PDF (Whole Thesis) - USQ ePrints - University of Southern ...
PDF (Whole Thesis) - USQ ePrints - University of Southern ... PDF (Whole Thesis) - USQ ePrints - University of Southern ...
When we attempt to answer the question ‘What is history?’ our answer, consciously or unconsciously, reflects our own position in time, and forms part of our answer to the broader question what view we take of the society in which we live. (1990, p. 8) E.H. Carr then goes on to answer the question he poses by stating: “…it is a continuous process of interaction between the historian and his [sic] facts, an unending dialogue between the present and the past” (1990, p. 30). This statement can really be viewed as the beginning of multiple realities being present (and increasingly accepted) in historical research. ‘History’ as a discipline is viewed by Marwick 6 as distinct from ‘the past’, writing “…I make a firm distinction between ‘history’ (what historians do) and ‘the past’ (everything in its near infinitude that happened in the past, entirely regardless of any activities by historians)” (2001, p. 9). Husbands extends this somewhat, and offers a generally less conservative view of the discipline of history, asserting: …accounts of the past are always interpretive and always open to dispute and question. The discipline of history is both less than the past (because not all of the past can be understood) and more than the past (because our accounts of the part are overlaid by our assumptions and presuppositions). (1996, p. 5) Aligned with a personal enthusiasm for learning history, the following understanding of why history matters in a way that resonates with this project (particularly in relation to learning it as a school subject), is asserted by Chapman as “learning history is also a vital and vitalizing process: everything has a history and our subject is endlessly intriguing, mind-opening and educative – to be bored with history, is, as it were, to be bored with life” (2009, p.1). Continuing the schooling context of history, the multiple meanings this term has is broached by Hoepper—who connects this term to classroom teaching—by writing: In popular discourse, ‘history’ is synonymous with ‘the past’. Generally, when someone refers to ‘the history of Australia’ or ‘Australia’s history’ they really mean ‘what happened in the past’. So, in classrooms, it’s probably valuable to discourage 6 Marwick’s text The New Nature of History (2004), what can be considered as more or less a fourth edition of the previous three editions of his publication The nature of history is drawn on in this section for his extensive work in defining and explaining processes of research within the discipline of history. Whilst certain perspectives of his are not adapted, and his opposition towards integrating other research approaches criticised in this project, his work on research processes is used. 104
that usage and to encourage students to use the term ‘the past’ instead, keeping the term ‘history’ for other uses. ‘History’ is better used to mean a constructed, interpretive, explanatory depiction of the past. Usually it’s capitalized as ‘History’. Used this way, ‘the History of Australia’ means ‘what an historian has constructed as a rigorous, defensible version of elements of Australia’s past’. …the term ‘History’ (or ‘history’!) is also used to describe what historians do – the process of producing histories. So ‘History’ can mean ‘the past’, the ‘constructed descriptions and explanations of the past’ and ‘what historians do to investigate the past’. (2007, p. 33) Drawing on the definition by E.H. Carr and the explanation provided by Hoepper, for this project, the term history takes on three understandings. The first encapsulated in the school curriculum, as a school subject and communicated through syllabuses and other curriculum materials, primarily textbooks. The second is the methodological approach of the discipline, the active process of researching primary and secondary sources and other historical research processes. The third is the producing of the research—connected with the final stage data analysis. The evaluation of primary sources are analysed according to CDA with questions posed to make explicit the use of language for each text is outlined in the research design and conduct section of this chapter. These three approaches can be viewed within the larger methodological focus of this project, knitted within the articulated bricolage approach. The decision to incorporate history methodology within other approaches can be seen as part of recent trends which have seen a move away from traditional historical studies to those that incorporate a range of approaches (see, for example, Black & MacRaild, 2000; and Hoepper & Quanchi, 2000 for an overview of this transformation and its impact on school curriculum). Although traditional historical studies still exist; and it is asserted that purely traditional historical studies are important as one component of the canon of historical knowledge and understanding available; the move towards a de-centering of the privileged historical narrative in other studies also make valuable and insightful contributions to how the world is constructed in the present, based on events from the past. This directional change in history is described by Hoepper and Quanchi as: 105
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that usage and to encourage students to use the term ‘the past’ instead, keeping the<br />
term ‘history’ for other uses.<br />
‘History’ is better used to mean a constructed, interpretive, explanatory<br />
depiction <strong>of</strong> the past. Usually it’s capitalized as ‘History’. Used this way, ‘the<br />
History <strong>of</strong> Australia’ means ‘what an historian has constructed as a rigorous,<br />
defensible version <strong>of</strong> elements <strong>of</strong> Australia’s past’.<br />
…the term ‘History’ (or ‘history’!) is also used to describe what historians do –<br />
the process <strong>of</strong> producing histories. So ‘History’ can mean ‘the past’, the ‘constructed<br />
descriptions and explanations <strong>of</strong> the past’ and ‘what historians do to investigate the<br />
past’. (2007, p. 33)<br />
Drawing on the definition by E.H. Carr and the explanation provided by Hoepper, for this<br />
project, the term history takes on three understandings. The first encapsulated in the school<br />
curriculum, as a school subject and communicated through syllabuses and other curriculum<br />
materials, primarily textbooks. The second is the methodological approach <strong>of</strong> the discipline,<br />
the active process <strong>of</strong> researching primary and secondary sources and other historical research<br />
processes. The third is the producing <strong>of</strong> the research—connected with the final stage data<br />
analysis. The evaluation <strong>of</strong> primary sources are analysed according to CDA with questions<br />
posed to make explicit the use <strong>of</strong> language for each text is outlined in the research design and<br />
conduct section <strong>of</strong> this chapter. These three approaches can be viewed within the larger<br />
methodological focus <strong>of</strong> this project, knitted within the articulated bricolage approach. The<br />
decision to incorporate history methodology within other approaches can be seen as part <strong>of</strong><br />
recent trends which have seen a move away from traditional historical studies to those that<br />
incorporate a range <strong>of</strong> approaches (see, for example, Black & MacRaild, 2000; and Hoepper<br />
& Quanchi, 2000 for an overview <strong>of</strong> this transformation and its impact on school curriculum).<br />
Although traditional historical studies still exist; and it is asserted that purely traditional<br />
historical studies are important as one component <strong>of</strong> the canon <strong>of</strong> historical knowledge and<br />
understanding available; the move towards a de-centering <strong>of</strong> the privileged historical<br />
narrative in other studies also make valuable and insightful contributions to how the world is<br />
constructed in the present, based on events from the past. This directional change in history is<br />
described by Hoepper and Quanchi as:<br />
105
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