Memory and the construction of History

I was discussing Margaret MacMillan's lectures, I wrote about earlier this week, with podcaster Tony Cocks of BTHP. He pointed to another podcast. A co-production of the Open University and BBC's radio four: The Things We Forgot To Remember. Here we have yet another history podcast that is looking into how history is made.



The podcast is styled like BBC's In Our Time, as a panel discussion with specialists, but in stead of digging into an entirely new subject each week, as IOT does, The Things We Forgot to Remember has a detectable linkage between issues. Two of the episodes that are currently in the feed, deal with memories and the question how memories contribute to history. This meta-standpoint vis-a-vis history is maintained as the subject of memory is finished and the series moves on. There is a build up from the individual up to the supra-national. A returning example for analysis is how the history of the Great War was constructed. It is shown how the narratives depend on perspective, how they take on a national meaning. When, for example, a historian dared to describe his own nation as the war-monger, his work turned into the hottest controversy. Here we see what MacMillan also pointed out: where history allegedly is about sources, collecting and ordering data into a narrative, sooner or later it turns into a story with great meaning that acquires a near religious value. Invariably, that is where history as a science perishes.

More on history:
The big idea of History,
BBC's In Our Time (podcast review),
Thinking Outside the European Box,
The battle of Tours,
Islam and Europe - LSE podcast review.

Birth of the Modern - a history lecture podcast

The Arizona State University had a summer course in 2006, The Birth of the Modern, which was published as a podcast and is still available (feed). Dr. Andrew Barnes brought this exclusively as a new media course. The lectures are on podcast alone; not recordings of live lectures.

The object of the course is to take on the transition European culture made through from before the renaissance to the early modern time. It results in a couple of very interesting analyses professor Barnes makes. I have heard only six out of the thirty podcasts and can therefore not entirely assess what he does with what is proposed as a very central theme: how the Europeans deal with 'the other' (and whom they view as such). Obvious candidates in this respect are Jews, Africans, Asians, but there are more than that.

I have dropped out of this course because of two factors one has to take into account before embarking onto the course. For one the audio quality is very low. The course is from 2006 and you can hear it. In addition, despite Barnes's enthusiasm, intelligence and dedication, his monologue is hard to follow. His talk doesn't seem too structured upon initial impression and his speaking style is somewhat faltering. This is not 'infotainment'; this is a course for those who seriously want to study the subject and are ready to embark upon it with full attention.

More history podcast reviews:
History 5 - the end,
The blitz on London - Binge Thinking History,
Whittaker Chambers - History 7B,
The year 1703 - Historyzine,
World history outside the European box - MMW3.

The big idea of History

The Canadian broadcaster TVO publishes a lecture podcast Big Ideas. If this is basically a TV program, I must say, the visuals are hardly missing, if at all. As a full audio production, it works out very well. Here I want to report one absolutely outstanding lecture by Margaret MacMillan.

MacMillan speaks in two consecutive lectures (two podcasts) about the current use of history. She observes history had less of a meaning during the Cold War, but since we have come back to a less orderly world, people are obsessed with history. We have returned to the understanding that we can and must learn from history. She notices the rise in media attention, to which we can add the fantastic amount of history podcasts around. All nice and well, but there is a catch.

She tries to warn us, we must not turn history into a religion; into a narrative that cannot be questioned and that serves to elate, teach, justify and redeem us. She cringes how history is used by the likes of George Bush, Islamists, Israeli's and Palestinians. She proposes that history should teach us to ask questions. She throws a couple of attempted historical analogues (Munich 1938, Vietnam, Cuban Missile Crisis etc) and manages to show how what seems to be applicable can be off and a different analogue can point into a wholly other direction.

These two lectures are a must listen to anybody who thinks about history, policy and the world and certainly for you history podcast listeners out there.

Relevant other posts:
Church History - podcast review,
Post-1945 Europe,
The Great Dictators,
Thinking Outside the European Box,
Islam and Europe - LSE podcast review.

Church History - podcast review

Covenant Seminary is a theological institution of the Presbyterian Churches of America (PCA). It delivers a podcast on Church History, which covers the history from the early apostolic period until the reformation. A lot of other podcasts give strains of information on the same subject over the same period, or parts of it, but none has the history of Christianity as its main subject.

