The Subjective Self: Teaching Student Historians to Ask "Who am I?"

Authors

  • Catherine Jane Denial Knox College

Keywords:

Reflection, Subjective, Perspective, Bias

Abstract

Thanks to an assignment that asked students to reflect upon what had influenced them as historians, students in HIST 285: The Historian's Workshop at Knox College began to talk more reflexively about the identities of the historians they read, and the cultural moment in which works were created.  They learned historical empathy by putting themselves in the shoes of other historians and looking at the moment a given work was produced.  Students also became more nuanced critics of their own research, giving deep consideration to why they pursued certain studies over others and making informed choices about the research principles and methodologies by which they would abide.

Author Biography

Catherine Jane Denial, Knox College

Burkhardt Distinguished Chair of History

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Published

2016-12-16

Issue

Vol. 5 No. 2 (2016): Fall

Section

Tool Box

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