CSCL 1501W in a nutshell

I had a lovely conversation with the one and only Mandi Selvey tonight about our thoughts on the Fasolt text, and the connections we made from the reading with outer sources. We both agreed that there is an undeniable relation between the entirety of our course and the article itself. Certain overlying themes that were hugely prominent would be the following ideas: firstly, "wie es eigentlich gewesen"- what Mandi called the FRENCH saying that our class has worked to uncover (sorry, Mandi. I had to. 'Twas hilarious), secondly, history cannot be told objectively, and finally, our knowledge of the past is incomplete (p3). Mandi emphasized that she feels as though our entire work done in this class has been toward comprehending this very article. I agreed that much of what we have referenced in outer sources relate heavily to what Fasolt argues. History is undoubtedly recorded subjectively as well as incompletely as demonstrated by: our diverse protocols and the biased versions of what actually happened ie. the tea partiers videos, Glenn Beck's existence, the Fort Snelling article, etc...

I touched on the idea of the anachronisms that occur when the line between past and present is fuzzed. As Fasolt states on page 10 of the article (in referring to the line drawn between past and present), "And a moment's reflection shows that none is likely ever to be found. Where could that line be drawn? A second ago? A millisecond? Last year? The birth of Christ? The creation of the universe?" This concept that the distinction between past and present never being fully defined is intriguing to me, and we could both see the validity behind such an argument.

Mandi highlighted a moment from the article on page 15, "There is a whole series of conceptual pairs on which one could relay to make the difference between the two sides of history intelligible. Just now I used the distinction between theory and practice. I could as well have called it the difference between the objective and the subjective sides of history." Our very course title is based upon what Fasolt speaks of; in referencing the theory and practice of history, he acknowledges the essence of what Ben drills in our heads every class. There is much to be discovered about history and furthermore, historiography.