Historical Questions and Debates

Catalog description

Far from an assemblage of facts, the most interesting histories are insightful interpretations of fragmentary evidence that explain significant historical change. Yet for any given historical question, there are many ways of selecting and interpreting sources depending on presuppositions about key driving forces, balancing short- and long-term influences, and privileging certain kinds of sources and voices over others. As a result, many important historical questions remain difficult to answer in terms of causality and significance. But competing explanations are not merely the subject of academic debates. This course illustrates how ongoing historical disagreements continually influence society, particularly with respect to large structural systems, social identities, legal rights, and access to resources.