What Is the History - History Science or Creative Arts - Essay Example

What is History? What is the History? History is defined by various scholars in different ways, however, the most common definitions make use of the phrase, “study of past events”. According to history teachers association of Australia, history is the study of past and the historiography. By past, the association means the actual gone past impossible for them to recreate. By historiography, they mean everything that they (historians) do like re-producing past using research that relies on evidence they are able to gather. This definition too attracted controversy of its own especially in its definition of the past (History teachers Association of Australia , 2013). More refined definition according to Oxford dictionary puts it as “a continuous, typically chronological, record of past events and or trends.” (Concise Oxford Dictionary 10th edition, 2001). History has attracted many controversial arguments while other people view it as just a study that memorizes names and events and dates yet this discipline is more subjective as well as objective (Hewins, 2015). In fact, history is used to achieve different objectives depending with who the person telling the story is and his or her audience. A story told to children may be sieved to ignore certain elements of the truth and only pass the desired information across. The infants are probably too naïve or ignorant to even notice the truth. The same is true when it comes to the history that a country may write and pass across to her citizens which most of the time is biased in favor of the given country. It may depict the country or republic in good light while deliberately ignoring factors or things that the same country has or did that can warrant being called atrocities against other countries, people or even its own citizens. Still other people think history can never be accurate as it is subject to being manipulated by self-interested parties to favor their preferred courses of actions (Jenkins, 1991). For these reasons, many people have questioned what history really is, its accuracy or dependability as a matter of trust of the forthcoming information. However, other scholars point to the fact that accuracy may be gained from historical information so long as they are documented. This act of documentation again is criticized by other scholars as being subject to manipulation as any government can manipulate the same to suit its intended propaganda thereby bringing the question of whether history is a real discipline or just another propaganda. History in comparison with science whether natural or social is also debatable. However, since it may result in this case, revelations, which are usually questionable, this makes it more similar to science than different. Science too is has its lows with its findings being questioned every day. Everyday people question the validity of science findings with other scholars going ahead to research on the controversial subject with a view to strengthening the findings or poking holes in the previous findings (Evans, 1997). This observed from a different perspective may make it different from history which can only be revisited by preparing a documentary which again can be manipulated. Documentaries are not very much appreciated as research articles since they have no universally accepted methods like research methods do. Whatever the case, history just like any other discipline may not be accurate as to the military precision when it comes to documenting of the happenings and recording of the dates but that can or should not be used to deny historians the joy of presenting their findings and enjoying one subject they find profession in. Professor Edward Hallett Carr in his book “what is history”, emphasizes that historians should critique and analyze historical documents before relying on them. He in fact, rubbishes the historical work written in the 1980s, which goes without question, that indeed some scholars too doubt the history written by some authors (Carr, 1987). This is probably due to many vested interests that the authors may have been having by the time they were authoring such texts. If history written in books can never portray the real truth of the matter then what shall people rely on? History has been used by many people to advance their propaganda while not conveying the truthful information that people should actually hear. Some of the wrongfully presented facts by written history are especially the world war two. As they say that history is written by the victors and not the defeated, this might just poke hole on the trustworthiness of the information represented in the report after all. A report that takes into consideration of all the parties involved may just be relatively honest compared to one that is only written by one party here being the victor. Indeed, many reports about world war two have been attracting controversy with time. This especially regards the information on what really happened during that time, what caused who to surrender and who helped who? In fact, even the real victors of this war is still a fallacy. People have been made to believe what was appropriate for their ears and not the actual things that led to the happenings that were witnessed by then. Of much interest to me was the retreat by French and the bombing of the Freiberg city of Germany. This was reported to be by an enemy yet it is being revealed that this was actually done by Luftwaffe who got lost on their way to French city of Dijon. Another interesting fact was about the claim by the British that they fought the war single handedly while the truth is that by then, they were literally the largest colonial master in Africa, India and Asian continent. A similar misrepresentation of facts is visible in the early report that Hebrew were made captives by Egyptians and forced to help build the pyramids. This is utterly wrong and a misrepresentation of facts since by the time the pyramids were being built, it was almost a thousand years before the formal existence of the Hebrews as a whole (Damen, 2014). How all these facts were deliberately or undeliberate misrepresented to be facts remains a puzzle. The damage has been done and people (some people) still believe the same to be true. Many of these falsehood still roam our minds with many people oblivious of what the truth looks like or still choosing to believe so because the nature of the history as was told put them as direct beneficiary of this falsehood rumor mongering. Last but not least, is the perpetuated falsehood that Romans were descendants who survived the Homer Troy, something that explicitly lacks any corroboration? This was just a fictional character that probably never even existed just like the continent called Atlantis (Damen, 2014). History and it facts stand at the wrong side of the human perception with regards to whether whatever people have been made to believe is actually true or utterly nonsense. This probably will continue to be so due to that fact that history just as its definition points out, is the study of the past, a past when none in the group writing or arguing about such incident was actually present. When a historian wants to lecture the audience about the big bang theory that led to the splitting of the continents, he does it in a way that makes you want to ask if he was ever there. What he will rely on is probably the shapes of the shores of the continents that kind of resemble the opposite. This again, is history and presumably, we will have to live with that. It is also at this point that I would like to add to the fact that all the criticisms above does not point directly to history. They point to the fabricators of history who would only use history to fuel their propaganda (Winn, 1993). History in its initial conception is still the noble discipline that helps us in so many ways in different professions and