How do historians contemplate on the phase /idea of “contemporary”, or the (historical) present? Are there any conferences, blogs actively engage with the present from the perspective of history?

As an art history student, I feel that I’m obliged to reflect upon my responsibilities in light of the pandemic. So far 2020 has been a bizarre year, the idea of “crisis” has in a way, become the texture of our living. I wonder what role should humanities scholars carry on to engage with the present. As the waves of environmental crisis, the coronavirus, the political-economic crisis hit the underlying (probably historical problems), what are some of the important questions we can raise, in the academic field as well as dressing the generic public?

1 Answers 2020-08-09

My wife is looking for ancient world history textbooks NOT written from a western/European perspective. Can you help?

My homeschooler wife is hoping to find world history written not by colonisers (forgive the politicized shorthand). But she's having a hard time googling. I'm wondering if you guys could help us figure out the best search terms to find this sort of stuff. Thanks!

1 Answers 2020-08-09

In A Post On r/Funny About Arabic Numerals A Commenter Asserted That Arabic Numerals and All Mathematical Innovations Ascribed to Medieval Arab Mathematicians Are Are Actually Ancient Indian Inventions. Is This Correct?

As an aside, the post suggested anti-Indian racism to be the cause that people did not know this. If it is true is there any evidence that racism is the reason it is not common knowledge?

1 Answers 2020-08-09

Is there any evidence that ancient cultures understood sunburn?

1 Answers 2020-08-09

Why is the majority language in Switzerland, which was ruled by the Romans for six centuries, a Germanic language and not a romance language?

It strikes me as odd that the primary language spoken in Switzerland is Germanic rather than romantic. Switzerland borders both northern Italy and southeast France, regions that primary speak romance languages, and was controlled by the Romans for almost as long as those regions.

True, Switzerland was conquered by Germans after the fall of the western Roman empire, but so were Spain, France, and Italy, and yet the vast majority of modern-day populations in those countries still speak romance languages.

1 Answers 2020-08-09

Why were german speaking people so widespread in central (outside of the core german, austrian area) and eastern europe before ww2?

1 Answers 2020-08-09

What was the suicide rate of slaves in America?

1 Answers 2020-08-09

The 8th amendment prohibits, among other things, excessive bail, so there must have been jails at the time. But the first "modern" police force did not exist until 1838. Who was responsible for arrests/jails in early America?

The fact that the 8th amendment was ratified in 1791 means there must have been jails at the time. And if there were jails, there must have been government agents responsible for making arrests. But the first police force did not appear until nearly half a century later, and that was only in Boston.

Who made arrests in 1790s America? Who ran the jails?

1 Answers 2020-08-09

What were Tudor Era Titles actually worth?

I guess this question applies to the medieval times and the centuries after the tudor times, and also other European regions at the times.

But, with figures called the Xth Marques of Northhampton and the Yth Earl of Derby, what do these titles mean? As far as I've been able to find so far is that they are just things people refer to them as (titles) but what were they?

Was it an office someone would attain, or a government position or just a name someone would be granted for political bragging rights or prestige?

Also is there anything I can read to get my head around this stuff? Thank you in advance.

2 Answers 2020-08-09

Sunday Digest | Interesting & Overlooked Posts | August 03, 2020–August 09, 2020

Previous

Today:

Welcome to this week's instalment of /r/AskHistorians' Sunday Digest (formerly the Day of Reflection). Nobody can read all the questions and answers that are posted here, so in this thread we invite you to share anything you'd like to highlight from the last week - an interesting discussion, an informative answer, an insightful question that was overlooked, or anything else.

4 Answers 2020-08-09

I looked in an 1860-70ish Geography book in a antique store yesterday and was struck at Africa being divided into “Cacausian Africa” and “Negro Africa”. Has the concept of “whiteness” insofar as it’s connected to “being Cacausian” actually become more narrow?

To be clear “Cacausian Africa” referred to North Africa (Egypt, Morocco, etc.) not to white colonists or colonies.

1 Answers 2020-08-09

Does anyone have any info on no man's land in world war two, how large was it compared to would war one and other ways it was different?

There's plenty of information on it in world war one but I've not been able to find anything about it for world war two. Logically I would think it would be larger and definitely more fluid but would love some hard information.

1 Answers 2020-08-09

Rules Roundtable XXIV: What Can a Non-Flair Do to Help?

