Unit 1 Quest - 2 Minute Review!

Dr. Hull @Trinity

This is a quick review of Unit 1, basic terms you need to know, et cetera. Make sure you know these or you’re failing the Quest 100%!

OK

the true job of historians

to carefully select, analyze and interpret evidence to uncover the most probable truth!

challenges of the historian (2)

common sense to select evidence does NOT work (in case of Deane, got rid of interesting parts)

contradictions (there are many, you have to find new interpretations to fit all evidence)

three intellectual issues vital to the study of history (hint: questions)

the objectivity question → history not ‘true’ or ‘false', never-ending uncertainty

the audience question → history’s appeal to the youth

the utility question → why history? → Stricker’s 12 rationales

2 favorite reasons, 2 teacher’s favorite reasons, least convincing reason

History allows self-identification! History shows what is possible! (But it also says what “isn’t possible”, so it loses points for that). (#12, #9)

History allows self-identification! History is fun! (#12, #1)

History is a “nationalist delegitimizer…” → Stricker didn’t really believe in it himself. (#5) 

Purpose of Soviet “Presidential Commission of the Russian Federation to Counter Attempts to Falsify History to the Detriment of Russia’s Interests”? Which of Stricker’s reasons does this fall under?

A panel of politicians to defend USSR’s official history of their role in WW2.

Reason #5: nationalist delegitimizer → protects USSR from the “targeted attacks” of other countries to '“falsify” their actual role in WW2… LOL

Memory Laws: intended vs actual use

They used to be to respect the victims of horrific events… but now, they’re being used to block other concepts from education, with self-interest in mind, no doubt.

Russia vs US: Memory Laws

“Protection” of Holocaust to censor Holodomor from education → Russia

“Protection” of slavery to censor racism from education → US

Shifting Cultivation

burning the undergrowth and moving away (planting elsewhere), allowing the land time to regenerate lost nutrients

Three Sisters Crops

provides a “complete protein” → nutritional synergy

corn, beans, and squash

Matrilineal Kinship Networks

not a matriarchy (women not in positions of power), instead it’s that the children follow the line of the mother, not the father. thus, women have a lot more agency and some power, but not as far as a matriarchy.

What are the three types of Native Americans? Simple examples?

Mississippians → Cahokia → pilgrimage? long-distance trade (seashells from afar)

Eastern Woodlands → Lenape → matrilineal kinship networks

Pacific Northwest → salmon ceremonies & potlatches

Approximately how many people lived in Cahokia?

Around the same amount of people living in London at the time!

Was Cahokia truly an “early-day Manhattan”? Why?

Drew all different types of Mississippians — 1/3 population not from Cahokia! 

What were the 3 incredible Native structures? Summary? Significance?

Cahokia → incredible native civilization peaking at population size of London back then!

Great Serpent Mound → tracked advanced astronomical (both solar and lunar) events

Cliff Palace → Mesa Verde, massive palace built into the cliffside

Clearly indicates the ingenuity and complexity of the natives before European contact!

Factors leading to Cahokia’s end?

Political unrest, exhaustion of land’s resources, climate change, droughts, any of the above? Actual reason uncertain.

Significance of serpent mound (purpose & location)

to track astronomical events (both solar and lunar)

the location of an astrobleme (meteorite struck spot of effigy mound millions of years ago)

funny coincidence? maybe.

Taylor’s Catawba native map… explanation? significance? parachute?

parachute = boat, indicating the native harbor? → Supposed to be viewed from all sides → built native culture into the map

Put the Catawba at the center because they made it, indicating they have the power to the Europeans → they tried to gain an advantage early on, shows how advanced they were

Giving the map → in the first place, it’s not a stereotype of colonists showing up with advanced tech and natives all awed, it’s the natives giving the Europeans a map of the political structure of the area → the natives are the teachers!

Atlantic vs Continental history

Atlantic history = interdependence between Europe, Africa and America (focus on trade)

Continental history = recognizing native side of the story (focus on people [natives])

American exceptionalism

the belief that Americans were essentially better than others, focusing solely on the American story!