Lecture 1: Introduction

by
Ayesha Kamal Bhatti
 What is History?
• A past event?
• Time before the creation of writing?
• Story of a person, place or an object?
 Why do we study history?
• To learn from our mistakes?
• To understand ourselves?
• To understand the world we live in?
• Why do we need to learn about ourselves?
• To hear strange stories of about strange things
 What is Heritage?
• Heritage refers to something inherited from
the past. The word has several different
senses, including:
• Natural heritage, an inheritance of fauna and
flora, geology, landscape and landforms, and
other natural resources
• Cultural heritage, the legacy of physical
artifacts and intangible attributes of a group
or society: man-made heritage
 What is Culture?
• The term "culture," which originally meant the cultivation
of the soul or mind, acquires most of its later modern
meanings in the writings of the 18th-century German
thinkers, who were on various levels developing Rousseau's
criticism of ″modern liberalism and Enlightenment″. Thus a
contrast between "culture" and "civilization" is usually
implied in these authors, even when not expressed as such.
Two primary meanings of culture emerge from this period:
culture as the folk-spirit having a unique identity and
culture as cultivation of waywardness or free individuality.
The first meaning is predominant in our current use of the
term "culture," although the second still plays a large role in
what we think culture should achieve, namely the full
"expression" of the unique or "authentic" self.
 Uncovering the Past
• History is Happening
• Archeology: Study of Past based on what
people left behind
Anthropology:
• Study of Humans
Two types of Anthropology:
• Physical Anthropology
• Cultural Anthropology
• Forensic Anthropology
 Geography
• Study of the face of the Earth
• Physical Geography
• Human Geography
 Sources
• Primary source: an account of an event
created by someone who took part in and
witnessed the event
• Secondary Source: information gathered by
someone who did not take part in or witness
an event.
Primary Sources
 Assignment
• Present an evidence from your history.
• What does it tell us about you?
• Is it a primary source or a secondary source?
• How is it a part of your:
Heritage
Culture
Physical or Cultural form
Geography