Reference no: EM133327938

"In seeking to understand the past, we all start from somewhere specific - our own time and our own culture. Whether we are insiders or outsiders to the societies we explore, all of us operate within a set of assumptions and values that shape our understanding of the past...[historians] make concerted efforts to identify our own assumptions and outlooks and, so far as it is humanly possible, to set them aside as we seek to grasp the worlds of other times and places...If we base our understanding of life only on what we personally experience in our own lives, we render ourselves both impoverished and ineffective...Pondering the global past with a receptive heart and an open mind can assist us in enlarging and deepening our sense of self."

1. What assumptions and values shape your understanding of history?

2. In what ways did you have to set your assumptions and values aside "to seek to grasp the worlds of other times and places"?

3. How has this course assisted you in enlarging and deepening your own sense of self?