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Date: | Tue, 19 Oct 1999 13:17:44 -0500 |
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Although I am not involved with the SHA symposia on History vs. Anthropology,
I am an historical archaeology graduate student at the University of West
Florida-so I feel I can comment. Historians ARE influenced by theory. Take
for example two Old South historians, Elizabeth Fox-Genovese and her husband,
Eugene. She is heavily influenced by feminist theory and her husband is a
Marxist! Fawn Brodie has written an "intimate" history of Thomas Jefferson
which has a definite psychological slant. Historians are no more objective
than other disciplines. The act of interpreting historical documents (and the
archaeological record) in itself creates bias. The historical and
archaeological records themselves are biased because they are incomplete!
Historians need to climb down from their ivory tower and understand that not
every meaningful thing about a culture, past or present, is written down and
locked away for safe keeping in Special Collections or the Rare Book Room.
Archaeology IS NOT the handmaiden to history.
I'd like to know where this folklorist got her degree.
Marie Pokrant
Marie E. Pokrant
University of West Florida
Pensacola, FL 32514
850-474-3015
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