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World History
Narrator
Listen to part of a lecture in a world history class.
Professor
In any introductory course, I think it’s always a good idea to step back and ask ourselves "What are we studying in this class, and why are we studying it?"
So, for example, when you looked at the title of this course in the catalog— "Introduction to World History"—what did you think you were getting into . . . what made you sign up for it—besides filling the social-science requirement?
Anyone .. .?
Male student
Well . . . just the—the history—of everything . . . you know, starting at the beginning . . . with ... I guess, the Greeks and Romans . . . the Middle Ages, the Renaissance .. . you know, that kinda stuff .. . like what we did in high school.
Professor
OK . .. Now, what you’re describing is one approach to world history.
In fact, there are several approaches—basic "models" or "conceptual frameworks" of what we study when we "do" history. And what you studied in high school—what I call the "Western-Heritage Model," this used to be the most common approach in U.S. high schools and colleges ... in fact, it’s the model I learned with, when I was growing up back—oh, about a hundred years ago ...
Uh ... at Middletown High School, up in Maine ... I guess it made sense to my teachers back then—since, well, the history of western Europe was the cultural heritage of everyone in my class ... and this remained the dominant approach in most U.S. schools till . .. oh, maybe ... 30, 40 years ago . .. But it doesn’t take more than a quick look around campus—even just this classroom today—to see that the student body in the U.S. is much more diverse than my little class in Middletown High ... and this Western-Heritage Model was eventually replaced by—or sometimes combined with—one or more of the newer approaches ... and I wanna take a minute to describe these to you today, so you can see where this course fits in.
OK ... so ... up until the mid-twentieth century, the basic purpose of most world-history courses was to learn about a set of values ... institutions ... ideas ... which were considered the "heritage" of the people of Europe—things like . . . democracy ... legal systems ... types of social organization ... artistic achievements ...
Now, as I said, this model gives us a rather limited view of history. So, in the 1960s and ’70s it was combined with—or replaced by—what I call the "Different-Cultures Model." The ’60s were a period in which people were demanding more relevance in the curriculum, and there was criticism of the European focus that you were likely to find in all the academic disciplines. For the most part, the Different-Cultures Model didn’t challenge the basic assumptions of the Western-Heritage Model. What it did was insist on representing other civilizations and cultural categories, in addition to those of western Europe ...
In other words, the heritage of all people: not just what goes back to the Greeks and Romans, but also the origins of African ... Asian .. . Native American civilizations. Though more inclusive, it’s still, basically, a "heritage model" ... which brings us to a third approach, what I call the "Patterns-of-Change Model."
Like the Different-Cultures Model, this model presents a wide cultural perspective. But, with this model, we’re no longer limited by notions of fixed cultural or geographical boundaries. So, then, studying world history is not so much a question of how a particular nation or ethnic group developed, but rather it’s a look at common themes—conflicts ... trends—that cut across modern-day borders of nations or ethnic groups. In my opinion, this is the best way of studying history, to better understand current-day trends and conflicts.
For example, let’s take the study of the Islamic world. Well, when I first learned about Islamic civilization, it was from the perspective of Europeans. Now, with the Patterns-of-Change Model, we’re looking at the past through a wider lens. So we would be more interested, say, in how interactions with Islamic civilization—the religion ... art. .. literature—affected cultures in Africa .. . India . . . Spain .. . and so on.
Or... let’s take another example. Instead of looking at each cultural group as having a separate, linear development from some ancient origin, in this course we’ll be looking for the common themes that go beyond cultural or regional distinctions. So ... instead of studying ... a particular succession of British kings ... or a dynasty of Chinese emperors ... in this course, we’ll be looking at the broader concepts of monarchy, imperialism ... and political transformation.