Reflections on History: Its meaning/s, basic,

misconception etc

1
Hafiz bin Zakariya, IIUM
 Contents
• Defining history
• The basics of historian’s craft
• Prospects for history graduates

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 Defining history
• The English word, history ultimately derives from Greek, historia
denoting inquiry or learning through inquiry
• history- a discipline synonymous not with story but inquiry, a
thorough process of investigation
• Technical meaning: An academic discipline whose basic concern
is to find the “truth” about the past (“The truth is out there”)

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 Inquisitive attitude
O you who believe! If a wicked person
comes to you with any news, ascertain the
truth, lest you harm people in ignorance,
and afterwards you become regretful to
what you have done.
(Al-Hujurat verse 6)

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 Historians & Detectives
• Historians' tasks are similar to detectives/forensic
experts
• Cf. detective story: a celebrity found dead (this is
the fact) why ? Various explanations- 1)drugs
overdosed? 2)suicide? 3)was murdered?
• Similarly, historians are detectives of past, events
that are far removed from the present
• Examine the sources, based on sources reconstruct
the events/details
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Historian’s Job: An analogy

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 Understanding the Past: Simple
or Complex?
• Depends on timing, if of immediate past (in recent
years) not as sophisticated, the further we move
from the present- more complicated it is?
• Take 2 examples, subject death of famous persons
• 1.MJ
• 2.JC
• Which one is easier to understand and why?

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Finding the “truth” about the past

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 Example
• Mysterious death of Julius Caesar
• A famous Roman ruler (Shakespeare wrote a play entitled Julius
Caesar—on his death
• At least two theories
• 1.His assassination was plotted by discontent senators
• 2. A theory that he was partly responsible for his death- was aware
of the conspiracy , but proceeded to attend the assembly- hoping
for a grand death?.
• He suffered from seizure; a fitting death is to die as a warrior/to be
murdered compare to die due to illness?

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• Locating and critically examining the sources
• Interacting with sources: ask probing questions
• Problems/questions we encounter are numerous
• Serious professional historians must choose wisely
the right questions
• No point asking trivial questions
• First task eliminate unimportant questions

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 Need for professional historical
study
• Difference between amateur historians and
professional historians
• For the former, history like a hobby, probably not
fully trained in the rigor historical method.
• E.g. local history, genealogy
• At times, tend to be less critical/analytical
• Yet they contributed in construction of human
knowledge

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 Locating sources & thorough
analysis of the materials

Forms of
Primary Source

Physical Visual Oral and Printed Unpublished

Artifacts
Statistics Document manuscript
Images audio

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 Authentic
Or Fraud?

Identity of
Reliability
Sources
Of Sources
Test
Reliability

External
Bias
Consistency

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Misconceptions (What history is not)
History & memorization
Public “mis”perception
History and non-fiction literature
• Non-f narrative will always be popular with
reading public
• Highly informative & entertaining, lacks the
rigor of the method of historical inquiry
(critical perspective)
• Professional historians do more than merely
reciting the facts and tales of past events
• To make sense of history in a meaningful
way, historians generally start with a
hypothesis.
• What is a hypothesis?(central questions that
will be tested against primary evidence)
• It should not become an end to be proven
by selecting only evidence that fits

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• > prelim readings –of causes of AR—a
hypo ideological conflict b/w Parliament &
colonial elites a key factor in AR. But, if
analysis of prim evidence suggest
differently, modify the hypothesis (central
argument)
• Eventually this will develop into thesis.

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 WHAT IS A/AN
HYPOTHESIS?
a preliminary or tentative explanation or postulate by the
researcher of what the researcher considers the outcome of
an investigation will be. It is an informed/educated guess.
E.g. in communication/behavioral res.. Is there a relationship
between watching violence on T.V and committing violence?
Cf. scientists makes preliminary obsvs &
form a hypothesis to test in lab
Hist start form hyp after prelim reading
of secondary sources

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 Qur’an
There is, in their stories, instruction for
men endued with understanding. It is not a
tale invented, but a confirmation of what
went before it,- a detailed exposition of all
things, and a guide and a mercy to any
such as believe.

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 Conclusion
• “Why should we learn about the past? This
is such an unthinking question. If one blots
out the past, how does the present make
sense? Isaac Newton and Einstein both
belong to the past, are they ignored in the
study of physics?”

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Mathematical Sciences
in Islamic Civilizations

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 Astrolabe

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 ..
Left:
Teacher
disciplining
a student.
Above:
Preparation
of paper.
A Persian School Scene
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 The
Wonders
and
Curiosities
of Creation
Iran or Iraq
14th c.
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 A doctor and
patient discuss
vitrified lead
poisoning on this
page from the
Materia Medica
of Dioscorides
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