Critical Social Inquiry 0154 - Paths to the Past: An Introduction to Historical Thinking and Writing

Everything has a history," the American Historical Association tells us. In order to understand why something is the way it is today, we need to understand how it began and how it got to be this way. This seems so obvious to historians that they are surprised to find not everyone thinks like this. Historical reasoning needs to be taught. We begin by looking at the ways that historians formulate questions, evaluate evidence, and draw conclusions. And the fact that something was not "always this way" means it can change. Understanding history is thus also essential to active citizenship. We will explore various styles of historical writing applied to case studies. Topics will be drawn from US and European history Keywords:history, United States, Europe, World War II

Time and Narrative The content of this course deals with issues of race and power Students should expect to spend 8 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time