Comments on: A dispatch from Harvard by the Yarra http://airminded.org/2009/08/03/a-dispatch-from-harvard-by-the-yarra/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-dispatch-from-harvard-by-the-yarra Airpower and British society, 1908-1941 Fri, 25 May 2012 16:07:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Brett Holman http://airminded.org/2009/08/03/a-dispatch-from-harvard-by-the-yarra/comment-page-1/#comment-109769 Brett Holman Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:25:20 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=2285#comment-109769 Reification, there's another word to throw in. I suppose it's about choosing an appropriate level of abstraction (as always). But how do you get around this problem? More world history (a subject we don't seem to do in Australia) or more self-consciously transnational or transchronological courses? Or does that just run the risk of even more simplifying heuristics to make sense of extra material? Reification, there's another word to throw in. I suppose it's about choosing an appropriate level of abstraction (as always). But how do you get around this problem? More world history (a subject we don't seem to do in Australia) or more self-consciously transnational or transchronological courses? Or does that just run the risk of even more simplifying heuristics to make sense of extra material?

]]> By: Erik Lund http://airminded.org/2009/08/03/a-dispatch-from-harvard-by-the-yarra/comment-page-1/#comment-109134 Erik Lund Tue, 04 Aug 2009 17:19:55 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=2285#comment-109134 My second comment was self-parody of the first, which was an attempt to be succinct, but read (to me) as hopelessly obscure. I was inspired, by all things, by Dominique Barthelemy's _The Serf, The Knight and The Historian, an sustained attack on "the feudal revolution of 1000AD." Bathelemey actually uses an idiosyncratic coinage instead of heuristic but makes the useful point that, if you're interested in something medieval other than feudalism, the heuristic of feudalism makes a good jumping off point. Clearly, the less history we teach, the more we need simplifying heuristics. The baton-race of history that leads from Feudalism to Renaissance to Reformation to Enlightenment gives a structure to our understanding of history that allows us to talk about whatever else we might be interested in. (Really, if you're doing the history of naval architecture, do you need someone to tell you that it was a "Catholic Reformation," not a "Counter-Reformation?") The problem I'm identifying is one in whcih we do have the teachers, but they end up grouped by the heuristic. They may be specialists who understand the local and contingent. Their students may come away with an understanding that history is complicated. But just by grouping them as we do, we risk nevertheless obscuring the point that, say, feudalism is just a heuristic, and not a real thing that happened. My second comment was self-parody of the first, which was an attempt to be succinct, but read (to me) as hopelessly obscure.
I was inspired, by all things, by Dominique Barthelemy's _The Serf, The Knight and The Historian, an sustained attack on "the feudal revolution of 1000AD." Bathelemey actually uses an idiosyncratic coinage instead of heuristic but makes the useful point that, if you're interested in something medieval other than feudalism, the heuristic of feudalism makes a good jumping off point.
Clearly, the less history we teach, the more we need simplifying heuristics. The baton-race of history that leads from Feudalism to Renaissance to Reformation to Enlightenment gives a structure to our understanding of history that allows us to talk about whatever else we might be interested in. (Really, if you're doing the history of naval architecture, do you need someone to tell you that it was a "Catholic Reformation," not a "Counter-Reformation?")
The problem I'm identifying is one in whcih we do have the teachers, but they end up grouped by the heuristic. They may be specialists who understand the local and contingent. Their students may come away with an understanding that history is complicated. But just by grouping them as we do, we risk nevertheless obscuring the point that, say, feudalism is just a heuristic, and not a real thing that happened.

