Professional Historian and History Consultancy Services Brisbane
Category: What Is History Meaning?
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More Than This: “I could feel at the time there was no way of knowing” (Nihilism but beyond it)
Rorty Music: Nihilism but beyond it Fallen leaves in the night on the stable sea tide… I could feel at the time There was no way of knowing Fallen leaves in the night Who can say where they’re blowing? As free as the wind Hopefully learning Why the sea on the tide Has no…
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Historical Amnesia and Uncovering School History
Schools and education policy “It has become commonplace to remark that historians of education have become less interested in schools and schooling, and more interested in a wider range of educational institutions, not to mention education that takes place beyond formal organizations. Gary McCulloch has explored in detail the many different directions that historians…
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Mitt Romney Thesis and Evangelicalism
David French’s article in The Atlantic (October 14, 2022) is an interesting analysis on ‘The Trump’ phenomena. French connects Trumpism to the Mitt Romney martyr thesis on events of 2012, and, behind that pattern of behaviour, a right-wing version of American evangelicalism. It had to do with the role of Newt Gingrich during a moment…
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“Double Reign”? Caught in Nostalgia – Howard’s “Conservative Constant”
What is this “conservative constant” that John Howard talks about? It is fortuitous that this month, at my book club, we are reading Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence. I certainly would not defend that version of American modernism, however, its critique of aristocratic and traditional conservatism is an eye-opener, if only the hoi…
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The Squeezed
My new sociological model. Politicians and bureaucrats at the top, bottom-thinking in a tight bubble of a worldview, and thinking well of their ‘success’. The public frustrated at policy failure. And policy researchers and developers in the squeeze of being under-deployed and under-utilised in their careers. The solutions are maddeningly obvious to the educated, but…
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Who is objecting to the Voice of the Historian?
“History and historians play a crucial role in Australian culture. They are foundational to other fields in the arts, with historical research often underpinning film, theatre, literature and even, on occasion, dance. A government serious about implementing a cultural policy for the future must make space for history and historians in the formulation of that…
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Extraordinary Times and the Wisdom of Ages
“…it’s one of these moments where you feel like an era has come to an end and the world is a little emptier,” so spoke the wisdom of Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, on the occasion of the passing of Olivia Newton-John. In a matter of only a few days, two Australian icons in…
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The Night of Present Moment
The breeze is blowing. What will come With the wind? Passing memories Of you, love. The crest of The day. Light has gone. And thoughts turn to you. I sigh. What is there to be, I said Conversations have Past, and now The silence of the Night. Empty and…
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Exceptionalism and Conceit
You have to ask American Senator Ted Cruz, who’s propaganda is he and the gun lobby defending? Do we ennoble savagery, and do we falsify civility? These are the questions for the times, and it goes to exceptionalism for personal and national conceit. Exceptionalism is the condition of being different from the norm. For nations,…
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A Call for Cultural Education, Intellectually Famed in the Global Dialogue
The key words here, in President Biden’s response, is ‘other countries.’ Why do American scholars struggle to get their messages across in this climate of violence? I suggest it is more than the category of religion, and it is about the way the category of culture is framed for the internal dialogue. To de-frame…