careers. It is however, important to note that this might just be a type of history called the fabricated history. There are other types of histories that are very well documented and which may not attract so much controversy since most parts are based on scientific analysis and inferences. This according to Damen is called the recovered or invented history (Damen, 2014). Even in today’s’ world, many discoveries are being made either through archeological excavations or just some extreme engineering that is meant to dig earth for construction of some road or undersea diving (Norman, 1991). I remember the discovery of the trade that was flourishing between the Romans and the Greek evidenced by the discovery of artifacts that were submerged by the sea. It is then that it was realized that Rome itself was trading within the empire as well as externally as is evidenced by the discovered ship wreckages in the Mediterranean Sea. In the undersea exploration, it was discovered that the oldest of the ships had a cargo of southern Italian amphorae, which were still intact by then, while another ship had African amphorae filled with a fish sauce called garum. This confirms the evidence earlier cross border trade. This similarity is also seen in the ancient Egypt. In ancient Egypt’s “Bent Pyramid’’, one room is said to have cedar wood beams believed to have been imported from ancient Lebanon. This points to inter-boundary trade between the kingdoms (Hilts, 2015; Gladys Davidson, 1965). The same remarkable history was revealed by the discovery of the iceman in the ice mountain of halves in Italy, a man that scientific testing and trial reveals had been there for over three thousand years by the time he was discovered (James, 2012). This was not just history, it was scientific testing of the remains that revealed all these facts (Colin, 1998). Such scientifically revealed historical information may result to more trust than the initial untested narratives. This was documented for television view as well as recorded in government databases for future references and for the purpose of acting as a precedence in future operations that may resemble it (PBS, 24th October, 2012). This however, does not save history from the many unending criticisms from critics with many people still questioning the authenticity of the testing methods and the inclination of the narrator with regards to how he wanted to portray the story. Despite the more computer regenerated past happenings to help write history, there are still more importance of history than is imaginable. First, history just as stated prior in the text is very important component of many professions. History is used by crime fighting detectives to put bad guys behind bar. In almost all police cases, there must be some witness to give the exact account of what he or she saw plus other corroboration that will help to build on the case. This simply adds to the importance of history to help bring peace in the society as well as justice to the offended. The other application of history is in the medical field where for a patient to be treated, there has to be determined some sort of medical history (Paul, 2010). It is not only the medical history that is sought but also the cultural history as dictated by the practice against which may be disastrous as was witnessed by the Hmong daughter who could not be treated by the American doctors who disregarded her cultural history in administration of the medication (Fadiman, 1997/8). In the courtroom, history is used by judges to determine court cases relying on precedence set by previous judges dealing with similar cases. The same application is used everywhere today especially as pertains the job market. Everywhere one goes to seek for employment, what is questioned first is the experience, yet as is well known, experience means history in that particular. People are promoted in their job places due to their exemplary performance in the past which in turn amounts to history. History has been also been used to perfect on different relations whether international or local as well as strategies of doing certain things. It is through history that we have the best inventions today. Most of the perfections on the modern machines were arrived at from historical references of previous versions (Collingwood, 1946). For example, every company that deals in manufacturing any machines or devices have different models of the same device meaning the succeeding one may be superior to the previous one. Superiority come about from the improvement of the previous models implying learning from history (Callinicos, 1994). The same is true for leadership and international relations where politicians or leaders rely on history to forge their ways forward so that if a policy failed in the past in a given country or the same country, then the next country may have to modify, improve, or abandon the same strategy all together to succeed (Appleby, 1994). Conclusion History is the study of past happenings and this means exactly that. However, critics are of the opinion that history is just nothing but propaganda used to justify the course of the feelers. Just like any other disciplines that may have their strengths and weaknesses, history by having so many controversies just assert this fact. It is important to note that history in itself is not controversial but rather the fabricators of the information. It is people who misrepresent facts about certain past happenings that despite everything will remain history. History is therefore still history but may use the help of modern science to correct the mistakes made by these fabricators. Despite the weaknesses of history, it still remains the only way to move forward by learning from it to perfect our next moves. References Appleby, J. H. (1994). Telling the truth about history. London: W.W. Norton and Company. Callinicos, A. (1994). Theories and narratives: Reflections on the philosophy of history. Cambridge: Polity Press. Carr, E. H. (1987). What is history. London. Colin, T. (1998). Neanderthals and Bandits and farmers: How Agriculture really began. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. Collingwood, R. (1946). The idea of history. London: Oxford University Press. Concise Oxford Dictionary 10th edition. (2001). History. London: Oxford University Press. Damen. (2014, August). History and Civilization: History and what really happened. Retrieved july 4th, 2015, from USU Education: http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/1320hist&civ/chapters/01HIST.htm Evans, R. (1997). In defense of History. London: Granta. Fadiman, A. (1997/8). The spirit catches you and you fall down:The eight Questions. In A. Fadiman, The spirit catches you and you fall down: A Hmong child, her American doctors and the collision of two cultures. (pp. 259-261). Farrar,Straus and Giroux. Gladys Davidson, V. R. (1965). The Antikythera Shipreck reconsidered. Transaction of the American Philosophical society, 3-48. Hewins, S. (2015). History and archaelogy: Is history true? How accurate is it? Retrieved July 4th, 2015, from Hubpages: http://sherryhewins.hubpages.com/hub/how-important-is-history Hilts, P. (2015). In search of the sunken treasure. Scientific American, 312. History teachers Association of Australia . (2013). What is history. Education Services Australia. James, D. (2012). Theories about his death. Retrieved May 5th, 2015, from James M Deemss Mummys tombs: http://www.mummytombs.com/otzi/theories.htm Jenkins, K. (1991). Re-thinking History. London: Routledge. Norman, A. (1991). Telling it like it was:Historical narratives on their own. History and theory, 119-135. Paul, H. (2010). A peoples history of the Hmong. Minnesota: Minesota Historical society Press. PBS (Director). (24th October, 2012). Iceman Murder Mystery [Motion Picture]. Winn, A. J. (1993). An old historian looks at the new historicism. comparative studies in society and History, 859-870. Read More