The Disneyfication of History. Why?

[Bang!Zoom!]

Disneyfication is not really a word, but a concept. Follow me for a second here.

 

When you are reading or studying history, how much effort is needed to locate myths, misunderstandings, various cultural views, resources and try to get to the heart of the matter as it really happened?

 

Why do you think there are so many interpretations of historical events, and how do you handle finding the truths among the flotsam of materials out there?

 

Do you question with a critical eye the stories and people? Do you have to supplement for balance? Is it a difficult subject to teach? Have you seen material that is full of agenda and error?

 

How do you strike a comfortable balance with teaching history and finding materials that feel of the right quality?

[Plink]

Way too many questions for my small brain, but here is my 2 cents anyway:

 

History may have only happened one way, but it is perceived many different ways. Different people with different backgrounds, religions, and biases will have divergent views of the same event. Also, as we learn more through archaeology, texts, etc. our views may change. A critical eye is important, as is a willingness to look at the same event from various perspectives. I don't know if it requires effort exactly, but it does require being intentional.

 

Every resource is flawed. You won't find anything that perfectly articulates events from every perspective and with every detail captured with complete accuracy.

[I.Dup.]

I posted this somewhere else, but will post here again for the sake of opening up dialogue. AFA American history goes, I think everything is geared toward furthering the idea that our country is the best in the world, that we are smarter, richer, and more civilized than any other nation. When in fact, the civilized people were actually the Native Americans, compared to the barbaric Europeans who came over here and ravaged everything. But I think the myth about our founding fathers and how great and wonderful our country is lives on because we want to think of ourselves as so superior. So that is what is taught in schools.

[regentrude]

There is no such thing as "unbiased" history. Every person who recorded historic events did so from a certain perspective. Just recall the saying that it's the winners who write history.

Detecting bias is sometimes not very hard. I grew up in a communist country, and everything we were taught in history was spun from a political bias and clearly following an agenda, but even as school children we were able to detect the slant, roll our eyes, and filter out the worst of it.

The more different sources for your materials you use, the more balanced your view will be. But fact is: there will still be bias.

I have chosen not to worry about it. I use books that have no detectable-to-me bias, I use lectures from scholars who are accepted as experts in their fields, and I teach my children to think critically. There is no time to listen to ten different interpretations of every.single historical event, it is simply not realistic. There is bias already in the selection of topics and areas covered. So, I do not claim to teach unbiased comprehensive history. I do my best, and, to be honest, focus on things that interest me.

My children can think and read; they have the tools to explore a topic further if they are interested in digging deeper.

In addition to all the good comments above, I find that history aimed at children seems especially hard. Authors seem to find it too easy to remove nuance, wanting to dumb down motivations, and reduce difficult choices and situations to simple things.

[Chava_Raizel]

It's been said that history is written by the victors. Everything is biased. I don't think it's possible to have a history text that isn't. However, I do like trying to find materials that show more than one side. This helps to show that there are two sides (sometimes more!) to the story, and plants the idea that you shouldn't take history at face value.

 

So, for example - when you read about the Revolutionary War, it's nearly always pro-America. I like to use the book My Brother Sam is Dead to show that it wasn't all glory and greatness. There was another side, besides the obvious and not all of the colonists were for the war.