While, as noted in previous Roundtables, we welcome everyone to write answers on /r/AskHistorians, we know that there are people out there who might not feel like they yet have the chops for it (keep at it, we believe in you!), and of course also users who might just prefer to mostly lurk, for their own reasons.

But /r/AskHistorians is a community that isn't just the mods, and isn't just the flairs, but rather one which includes everyone who comes here to spend some time and enjoy the subreddit, and even if you are still learning, or just haven't found the perfect question, there are many important ways which you can help contribute to the subreddit, and help to be a part of what makes it great.

If an Answer is Written in AH and No One is Around to Read It, Did It Answer the Question?

Most simply, the mere fact that you are here, reading this sentence, means a lot to us! While contributors write about history because it is their passion, having people read what they write is certainly a bit part of that too. There are few warmer, fuzzier feelings than knowing that the work you put into an answer paid off, and that people out there came away with richer knowledge about the topic than before. Simply being one of those readers is thus a pretty essential part of the community. No matter how much of a silent lurker you might be, know that you're part of this community as well.

There are plenty of things that a reader can do beyond mere consumption too. Upvoting of course is an important part of the site, and allows a clear, easy to understand signal that you enjoyed a piece you read, as is writing a simple "Thank You!" (or upvoting an existing one). There is hardly an historian on here who doesn't appreciate a good follow-up question, either, so don't hold back if an answer just makes you wonder further. And if you really enjoyed an answer, cross-posting it to feature subreddits such as /r/DepthHub or /r/BestOf can be a great way to show your appreciation (make sure to ping the writer when you do!), as well as dropping the link to it in the Sunday Digest at the end of the week.

The same is true with questions as well, of course. Upvotes on questions give it visibility, and correlates closely with how likely it is to get an answer. Browsing the sub via /r/AskHistorians/New might not mean you see many answers, but it does mean you see all the new questions. If you see one that is interesting or novel, make sure to upvote it! Help it gain a better chance at the answer it deserves! And of course, if you see an AMA or Feature thread, make sure to upvote that too!

If You See Something, Say Something!

Readers aren't merely passive parts of the community though, they are part of the front-line defense against rules breaking! Us Mods are proud of the reputation we have as a hard-nosed, take no nonsense team, but despite our best efforts, we aren't omnipresent, and sometimes bad comments don't get removed immediately simply because we don't see them quick enough. But there are a lot more of you than there are of us!

If you see a comment that you feel likely breaks the rules, report it. It goes into a modqueue of comments for us to review, and we also get little pop-up alerts to let us know, so we can respond pretty quickly in most cases. If you are reporting a comment though, in most cases, please don't respond. Downvoting is fine, but while we appreciate the fervor some users have in explaining why a comment sucks, that is generally a role best left to the modteam. Sometimes the user is wrong, and sometimes while well meaning in their actions the user ends up breaking a rule themselves, such as the civility rule. More basically though, it just means an increased comment count, and a larger sea of "[Removed]", which is frustrating to everyone else.

So hit that report button, but let us handle it.

If You Want to Know Something, Ask It!

While it is the answers that give /r/AskHistorians its reputation, perhaps, those literally can't happen without the questions themselves. Asking questions is a vital part of what makes this subreddit tic, and we're continually indebted to the curiosity and wonder about the past that users bring every day. It is a contribution that really can't be underrated, and there is a reason that we even have special flair for users who are asking questions most consistently.

Help Carry the Load

Many of you all have been here for years at this point, and know that while we allow repeat questions, some have been asked to death, and for some it is unlikely an answer is going to top one from an earlier thread. The irony too, of course, is that these oft-repeated questions might have a fairly easy answer to write, but because they are repeated, no one wants to bother! Things are only compounded of course by how god-awful the native-built search functions are on reddit of course.

But if you have a good sense of how to use search effectively, or else know that https://camas.github.io/reddit-search exists, or maybe know your way around the subreddit's FAQ or Booklist, being able to provide a link there to a relevant question is very useful, and much appreciated task that anyone can help out with! It puts less pressure on users to answer everything, and means that more users get the answers that they are looking for. And if you keep doing it enough, you might end up with some fancy 'FAQ Finder' flair to boot!


You can find the rest of this Rules Roundtable series here

3 Answers 2020-08-09

Why does the Beaufighter MKX have an uneven set of machine guns on the wings?

There’s two on one wing and three on the other. Why is this?

1 Answers 2020-08-09

How did urban growth and founding of new cities happen during the industrial revolutions within Europe (1830 - 1914)?

see title.

I wouldn't mind visualizations, graphs, numbers, data sets to play with for that time period.

