Page 53 - Balancing between the present and the past

3.1 Introduction
In his book Logics of History, social historian William Sewell Jr. (2005) noted that
historians should respect the differences that separate one period from another. He
argued, “We cannot know what an act or utterance means and what its consequences
might be without knowing the semantics, the technologies, the conventions, in brief,
the logics, that characterize the world in which the action takes place” (p. 10). Other
historians also stress the importance of considering the contextual circumstances 3 when interpreting historical phenomena (e.g., Bevir, 2002; Gaddis, 2002; Tully, 1988).
Accordingly, as student ability to contextualize historical phenomena is considered an important component of historical thinking, such conceptualization is being incorporated into history education worldwide (e.g., Lévesque, 2008; Seixas & Morton, 2013; Van Drie & Van Boxtel, 2008).
In history education, it is possible to contextualize historical sources and phenomena, including persons, events, and developments (Havekes, Coppen, Luttenberg, & Van Boxtel, 2012). When history education researchers discuss the contextualization of the actions of people and groups in the past, they often use the term historical perspective taking (HPT; e.g., Davis, Yeager, & Foster, 2001; Doppen, 2000). Though people in the past lived under different circumstances and viewed the world through different belief systems, many students might assume that people of the past had the same goals, intentions, attitudes, and beliefs as people in today’s society, and as such, this presentism might result in misunderstandings about the past (Barton & Levstik, 2004; Lee & Ashby, 2001). For example, without the ability to perform HPT, students could not explain that Julius Caesar could not have breakfasted in Rome and dined in the Gaul region of France on the same day, as the transportation necessary for such a trip was not available during Caesar’s time (Lévesque, 2008). Engaging in HPT could avoid presentism and help students understand and explain historical agents’ decisions and historical phenomena (Van Boxtel & Van Drie, 2012). Some scholars also argue that HPT could contribute to citizenship in multicultural societies as it promotes the recognition and understanding of other people’s views (e.g., Barton, 2012; Den Heyer, 2003; Rüsen, 2004). For example, Seixas and Peck (2004) argued that to promote students’ social and political orientation and moral judgment, they must engage in HPT assignments.
Contextualizing historical agents’ actions
51