]]> By: Brett Holman http://airminded.org/2009/08/03/a-dispatch-from-harvard-by-the-yarra/comment-page-1/#comment-109108 Brett Holman Tue, 04 Aug 2009 07:07:09 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=2285#comment-109108 I've realised that I didn't even mention the name of the prime mover behind the Melbourne Model, vice-chancellor <a href="http://www.unimelb.edu.au/about/seniorexec/davis.html" rel="nofollow">Glyn Davis</a>. Erik: I don't get your second comment, unless it's meant for another blog ... Re your first, yes, that could be a problem. But Melbourne's not (yet) a small history department, certainly not by Australian standards -- 33 academic staff members listed on the <a href="http://www.history.unimelb.edu.au/about/staff/academic.html" rel="nofollow">website</a> (though I know at least one of those is not going to be there for at least three years). That's down from 42 <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20040618224947/www.history.unimelb.edu.au/staff/index.html" rel="nofollow">five years ago</a> (though, to be fair, <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/19990508113543/www.history.unimelb.edu.au/staff/index.html" rel="nofollow">ten years ago</a> it was slightly smaller than it is now, at 31 staff). It's seems it's not so much the raw numbers that's the problem, it's that instead of there being any plan for what specialties are needed, attrition is determining the shape of the department. But that's presumably at least partly a departmental decision, not directly the fault of the Melbourne Model or the global financial crisis. Jonathan: You're right, it's hard to make Yarra (emphasis on the first syllable) rhyme with Harvard or even Havahd :) I've realised that I didn't even mention the name of the prime mover behind the Melbourne Model, vice-chancellor Glyn Davis.

Erik:

I don't get your second comment, unless it's meant for another blog ... Re your first, yes, that could be a problem. But Melbourne's not (yet) a small history department, certainly not by Australian standards -- 33 academic staff members listed on the website (though I know at least one of those is not going to be there for at least three years). That's down from 42 five years ago (though, to be fair, ten years ago it was slightly smaller than it is now, at 31 staff). It's seems it's not so much the raw numbers that's the problem, it's that instead of there being any plan for what specialties are needed, attrition is determining the shape of the department. But that's presumably at least partly a departmental decision, not directly the fault of the Melbourne Model or the global financial crisis.

Jonathan:

You're right, it's hard to make Yarra (emphasis on the first syllable) rhyme with Harvard or even Havahd :)

]]> By: Erik Lund http://airminded.org/2009/08/03/a-dispatch-from-harvard-by-the-yarra/comment-page-1/#comment-109101 Erik Lund Tue, 04 Aug 2009 05:49:53 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=2285#comment-109101 Okay. By that I clearly meant that Simonson's work on the original _Manhunter_ was more awesome than his work on _Thor_. Better? Okay. By that I clearly meant that Simonson's work on the original _Manhunter_ was more awesome than his work on _Thor_.
Better?

]]> By: Jonathan Dresner http://airminded.org/2009/08/03/a-dispatch-from-harvard-by-the-yarra/comment-page-1/#comment-109089 Jonathan Dresner Tue, 04 Aug 2009 02:43:18 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=2285#comment-109089 Yikes. Visually, by the way, "Harvard by the Yarra" also invokes the classic example of the Bostonian accent, "Park the Car by Harvard Yard" (or "Pahk the cah by havahd yahd" as they say): I thought for sure that was the play you were making at first before I realized that the Australian accent would almost certainly interfere with the joke. Yikes.

Visually, by the way, "Harvard by the Yarra" also invokes the classic example of the Bostonian accent, "Park the Car by Harvard Yard" (or "Pahk the cah by havahd yahd" as they say): I thought for sure that was the play you were making at first before I realized that the Australian accent would almost certainly interfere with the joke.

]]> By: Erik Lund http://airminded.org/2009/08/03/a-dispatch-from-harvard-by-the-yarra/comment-page-1/#comment-109045 Erik Lund Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:24:14 +0000 http://airminded.org/?p=2285#comment-109045 Smaller history departments would be less of a problem if they weren't all small in the same way. Consider Early Modern Europe, which we all seem to teach with a Renaissance Italian, Reformation Germanist and Enlightenment French. Not only do we get insane gaps in our basic understanding, ie missing the point that the eighteenth century happened in Germany, too, but we reinforce a tendency to a heuristic analysis both by implying the reification of specific heuristics and by leaving gaps of coverage that can only be filled by heuristic thinking. Smaller history departments would be less of a problem if they weren't all small in the same way. Consider Early Modern Europe, which we all seem to teach with a Renaissance Italian, Reformation Germanist and Enlightenment French. Not only do we get insane gaps in our basic understanding, ie missing the point that the eighteenth century happened in Germany, too, but we reinforce a tendency to a heuristic analysis both by implying the reification of specific heuristics and by leaving gaps of coverage that can only be filled by heuristic thinking.

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