Besides that my main interest would be the population dynamics, the spatial effects, the migration or growth dynamics of existing population groups. I wouldn't mind explanatory answers which incorporate causal relationships for how the urban population growth happened, but really would be fine with descriptive answers.

1 Answers 2020-08-09

The area that the Kievan Rus/Russians held doesn't seem big compared to modern-day Russia. There is so much more to the east of Moscow that didn't belong to them according to maps. Was this simply uninhabited land or was there another country or people in Siberia that got integrated or conquered?

1 Answers 2020-08-09

What were the tactics and military Theories used by the Generals in the Napoleonic wars?

1 Answers 2020-08-09

hy is it that no '1st generation' Christian writings survive, but we have histories from around the same period and many copies of later Christian writings (New Testament etc)?

I've been looking at early Christianity, and although we seem to have many copies of early writings in the New Testament, we have nothing before that or earlier. I'm just wandering if there is any specific reason for that (Mass destruciton of text), or if it's just unlucky!

Many thanks

1 Answers 2020-08-09

What happened during a Spanish "Auto de Fé" apart from the burning of people?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto-da-f%C3%A9

This questions relates to Auto de Fé (Act of Faith) ceremonies held in Spain during the times of the Spanish Inquisition. The most popular image I have in my mind is of people being burned at the stake for being heretics or non-Catholic. This, as far I as I know, was a minor aspect of these events, so what was actually happening most of the time during an Auto de Fé? And, was people getting burned at the stake a common occurrence?

1 Answers 2020-08-09

Were the Vikings actually unusually brutal for their era, or does their reputation owe more to Christian progaganda?

It is hard not to associate "viking" with rape, slaughter, and horrific treatment of captives and defenceless peasants. And yes, by definition a viking made a living through plundering, which is inevitably a violent business, where genuine psychopaths find an environment they can really cut loose in. But were the Norsemen actually any more harsh than other peoples, during this chaotic, war-torn period? Did the disunity and tough living conditions of their homelands breed a really unpleasant culture, or did Christians just demonise them due to the whole "robbing churches" thing?

1 Answers 2020-08-09

Searching for primary sources on the Atlanta Public Transport system.

Dear members of r/AskHistorians,

I am planning on starting writing my bachelor thesis in North-American studies for the coming semester, and feel like I want to discuss the developments in public transportation within the city of Atlanta. Throughout my studies, I have learned about the myriad of ways segregation took place within the US, and I want to prove that the development of the Atlantan Public transportation network (MARTA) was a defining factor in the segregation of the city that followed. I already found many interesting sources regarding this topic, but as I want to write a historical paper, I am aware of the need for trustworthy primary sources.

Normally i would look for these sources in my university library, but as Corona has closed down all buildings, I am relying on online sources to actually start working on my paper. Sadly, this has been difficult to manage, and I feel like I cannot find a good primary source to kick things off. Public transportation as a theme seems almost non-existent in older American media.

Therefore, I am asking here for some guidance in finding good primary sources online. I hope this post is still within the guidelines of this sub, and I would of course appreciate any information on the subject at hand in general.

1 Answers 2020-08-09

How accurate was the play Hamilton in depicting its characters views on slavery?

More specifically characters like John Laurens, Elizabeth Schuyler, and Hamilton himself (especially John, whose character’s main motivation seems to be liberating black slaves).

I’ve heard that there are numerous points in the play that aren’t entirely accurate to real life, such as how Philip Schuyler did actually have sons, something I could attribute to Lin’s desire to tell a certain story.

However I was wondering if these people really were as anti-slavery as the play described them as or if it was simply a more charitable portrayal of some not so nice people.

1 Answers 2020-08-09

Between the 19th and 20th centuries how did approaches to psychiatry differ— and how did perceptions of mental health alter?

1 Answers 2020-08-09

Fantasy novels often have travelers sleeping outdoors wrapped only in a cloak. Is this how medieval travelers slept, or did they have some other "camping equipment"?

1 Answers 2020-08-09

Was the Magna Carta "resurrected" after 400 years of relative obscurity by Edward Coke?

Started reading Lepore's These Truths and couldn't help being intrigued by this section and wanting to know more.

Breaking my curiosity down a little further:

  • How inconsequential was the Magna Carta before?
  • Was its importance overplayed as part of Parliamentarian political strategy?
  • How much did Coke's arguments contribute to the Magna Carta gaining its enduring symbolic power?

1 Answers 2020-08-09

1163 / 7255

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