The podcast relates that Church History is sometimes called 'the third testament'; less history, more creed. Another remark made is about historiography; in modern times history science is a matter of reconstruction and the idea of being free of value and ideology is abandoned; we need not free ourselves of religious dogma. So, while we ask the question how a small and insignificant sect of Judaism, that had 'nothing going for it', could rise to become the most successful of world religions, the podcast wouldn't want to rule out the supernatural. Other podcasts have suggested that the use of Greek and the opening up to gentiles were factors, but this is hardly considered.

Here we touch on a serious problem with this podcast. I find it to be less historic and more liturgical. It starts and ends with scripture, it starts with prayer, it doesn't rule out the supernatural, it frequently doesn't even attempt to engage in worldly explanations, but rather emphasizes the spiritual quality of the history. This podcast still touches upon the major elements of the history of Christianity in the given period, but does so with a bias it doesn't even attempt to conceal. This makes it a miss for me. I feel more at ease with great productions like Stanford's 'Historical Jesus' (Thomas Sheehan), UC San Diego's MMW3 (Charles Chamberlain) and the issue of BBC's In Our Time on the Nicene Creed to name but a few.

Relevant other reviews:
World history guided by the religions,
The Nicene Creed - IOT,
Historical Jesus - Tom Sheehan, Stanford,
The genitals of Christ (2),
The genitals of Christ (1).

History 5 - the end

Berkeley's History 5, faithfully reported by me this semester, is an excellent lecture series portraying the history of Europe from the renaissance to the present. The arc spans from the early rise of Europe to a point where we cannot say it is the end, but the signs look like a downfall; Europe losing more and more of its importance and weight.

The end, in the lecturer, Professor Anderson's, view shows a definitive decolonization and possibly a reverse. As to colonization, this comes to an end with not just all the European colonial powers having lost their overseas dominions, but also the final retreat of a certain imperial grip the Soviets (and the Americans if you will) have had on Europe. This I suppose, is seen by most people, but where lies the reverse?

The reverse lies herein, as Anderson puts it, after the Europeans had penetrated the rest of the world and then they had retreated, the world has begun to penetrate into Europe. First and foremost this is seen in the widely publicized rise of Islam and Arab and Turkish population in the heart of Europe. More profoundly and generally, since Europe's birth rates are low and the population is declining, Anderson tries to show, that necessarily, the continent even if it turns into an immigration area will be expected to get drained and therefore decline. Europe looks bound to lose the centrality it acquired with the renaissance.

More History 5:
Post-1945 Europe,
The Great Dictators,
New Europe, Old Europe,
Women and Freud,
Romanticism and Bismarck.

The podcast playlist on Anne is a Man!

I could pick out one choice podcast, listened to, but what about something else? How about sharing my listening schedule with you? I'd like to show you the casts I listen to which may appear reviewed in the blog in the coming days. Provided I find something valuable to write about them.

Big Ideas
A Canadian public Radio production. A new podcast for me to try out.

The Birth of the Modern
A History course from Arizona State University. The course covers the late middle ages and the Renaissance. For those who want to listen along, I have a first tip: skip the first two introductory lectures; they contain nothing but technical and administrative matters for the students of the course.

Church History
This is a new podcast on the try-out list. I have no idea what to expect. The program looks like a thorough outline from the early years until the Middle Ages. Where the line between history and theology will be drawn and how much we are going to get from each, remains to be seen.

History according to Bob about 1000 AD
Bob's journey around the world in a little over two hours.

Existentialism in Literature and Film
Hubert Dreyfus teaching philosophy at Berkeley. I am still digesting the last lecture about Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling. I have skipped the Brothers Karamazov and took an initial whiff of Nietzsche's Gay Science.

Stem Cells: Policy and Ethics
An enhanced podcast from Stanford. Part of a quest on this blog: getting some quality input in the ethics around bio-technology.

Podcasts about Euro 2008
The football podcasts are not exactly my taste, but since I am closely following the tournament in Austria and Switzerland, I cannot forgo them. I am missing The Beautiful Game, which was the best in 2006. We make do with The Guardian, the BBC and a couple of others.

On the video: one happy coach...


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