Rapidly changing contemporary historical
realities insist upon a new direction toward studying and
teaching Western Civilization. Today, American university
students engage a world that is much different from that
of merely ten years ago. The end of the Cold War, the
globalization of economies, the accelerating
communication revolution via the Internet have
proliferated a variety of new historic dispositions and
dynamics. More than ever before, students need to sharpen
critical skills and widen their historical perspectives
in order to understand the world around them.
The anthology extends the traditional, regional
perspective of Western Civilization. It introduces the
study of the "Wider West" taking into account its
"trans-cultural" history. A trans-cultural approach
studies the encounters and interactions within a
civilization and between civilizations. For example, in
Chapter 4 of this book, students will examine Roman
impressions of the Germans and also of the Han Chinese.
Furthermore, underscoring the idea of a "Wider West," the
Roman commercial network is studied beyond the
Mediterranean to include its Indian Ocean trade. The
trans-cultural approach to civilization studies is
fundamentally a comparative method which studies
similarities and dissimilarities.
This book charges its students to pursue and to attain
several objectives:
(1) Students should realize that our civilization has
a history of cultural pluralism. This has created
distinct cultural perspectives and often divisive
prejudices (for example, the Crusades, Fascism).
Geographically, students often equate Western
Civilization with Europe; but our civilization also
embraces the Mediterranean, including the significant, if
not decisive, cultural legacies contributed by West and
Southwest Asia and North Africa.
(2) Students should appreciate that the West has been
a component civilization of World Civilization. There has
always been a current of contact between the West and
other civilizations. Often contact have been dramatic
(for example, Alexander the Great's conquests; the
"Scramble for Africa"). Our civilization did not develop
in a vacuum; it did not independently self-generate.
(3) Students should learn how mythmaking and
stereotyping ("misreceptions") have often determined
Western and non-Western official policies, leading to
misunderstandings ("misperceptions") and much too often,
to tragedies. People have dehumanized others and by doing
so, have debased themselves.
(4) Finally, students should engage historical
methodology and examine historiography, the writing of
history. What problems does a document pose? What
constitutes a valid and valuable document? What
influences the historian? How does the historian make the
past intelligible and arrive at "the truth?"
Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) wrote that there are two types of
history. There is a "surface history" of names, dates,
and events, a history that students are familiar with
from past courses. Then there is a history of "inner
meaning," the history that produces and regulates
knowledge, identity, and power. This anthology is
interested in each type of history, but particularly the
latter. Students are asked to explore history not only to
skim across its surface, but also to delve into deeper
levels of understanding and meaning. How does history
become history?
History is a product of the historian's "receptions"
and "perceptions." Information and impressions are
"received" by the historian, processed by a variety of
relative political, economic, social, cultural, and
personal influences, "perceived" as interpretation, and
transmitted as explanation. It is this method of
"reception/perception" that invents mythologies, fashions
realities, and develops discourses. Therefore,
reception/perception is an active, creative force that
constructs an epistemology, an organization of knowledge.
Reception/perception asks (and attempts to answer): "How
do we know what we know?" In a shrinking world where
computer information highways and split second cable news
media transmit massive data before our eyes, it is
essential for each person to distinguish fact from
fallacy, to pursue what she or he discerns to be fair, to
be the truth. Fundamentally, this means understanding the
role of reception/perception.
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THE HISTORICAL METHOD OF
RECEPTION/PERCEPTION
The historian receives information, processes
it,
perceives it as interpretation, transmits it as
explanation.
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This document anthology offers the student an opportunity
to engage historical methodology through an understanding
of reception/perception. How can a document be assessed?
Remember, documentation comes in many forms. For example,
art and maps, as well as writings, serve as valuable
records of the past. Consider answering these questions
when studying the documents in this book: (1) Who
produced the document? Is the document impartial or
prejudiced? The author may have a bias. (2) What does the
document say? Study the wording in the document. Look
beneath the surface story to the tone of the document.
(3) When was it produced? Was the author too close to the
event being described? This could affect objectivity. (4)
Where was the document produced? Its location may affect
its accuracy. (5) Why is the document important? Why is
it included in this anthology? What is its historical
significance?
You may want to read the questions relating to the
document before you read the selection. This should help
guide your study of the document. Continue to ask
questions as you consider the document. This is the way
to discover historical truth. A source which may seem to
be initially farfetched may still be valuable in other
subtle ways. Furthermore, how do you receive and perceive
events, documents, messages, and media? What influences
in your life affect your interpretation of history?
This anthology aims to extend and enrich a survey course
of Western Civilization. It underscores that the challenges
that we face daily as a global civilization necessitate a
critical, if not crucial development of a keen historical
consciousness, in other words, how we receive and perceive
others and ourselves.
