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

Authentic Competent Credible

Authenticity: Is the document, artifact

or photograph authentic (genuine)?

Or has it been tampered with? Forged? 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:

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 it- unless 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)

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 Pro-military 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 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. There was a crash but concealed so completely Canadian journalists unaware of it

2. There was a crash but Canadian media deliberately covered it up

3. There was no crash and Canadian correspondent from Pravda made up the report

4. 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 past-Writing the historical essay

Historiography: studying how historians write about the past 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? 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?

Records from actual slaves; bills of sale; medical evidence; etc

How would his work reinforce bias? Allow people to think it wasn’t so bad-

actually had benefits for the slaves

Elkins’ Thesis

Experience of slaves 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