to study history,
as it is a fantastic combination of life.
make sense of most other subjects.
The major arguments for studying history are as follows:
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History helps you discover how your world evolved.
History helps you develop the skills to look beyond the
headlines, to ask questions properly, and to express your
own opinions.
History trains your mind and teaches you how to think
and process information.
History helps you develop an understanding of both past
and present.
The pursuit of historical events and people is fun - a
form of time travel.
History helps you make sense of most other subjects.
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A lack of historical knowledge prevents people from
truly understanding the world they live in.
History helps you understand the origins of modern
political and social problems.
History lets you learn how and why people behaved as
they did, whether they are Elizabeth I, Hitler, or John
Lennon …
History makes you appreciate that people in the past
were not just „good‟ or „bad‟, but motivated in complex
and inconsistent ways, just like us.
History provides you with the skills employers are
looking for.
History helps us understand change and how the society
we Live in came to be.
Difficulties in Gathering Sources
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Historians study past societies, and to understand them better, they
have to refer to old or past sources.
It is clear that all our information about past events and conditions must
be derived from evidence of some kind. This evidence is called the
source.
Since they are dealing with the past, gathering information is not an
easy task for the historians.
Some of the difficulties historians face while collecting the needed data
or information are as follows:
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No Actual Survivors
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Incomplete Records
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Lost, Destroyed, or Forged untrue) Records
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No Written Documents
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Unclear or Weak Memories
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Second-hand Documents
Women’s Suffrage
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The term “Woman‟s Suffrage” refers to the economic and
political reform movement aimed at extending suffrage – the
right to vote – to women.
Women were excluded from voting in ancient Greece and
Republican Rome, as well as in the few democracies that had
emerged in Europe by the end of the 18th century.
The movement‟s modern origins lie in France in the 18th
century.
In medieval France and several other European countries,
voting for city and town assemblies and meetings was open to
the heads of households. (families)
When the voting permission was widened in the United
Kingdom in 1832, women continued to be denied all voting
rights.
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The question of women’s voting rights finally became an
issue in the 19th century, and the struggle was particularly
intense in Great Britain and the United States.
However, these countries were not the first to grant women
the right to vote, at least not on a national basis.
Women’s suffrage has been granted at various times and in
various countries throughout the world.
In many countries, women’s suffrage was granted before
universal suffrage, so women from certain races and social
classes were still unable to vote.
By the early years of the 20th century, women had won the
right to vote in national elections in New Zealand (1893),
Australia (1902), Finland (1906), and Norway (1913).
In Sweden and the United States, they had voting rights in
some local elections.
Suffrage Movement
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The „Suffrage Movement‟, both women and men, had a
very broad (wide) range of views.
One major division, especially in Britain, was between
„Suffragists‟, who sought to create change constitutionally,
and „Suffragettes‟, who were more militant (radical).
There was also a diversity of views on a „Woman‟s Place‟.
Some, who campaigned for women‟s suffrage, felt that
women were naturally kinder, gentler, and more
concerned about weaker members of society, especially
children.
It was often assumed that women voters would have a
civilizing effect on politics, and they would tend to support
controls on alcohol; for example.
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They believed that although a woman‟s place was in
the home, she should be able to influence laws
which impacted upon that home.
Other campaigners felt that men and women should
be equal in every way, and that there was no such
thing as a woman‟s „natural role‟.
There were also differences in opinion about other
voters.
Some campaigners felt that all adults were entitled
to a vote, whether rich or poor, male or female, and
regardless of race.
Others saw women‟s suffrage as a way of canceling
out the votes of lower class or non-white men.
ONE HAND TIED BEHIND US
Women’s suffrage = the right to vote movement
in Britain at the beginning of 20th C.
1- First half of the extract: explaining the reasons
why Jill Liddington and Jill Norris felt that a
new book on this subject was needed
2- How do they set about writing it?
Liddington and Norris blow apart the popular myth
that the sole arbiters of the Suffrage Movement
were the upper and middle classes. It shows that
the Pankhursts, whilst important in their way,
were not the main contributors in the fight to
gain the vote for women.
“we are told so much about the personalities of
the national leaders, but so little about the tens
of thousands of women in suffrage societies up
and down the country who backed the demand
for the vote. We know little about the workingclass women…”
The part that many working-class women played
in the struggle for women’s suffrage has been
neglected by historians.
Only the activities of Mrs Pankhurst and her
daughters have been the focus of most historical
accounts..
This is partly because the Pankhursts’ own
accounts and those of their admirers tended to
emphasize their own experiences and to
downplay earlier developments …There are only
a few brief references in the work of some
historians to the important movements among
women in the Lancashire cotton districts.
One Hand Tied Behind Us
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“One Hand Tied Behind Us” is a book written by two
famous Feminists, Jill Liddington and Jill Norris.
This work on women‟s suffrage is offered as a revised
edition to celebrate the book‟s 21st anniversary,
which contains a new introduction by Jill Liddington.
The book shows how radical suffragists took the
message to women at grassroots level,(common,
ordinary people such as peasants) and to the Cooperative Guilds (associations, unions) and the trade
unions.
This book is a wealth of useful and interesting
information on how much the mill workers of the
north and other working class women contributed
through determined and steady political effort over
many years to gain the vote.
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This book is a true picture and one that shows there was
much more to the women‟s suffrage movement than
militant (radical) action.
At factory gates and trade union branches, the radical
suffragists of turn-of-the-century Britain took their
message to women at the workers level in order to
advance demands for equal pay, educational
opportunities, better birth control, child allowances, and
the right to work.
Their strength lays in their democratic approach,
opposed to violence, they felt that the vote was the key to
wider rights for women.
These women were not interested in selfglory; they were just interested in
improving the working and living
conditions of women, children, and men of
their time.
Their campaigns and their determination in
the face of extreme hostility put into place
some fundamental human rights that
today‟s society now takes for granted.