MONTHLY BLOG 96, WHAT’S WRONG WITH PREHISTORY?

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If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2018) Arthur’s Stone, Herefordshire, dating from c.3000 BCE: photo © Tony Belton, 2016 What’s wrong with ‘prehistory’? Absolutely nothing but the name. People refer to ancient monuments as ‘prehistoric’ and everyone knows roughly what is meant. The illustration (above) shows an ancient burial tomb, known […]

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MONTHLY BLOG 95, ‘WHAT IS THE GREATEST SIN IN THE WORLD?’ CHRISTOPHER HILL AND THE SPIRIT OF EQUALITY

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If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2018) Text of short talk given by PJC to introduce the First Christopher Hill Memorial Lecture, (given by Prof. Justin Champion) at Newark National Civil War Centre, on Saturday 3 November 2018. Christopher Hill was not only a remarkable historian – he was also a […]

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MONTHLY BLOG 94, THINKING LONG – STUDYING HISTORY

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If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2018) History is a subject that deals in ‘thinking long’. The human capacity to think beyond the immediate instant is one of our species’ most defining characteristics. Of course, we live in every passing moment. But we also cast our minds, retrospectively and prospectively, along […]

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MONTHLY BLOG 93, HOW TO STUDY HISTORIANS: HISTORIOLOGY, NOT HISTORIOGRAPHY

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If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2018) Historian at work: Scribble, Scribble, Scribble – with acknowledgement to Shutterstock 557773132 ‘Always scribble, scribble, scribble! Eh, Mr Gibbon?’ This kindly put-down from the Duke of Gloucester to Edward Gibbon in 1781 has become a classic from a lackadaisical onlooker, who had just been […]

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MONTHLY BLOG 92, HISTORIANS AT WORK THROUGH TIME

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If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2018) Historians, who study the past, don’t undertake this exercise from some vantage point outside Time. They, like everyone else, live within an unfolding temporality. That’s very fundamental. Thus it’s axiomatic that historians, like their subjects of study, are all equally Time-bound.1 Nor do historians […]

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MONTHLY BLOG 91, PEOPLE SOMETIMES SAY: ‘WE DON’T LEARN FROM THE PAST’ AND WHY THAT STATEMENT IS COMPLETELY ABSURD

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If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2018) People sometimes say, dogmatically but absurdly: ’We don’t learn from the Past’. Oh really? So what do humans learn from, then? We don’t learn from the Future, which has yet to unfold. We do learn in and from the Present. Yet every moment of […]

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MONTHLY BLOG 90, CELEBRATING HUMAN DIVERSITY AMIDST HUMAN UNITY

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If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2018) How do we combat racism, which does exist, without endorsing the idea of separate human ‘races’, which don’t exist? All humans share one big world-wide family-tree. Maybe squabbling, maybe prejudiced, maybe many things, lots of good as well as bad – but all sisters […]

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MONTHLY BLOG 89, AS THE LANGUAGE OF ‘RACE’ DISAPPEARS, WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE THE ASSAULT UPON RACISM?

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If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2018)   Hands around the Globe: © WikiClipArt 2018 Many people, including myself, have declared that the language of ‘race’ should become obsolete.1 (Indeed, that is slowly happening). Talk of separate human ‘races’ is misleading terminology, since all humans belong to one species: homo sapiens. […]

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MONTHLY BLOG 88, HOW I WRITE AS A HISTORIAN

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If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2018) Invited by Buff-Coat to comment on how I compose works of history, the answer fell into nine headings, written as reminders to myself: 1 Learn to enjoy writing: writing is a craft skill, which can be improved with regular practice.2 Learn to enjoy it.3 […]

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MONTHLY BLOG 87, BURNED BOATS

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If citing, please kindly acknowledge copyright © Penelope J. Corfield (2018) Firework-flames @ Clipart flames-clipart.html (2018) What to confess this month, having burned boats last month, about my intention to finish a big never-ending writing project? First message: yes, it’s good to announce THE BOOK END, even if it still remains tantalisingly-nigh-but-not-yet-quite achieved. Burning one’s […]

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