#  FRSEMR 71I - Thinking About History in a Post-Truth World 

 





 Semester:   Spring 

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 Year offered:  2019 

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 Link: [Course Website](https://courses.harvard.edu/detail?q=id:d_colgsas_2018_2_207813_001&returnUrl=s…) 

 

 

 

**Prof. Sidney Chalhoub -** We live in a world of polarized, post-truth politics. Blatant lies are major components of public discourse. It seems that the phenomenon is global, accompanied by a resurgence of hate politics, expressed, for example, in the strengthening of racism worldwide. Words appear to have lost the prestige of referring to facts or interpretations presented in good faith and based on discourses of proof which, however contested, meant the recognition of a certain shared terrain of disputation. History as a form of knowledge has been affected by the current situation, with historians often accused of embracing political causes rather than rendering objective knowledge. What went wrong? Under pressure, historians tend to think historically (sic!) ?that is, they seek to understand the trajectory of a problem and to explain change over time. History can help us to gain perspective on events. This seminar is an attempt to tell a history of thinking about history from the Enlightenment to the present, through the reading of some key texts and authors. The idea is to show that disputes about the meaning of history and the value of historical knowledge have often been quite intense without resulting in a world of epistemological dystopia and political dysfunction. Some of the questions to be discussed are: What is a historical fact? Whose history should historians tell? Is there progress in history? What is historical change and how to explain it? We will also discuss key concepts deployed by historians today, such as class, gender, and race.

 

 



 

 See also:- [ Fall 2018 - Spring 2019 ](/course-categories/2018-2019)