wcaleb’s Twitter Archive—№ 9,520

1. Thinking about how difficult it is to dislodge popular idea that "history repeats itself," particularly in teaching undergrads.
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…in reply to @wcaleb
2. I polled my students earlier this semester asking them why studying the past helps in present. polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/HX0Ey4rQKnQRFHN/results
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3. The most common answers were variations of we study past because "history repeats" & "we can learn from past mistakes."
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…in reply to @wcaleb
4. Those answers unsurprising and common, as @EdwiredMills points out: quod.lib.umich.edu/d/dh/12146032.0001.001/1:5/--teaching-history-in-the-digital-age?g=dculture;rgn=div1;view=fulltext;xc=1#N43
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…in reply to @wcaleb
5. And idea of "history repeating" pervasive in popular media. E.g., paired images here imply repetition: apps.npr.org/tshirt/#/people
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6. And even historians sometimes *sound* as though we're saying the past repeats. Yet professional historians rarely *do* say/believe that.
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…in reply to @wcaleb
7. One reason is just that so much evidence flies in face of the idea. Random e.g., Goldwater gets waxed in 1964. Reagan cruises in 1984.
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8. Another is that historians see that any claim of repetition requires flattening & simplifying both Moment A & Moment B.
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9. The NPR images above, for example, leave out evidence of labor protests much earlier than 1911, & poor US working conditions much later.
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…in reply to @wcaleb
10. @parezcoydigo An historian would look at images like these and see continuities, yes, but simple repetition, no.
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11. There are other problems: if "history repeats itself," then why would knowing it "help us avoid past mistakes"? The cliches conflict.
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12. Also, when pressed, those who say "history repeats itself" often base it on idea "human nature" doesn't change. Historians doubt that.
On twitter.com ♻️ 4 Retweets ❤️ 5 Favorites 2015 Feb 20 Mood -1 🙁

…in reply to @wcaleb
13. The cliche "history repeats itself" collapses our distances from the past, makes us part of the same "human nature" present then.
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…in reply to @wcaleb
14. While the cliche "we study history to avoid past mistakes" distances us from the past, imagines we can stand outside of it.
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…in reply to @wcaleb
15. Again, then, the cliches conflict, and neither gets at the more subtle dialectic of continuity & change that historians believe in.
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…in reply to @wcaleb
16. Now, say we could convince students of problems with the cliches (no mean feat). We then have to convince them history still valuable.
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…in reply to @wcaleb
17. One move here is to show them we are still connected to the past, influenced by it and its mistakes.
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…in reply to @wcaleb
18. "The past isn't even past" is different from "history repeats itself," and it's telling that historians use former cliche more often.
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…in reply to @wcaleb
19. A second move is to convince them that sometimes proposals in the present are based on faulty understandings of the past ...
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…in reply to @wcaleb
20. … including the faulty idea that things are just going to happen again the way they always have.
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21. In sum, the challenge is to move students from "history repeats itself" understanding of history's utility to deeper understanding that:
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…in reply to @wcaleb
22. Both the past---and mistaken views of it---still contribute to the problems we confront in the present. … I think.
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…in reply to @wcaleb
23. P.S. Here's a working link to my students' anonymous responses to poll on "why study history" polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/HX0Ey4rQKnQRFHN?preview=true @cliotropic
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