Transcript Historical Bias ppt - HRSBSTAFF Home Page

Introduction and
Historical Bias
Global History 12
Step one: Preliminary research
 Primary evidence: from sources
recorded at the time of the event
 Secondary evidence: from records made
after the event
Step two: Formulating a
working hypothesis
 This is merely stating what the subject is
and what it is you are interested in
finding out about it
 Be open-minded: It can be modified or
even discarded as new evidence is
uncovered
Step three: research for evidence
to support or reject the hypothesis
 Go to primary documents
 Decide if the documents are
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Authentic
Competent
Credible
Authenticity: Is the document, artifact
or photograph authentic (genuine)?
 Or has it been tampered with? Forged?
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Created?
German magazine, Der Stern, in 1981 bought
what was thought to be 62 volumes of the
diaries of Adolf Hitler.
Totally examined, scrutinized, etc. and thought
to be authentic
Later found to be forged
Significance: New perspective on Adolf Hitler:
not quite so bad as thought
Competence of author: Were they
in a position to know the truth?
 What is the witness’s expertise?
 What was the source of his/her info?
 Do they have any bias? (intentional or
subconscious?)
 Examples:
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A child’s diary
Defense records at a trial
Documents about a marriage
Unconscious Bias
 Not deliberate- author may not be aware
of it
 Audience may not even be aware of itunless has prior knowledge
 Uses faulty logic, stereotypes, omission,
generalizations, poor analysis
 Usually caused by ignorance
 Examples: stereotypes in a book or
movie; jokes, etc.
Deliberate bias (propaganda)
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Author aware of intent, audience not
always
Purpose is to misinform or misrepresent
May be based on some facts
Uses exaggeration, distortion, repetition, or
selective evidence
Intent is to persuade or sway an opinion
Examples: government health promotion;
war-time misinformation campaign
Informed bias or point of view
 Author and audience always aware
(author actually informs audience)
 Purpose: to provide critical insight or
understanding
 Uses accurate info from documented
sources
 Examples: essay about consequences of
Quebec separating; research paper
about a new cancer treatment
Questions page 12
1. Young or old? Age bias?
2. Author military or non-military Promilitary bias?
3. Author man or woman? Sexist bias?
(“feminine lapses”)
4. “pretty, 24-year-old Marie Hansen”-does
this surprise you?
5. Was she aware of her biases?
Credibility: Did the author likely want to
tell the truth? (Propaganda is a deliberate
bias)
Questions, page 13
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6. Who responsible? a supporter;
government official
7. Intent? Pay homage; honour
8. Methods? Stark; no colour; face intense;
eyes; cap with symbol of ideals
9. Distort reality? Bigger than life-so big
importance;
10. Details of when and where? Cap?
Questions page 15
11. Any agreement on facts? Just that there had
been reports of a military aircraft down
12. Internal contradictions? Faulty logic? Paris
newspaper said there were nuclear weapons,
so there must have been; “crash …could not be
concealed”; “prevocational flights…continuing”;
13. Propaganda? “provocational flights”; “continue
to disregard”; “protest of world public”;
“lives…jeopardized”; “prevent info from leaking
to the press”
4 hypothesis to explain news
accounts: Which do you believe?
Why?
1.
2.
3.
4.
There was a crash but concealed so
completely Canadian journalists unaware of it
There was a crash but Canadian media
deliberately covered it up
There was no crash and Canadian
correspondent from Pravda made up the
report
There was no crash and Canadian
correspondent from Pravda based report on
unsubstantiated rumour
Step four: Formulating a thesis
statement
 From the hypothesis
 Involves interpretation
 Conclusion reached by considering
evidence
Step five: Reconstructing the pastWriting the historical essay
 Historiography: studying how historians
write about the past
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Considers a bunch of writers and their
ideas, perhaps compares them, their
styles, their sources; critiques them
What was Ulrich Philips’
argument about slavery?
 He argued that the plantation system
was not as harsh or brutal as described
by many others
 Why would he take this view?
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Defending the views of his Southern
ancestors? Perhaps biased himself?
What evidence was used in
Philips’ book?
 Records left by slaveholders
 What was omitted from his book?
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Records from actual slaves; bills of sale;
medical evidence; etc
 How would his work reinforce bias?
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Allow people to think it wasn’t so badactually had benefits for the slaves
Elkins’ Thesis
 Experience of slaves
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comparable to that of victims of
concentration camps
destroys the personality
Caused absolute dependence on owners
Weakened Black family structure -father’s
role minimized, mother’s role magnified
 Social welfare policies were paternalistic,
as though Black families needed to be
“looked after”
How was Blassingame’s view
of slavery Afro centric?
 From the perspective of the slaves
 Used different cultural resources:
folklore, music, oral history and stories
 Different interpretations
Questions page 22
14. Philips: slavery not so bad; Elkins:
slavery destroyed personality and
altered role of males family figures;
Blassingame: slave communities were
almost self-contained units with own
history and resources
Questions page 22
15. Each reflects popular (changing)
attitudes of the time
16. Selection of sources can affect
interpretation by being one-sided