Lecture 2.pdf

Faculty: Abul Hossain Ahmed Bhuiyan, Ph.D. Professor of Sociology 1  Civilization at a glance: (Factors we consider)  military power, economy, social condition (structure), & ideology  Ancient: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Ancient...

Faculty: Abul Hossain Ahmed Bhuiyan, Ph.D. Professor of Sociology 1  Civilization at a glance: (Factors we consider)  military power, economy, social condition (structure), & ideology  Ancient: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Ancient India, Persia, Greece & Rome, China  Modern: USA, Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, India 2 Lecture Overview on Human Civilization (in the light of general understanding of Social Change)  Transition from community (commune) to capitalism/socialism  Role of human labor and environment 3 Civilization: Definition(s)  According to The Macquarie Dictionary civilization is:  “An advanced state of human society, in which a high level of art, science, religion, and government has been reached”. (1991, p. 331)  About a century back, the editor of 50 volumes The History of Civilization, C.K. Ogden about civilization stated:  Summaries in one comprehensive synthesis the most recent findings and theories of historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, sociologists and all conscientious students of civilization.  Recently, Charles K. Maisels (1993) in his text The Emergence of Civilization stated:  “the examination of actual and potential forms of human society, what their logics are and what forces generate, sustain, and destroy them”. (p. xv) 4 Civilization study deals with:  - High level of art, science, religion, and government.  - Theories of historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, and sociologists.  - Actual and potential forms of human society. 5 History  The origin of the word History is associated with the Greek word ‘Historia’ which means ‘information’ or ‘an enquiry designed to elicit truth’. Herodotus (c 484 – c 425 B.C.) is known as the “Father of History”. History has been defined differently by different scholars. 6  Following definitions indicate the meaning and scope of History.  History is the record of what one age finds worthy of note in another.  History, in its broadest sense, is everything that ever happened.  The value and interest of history depend largely on the degree in which the present is illuminated by the past. 7  History is a connected account of the course of events or progress of ideas.  History is the scientific study of past happenings in all their aspects, in the life of a social group, in the light of present happenings.  History is the story of Man’s struggle through the ages against Nature and the elements; against wild beasts and the jungle and some of his own kind who have tried to keep him down and to exploit him for their own benefit. 8 Components to incorporate Approaches to the study of civilizations:  Social existence (real world, material world)  Social consciousness (non-real world, non-material world) Ownership patterns (real):  - Tribal ownership  - Ancient (slave), Communal & State (Asiatic)  - Feudal ownership  - Capital ownership (capitalism)  - Social ownership (socialism) Belief Practices (non-real): - Many gods and goddesses - Many gods and one God - One God 9 The modern concept of history  History does not contain only the history of kings and queens, battles and generals, but the history of the common man -- his house and clothing, his fields and their cultivation, his continued efforts to protect his home and hearth, and to obtain a just government, his aspirations, achievements, disappointments, defeats and failures. 10  Further, it is not only the individual but the communities and the societies are the subject of study of history 11 History is both a Science and an Art  History is a unique subject possessing the potentialities of both a science and an art. It does the enquiry after truth, thus history is a science and is on scientific basis. It is also based on the narrative account of the past; thus it is an art or a piece of literature.  Examples: (a) Ibn Khaldun (1332 – 1406 A.D.), Arab Scholar. Text: The Muqaddimah.  (b): Thucydides (471/460 B.C. – 399 B.C.), Greek historian. Text: History of the Peloponnesian War. 12 Aims of History  To promote self-understanding  To give proper conception of time, space and society  To enable the pupils to assess the values and achievements of their own age  To teach tolerance  To develop right attitudes  To foster national feelings 13  To develop international understanding  To give training for handling controversial issues  To impart mental training  To teach moral principles  To help resolve our contemporary social and individual problems  To promote socialization among pupils 14 Sources of History (primary and secondary)  Archaeological Sources:  Monumental Finds: Building images pottery and terracotta figures and other antiquities are monumental finds. Ancient buildings, sculptures, paintings, potteries and terracotta figures, throw light on the type of civilization of the period, to which they belong.  Epigraphics: Consisting of inscription of stones, pillars, rocks, copper-plates bricks, seals, terracotta and images  Numismatics: Old coins 15  Literary Sources: These are as follows:  (i) Sacred or religious literature,  (ii) Secular literature: It includes novels, dramas, poems, books on medicine, grammar and astronomy, biographies ,autobiographies, travelers, accounts, personal diaries and official orders and dispatches. 16  Oral Tradition 17 Modern Trends in History Teaching  Critical Thinking  Critical thinking is that mode of thinking - about any subject, content, or problem - in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them. 18  “Critical thinking” generally refers to the examination of ideas that goes on at the higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. The term critical, despite its somewhat negative connotations, refers to the evaluative thinking characteristic of highest levels of thought and reflects the importance of doing so, as well. Much critical thinking involves problem solving. 19 Development of Critical Thinking  Provide different sources to analyze and interpret  Use of Social Inquiry method to analyze the problem and to come up with the solution for solving the same  Organize debates 20  Use counter‐factual questions: ʺBut what if...?ʺ “Why not…?”  Encourage discovery  Use of Socratic questioning: ʺWhat precisely do you mean?ʺ ʺHow do you know?ʺ ʺWhat is your reason?ʺ ʺWhat else has to be true for that to be so?ʺ etc. 21 Questions? 22