tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872819010848426693.post6616496804227236004..comments2024-03-28T02:46:03.227-04:00Comments on The Historical Society: The History of Our Place in the UniverseRandallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16755286304057000048noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872819010848426693.post-22021032593468995312013-01-21T08:58:05.746-05:002013-01-21T08:58:05.746-05:00Thanks, everybody! Big history is very challengin...Thanks, everybody! Big history is very challenging, not least I suppose, because unless it's given a course all its own, it's stealing time from the actual body of any other course. And if it's on its own, why not just call it astrophysics or paleontology?<br /><br />I was thinking of something that might be more of an intersection of environmental and intellectual history, I guess. As HCR said, more about questioning how the world view informed the ideas and actions within the period under study.dan allossohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10733670017382794923noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872819010848426693.post-33573408640248626002013-01-17T21:17:52.576-05:002013-01-17T21:17:52.576-05:00Wow, Dan. Great post!
I used to do some stuff wit...Wow, Dan. Great post!<br /><br />I used to do some stuff with the idea of changing views of the world on intellectual understanding of history and religion in my first half of the American history survey. I would start with the Hereford Mappa Mundi with its carefully circumscribed world with Jesus over all, then do the Waldseemuller map with the first view of North America (outside that world), then do the Apollo 17 big blue marble, and end up with the very most recent images from the Hubble of distant universes. It was one of my favorite lectures, and always seemed to leave the students kind of gobsmacked that this could be history. <br /><br />Big history, though? Have tried to teach that, and you know how it went!<br /><br />Anyway, this is a lovely, lovely post. Thanks.hcrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07334093881332383848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872819010848426693.post-69000348893497189542013-01-17T08:49:47.370-05:002013-01-17T08:49:47.370-05:00Great post! Time to re-watch the Sagan stuff on Yo...Great post! Time to re-watch the Sagan stuff on YouTube.<br /><br />Here's a selection from Cynthia Stokes Brown's 2010 essay in Historically Speaking, "Why Aren't More People Teaching Big History?"<br /><br />"It has been almost twenty years since David Christian began saying to his colleagues in the history department at Macquarie University in Sydney that they needed to provide an introductory history course that started at the beginning of time—at the Big Bang itself. After some resistance, his colleagues eventually encouraged Christian to construct and teach such a course, which he did by inviting specialists in astronomy, physics, geology, and biology to cover the material that he could not yet handle.<br /><br />Now, almost twenty years later, how many courses that start with the Big Bang and go to the present are being taught in the world? David Christian has indefatigably written and spoken about the need for big history courses and the rewards of teaching them, but as far as I know there are still no more than about a dozen such courses at the college level. Fred Spier holds the world's only appointment in big history at the University of Amsterdam. Marnie Hughes-Warrington teaches big history courses at Macquarie University; David Christian teaches them at San Diego State University. Their former student Craig Benjamin teaches big history at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, while John Mears has pioneered it at Southern Methodist University. Other big history instructors include Walter Alvarez (geology) at the University of California, Berkeley; Eric Chaisson (astronomy) at Tufts University; Loyal Rue (philosophy and religion) at Luther College; Jonathan Markly at California State University, Fullerton; and myself at Dominican University of California.<br /><br />Many of those teaching big history share my experience of teaching it under the radar. We have often not asked permission, but simply used the names of world history courses on the books and transformed them into big history courses, informing the students of our intentions as we give out the syllabus. This strategy has enabled us to gain experience and to demonstrate the rewards of such courses, particularly the overwhelmingly positive response from students."Randallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16755286304057000048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872819010848426693.post-58828793239666562772013-01-17T08:16:10.589-05:002013-01-17T08:16:10.589-05:00I agree with Chris--fascinating post, Dan. As lon...I agree with Chris--fascinating post, Dan. As long as mankind was in the center of things, expansion meant more power & dominion. Once we figured out we were just a pale blue dot, expansion meant a lessening of our importance. As you point out, in our own lifetimes it's been a constant lesson in lessening! A good reminder is Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot," animated here: http://vimeo.com/51960515.Erichttp://www.theoccasionalceo.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872819010848426693.post-85875031597953463712013-01-16T10:42:45.995-05:002013-01-16T10:42:45.995-05:00Great stuff. Thanks Dan. I'm listening to Bill...Great stuff. Thanks Dan. I'm listening to Bill Bryson's terrific History of Nearly Everything for the 2nd time so that I can answer my kids' questions about the universe. Among other things he notes how important the earth's geological composition is to the maintenance of a habitable atmosphere. There are a lot of planets in the universe, but it's remarkable how many things have to go right for complex life to form, for bloggers to blog, etc.Chris Benekehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08623325601668600846noreply@blogger.com