AC Solomon: Let's Hear It for Archaeology
[AC Solomon is an Africanist archaeologist, writer and former museum curator. She is a specialist in the history and prehistory of hunter-gatherers and their arts, and has published over thirty papers in scientific journals, including Scientific American]
History matters. Michael Gove wants to shake up the school history curriculum and instil "narrative British history" in students. With the very different figures of Niall Ferguson and Simon Schama both reportedly on board, the big question is: what kind of history will it be? Despite their differences, these scholars seem united around teaching narrative history. The thornier issue of using it to teach "Britishness" will be debated at a conference this week. But whatever prevails, it seems school history will still comprise "historian's histories".
Perhaps that's another reason why school history is still perceived as boring. My school history was, as one Ciffer puts it, about "maps and chaps". One might add "laws and wars" and "lords and hordes".
Of course it's changed (televisual treatments? Add Mary Seacole and stir?). But there are other exciting routes to the past. History is about inquiry as well as narrative. How histories are built is as important as the story, and no historical discipline demonstrates this better than archaeology. Yet, it features little in the debates. Perhaps that's because, despite sterling efforts by Tony and the Time Team, most people don't really know what archaeologists do, or what archaeological histories are....
Read entire article at Guardian (UK)
History matters. Michael Gove wants to shake up the school history curriculum and instil "narrative British history" in students. With the very different figures of Niall Ferguson and Simon Schama both reportedly on board, the big question is: what kind of history will it be? Despite their differences, these scholars seem united around teaching narrative history. The thornier issue of using it to teach "Britishness" will be debated at a conference this week. But whatever prevails, it seems school history will still comprise "historian's histories".
Perhaps that's another reason why school history is still perceived as boring. My school history was, as one Ciffer puts it, about "maps and chaps". One might add "laws and wars" and "lords and hordes".
Of course it's changed (televisual treatments? Add Mary Seacole and stir?). But there are other exciting routes to the past. History is about inquiry as well as narrative. How histories are built is as important as the story, and no historical discipline demonstrates this better than archaeology. Yet, it features little in the debates. Perhaps that's because, despite sterling efforts by Tony and the Time Team, most people don't really know what archaeologists do, or what archaeological histories are....