Historiography

Instead of looking at the history of witchcraft as Kittredge did, Boyer and Nissenbaum focused on the social and economical factors at play within seventeenth-century Salem among the male population. Boyer and Nissenbaum state that the more we have come to know these men for something like what they really were, the more we have also come to realize how profoundly they were shaped by the times in which they lived. For if they were unlike any other men, so was their world unlike any other…

The Annexation of Texas The annexation of Texas by the United States remains a controversial topic to this day. Occurring in 1845, it caused a great uproar amongst the citizens of the United States and Texas. The main question when debating the annexation of Texas is how it affected slavery. Indeed, and because the annexation of slavery served to extend the area in which slavery would be allowed, this caused a situation in which it shifted the balance of power away from the North and towards…

First of all, woodworms or similar insects play an important role since they are present in nearly every story. After the first chapter, which is narrated by a woodworm, woodworms are prosecuted for having destroyed the Bishop’s throne in chapter 3 (62f). Ironically, a piece of the parchment containing the verdict was eaten by termites, causing the disappearance of the closing words (79f.). The fifth chapter concludes with the remark that woodworms are living in the frame of Géricault’s painting…

Culturally Centered Education When thinking about the educational system in America, from middle school through high school, even in college depending upon programs, white/European culture has been the focus of the system. It is within this system, that whiteness is embedded at the top of an oppressive racist hierarchy. Everything else deemed as other, is at the bottom and is treated as inferior. This is problematic, because although Europeans today can learn their own history which centers them…

The American Revolution was a cathartic event in world history. What we might not have realized until now was the extensive transformations it begun in the British Empire. Maya Jasanoff’s Liberty’s Exiles: The Loss of America and the Remaking of the British Empire, argues that the revolution and the subsequent exile of more than 60,000 individuals from American soil to the far reaches of British domains transformed political culture, social dynamics, and even imperial forms of administration.…

Romanticism and Realism are two major periods in the history of art, during which different forms of art including painting, music, architecture and visual arts significantly progressed. These art movements have significant similarities in terms of what they represented but deffer in the way they reflected the social structure and philosophy during that time. This essay compares and contrasts these two art periods and highlights the intricacies of both art forms along with their impact on…

Belgrave, Michael, Historical Frictions: Maori Claims and Reinvented Histories, Auckland, 2005. In this book, Belgrave explores the changes that have occurred in the last hundred and fifty years regarding Waitangi Tribunal claims, the role of the Waitangi Tribunal and the relationship between Maori and non-Maori in New Zealand. Belgrave sheds light on nuances of the Treaty of Waitangi and the Waitangi Tribunal that are not commonly known. Belgrave provides evidence on various historical case…

After reviewing the list of films, it was with great ease that I selected, The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. This made for television movie was adapted from the book written by Ernest Gaines. I selected this film for a variety of reasons. Primarily, I selected this film because I vividly recall reading the book and seeing the film when it was broadcast on television in the mid 1970’s. The Autobiography of Jane Pittman played by Cicely Tyson wasn’t just a fictional story, it was about…

"Intellectual history refers to the historiography of ideas and thinkers." (Intellectual History) Plutarch 's "On Sparta" is not relevant without his ideas and understanding of the Spartan lifestyle. Although his story is not historically correct, it is in fact parallel with the history of Spartan…

The diplomatic espionage, military engagement and the collision of distinct geopolitical strivings of the two power received a name “the Great Game” in the West historiography. The Great Game played out across the 19th century. The conflict originated in 1813 by the Russian-French attempt to invade English India and came to the end by Anglo-Russian convention in 1907 (Trenin 2014). Although the Great Game came to close…