Task:
1000 word reflective essay
(This is not like the standard essay)
The purpose of the essay is to reflect on how I have developed as a historian on the course/module, including some specific mentions of a PowerPoint presentation assignment completed a while ago (which was done in a group, and is below).
Do not worry much about the specifics (Many lectures were canceled on my course and the members of my group for the presentation largely did independent work)
All information and guidance is below (The task will make more sense), feel free to ask if you have any questions or clarifications 🙂
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An example of a reflective article, if you want an idea of what is expected. (the essay does not have to relate to the below article, it is just one of many possible examples)
- Michael Roper, ‘The Unconscious Work of History’ Cultural and Social History vol.11, no.2 (2014), 169-193
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You are asked to submit a reflexive essay of 1000 words. Your essay should reflect on how you have developed as a historian through the work undertaken for the module. It should also address the wider questions raised during the module concerning the contemporary value of history.
Reflect on your development as a historian
Within the essay, you may focus on specific aspects of your presentation work, such as the methods you employed in researching your sources – how you identified the sources, how you accessed them, what questions you asked about them and how did they respond – or how you worked and the implications of the decisions you made.
However, the essay must not be a simple narrative or description of what you did, but should analyse how your presentation and the other work you undertook during the module illuminated a historiographical or methodological issue for you, and how that helped you to develop as a historian.
Address a question relating to the contemporary value of history
Use one of our History of Now questions as your starting point:
- Why does history matter as a discipline in order to understand the contemporary world?
- How is history constructed in the present? How is what is seen to be historically significant scholarship driven by contemporary preoccupations?
- How do we understand today better because of the past? How do we understand the past better because of today?
- What sorts of primary evidence do historians draw upon to understand the past? How can this evidence help us to understand the present?
- How is history used by e.g. politicians, journalists, activists
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Purpose of the exercise
The aim of the reflexive essay is to evaluate your understanding of the themes and topics covered by the module from the point of view of method and approach. In other words, you are not being asked to present an argument about the past or an interpretation of the past as you would in a standard essay. Instead, you are asked to reflect on and then present an argument as to why a particular approach or method is the most effective way to arrive at that argument or interpretation. In sum the reflexive essay addresses the questions ‘How do we do history?’ and ‘Why do we do history?’
In the course of your History degree, the reflexive essay is usually connected with work undertaken for collaborative research in preparation for a group presentation. It therefore provides an opportunity to make your individual contribution to the group presentation visible to the examiners.
In a standard essay, you expect to present an argument, and strive to avoid simply narrating the past events you are trying to analyse. The same applies to the reflexive essay: it should not be a simple narrative of what you did, or a repetition of those aspects of the group’s work which you produced in the presentation itself. Rather, you should consider the experience of group and collaborative research as just part of the evidence you can use to support the argument you wish to make about the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of history.
Other forms of evidence should include: your developing understanding of the content of the module within the group context; the ways in which the group work has influenced your approach to the research and production of historical knowledge more widely; highlighted pieces of reading, or work by particular historians which have especially shaped your thinking.
There is also the opportunity to reflect on the skills and aptitudes developed through the experience of group and collaborative research, and weigh this up against the more conventional experience of working as a sole historical researcher. Finally, you might want to connect work done for the module in question with work undertaken on other modules as part of your degree: can you see a pattern emerging about the kind of historian you are becoming?
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Asking questions
You should also use some or all of the following questions to shape your reflexive essay:
- What are the central questions raised in the module about the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of history? What have you learned about historical methods and approaches?
- What historical methods did you employ in researching your sources? How did you identify the sources? How did you access them?
- What historical methods did you use in analysing your sources? How did you choose the appropriate methods for your located sources? What did you learn about using historical evidence more generally?
- What historical methods did you employ in structuring your main points and developing your key argument?
- What historical methods did you employ in presenting your material?
- Which particular historical skills did you contribute to the group’s work overall?
- What areas would you need to improve or still develop?
- What did you learn about the processes of collaborative historical research from participation in the group project?
- At the end of the module, does your individual progression bring greater insight into some of the wider questions with which the module began?
Writing the essay
In order to respond to the above questions, you should seek to address a central question or issue about the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of history which became apparent during the module, and about which you gained further understanding through the work you did, including for the group presentation. You should then aim to present a structured argument which defends the position you have taken, and the choices you have made.
In order to support your argument, you might draw on the following types of evidence:
- Evidence of reading from secondary sources that address research methods and issues. Did you encounter any of the problems discussed by these sources, or find their reflections insightful?
- How you solved particular problems and developed your understanding of the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of history. Can you show the reader your careful thinking about skills, methods and approach, and your progression in mastering them?
- Evidence of how you thought through particular methodological, philosophical, theoretical or political issues which shaped your approach to the group research
- Examples of how you searched for, collected and ordered material BUT ONLY if coupled with how you analysed, drew impressions from and conclusions from that evidence
- Awareness of the problems and possibilities involved in using specific kinds of historical evidence, relating them to the overall themes of the module
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Presentation
Below is the group presentation powerpoint
My slides are the last 2 (on ‘Race in France’ and ‘Conclusion’). The script is also below, my parts being slide 7 and 8
Presentation title: How is history used by journalists to interpret and analyse the BLM movement in the United Kingdom?
Script:
1st slide
- Say what question is
- 1. Origins of BLM and media reaction
- 2. Bristol riots
- 3. Different viewpoints
- 4. Geographical perspectives
2nd slide
- Founded in 2013 by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opti Tometi – facebook page, murder of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman in 2012
- Movement spread to UK – protests in Birmingham, Manchester, London and Nottingham 2016, tram and bus networks shut down
- Reaction shows lack of diversity in this country
- COVID19 pandemic in 2020 used as a way to shame activists
- The sun – ‘cultural virus’
- We see this throughout history, CRM and slave trade – heavy bias towards white people and their stories – impacts the representation of black people we have today
- We continue to see this lack of representation today, the continued negative media narrative surrounding the mistreatment of ethnic minorities
- history is used by journalists and the media today to provide a subconscious blueprint The lack of diversity dating back centuries has continued and means there is no change today
3rd slide
– Incidents of police violence – 12% occur towards black people (BP only 3.3% of population), 2 time more likely to die in police custody (401 deaths in Met custody – no convictions) – threat of death by police present
– SL – fatally stabbed in racist attack, video of suspects, no convictions – “insufficient evidence” – parents complain police are not doing enough and lack of effort is due to racial prejudices – predates BLM but was used in subsequent articles about BLM’s cause, especially in Britain, controversy over Sun reporting suspects as guilty on front page
– SR – Met Police constable repeatedly physically assaulted her in custody – yanked her by hair, dragged across floor, punched in head and neck pressed
– Both these cases and others fuelled BLM protests in Britain
4th slide
- In the United Kingdom, it included during early June the performative removal of Edward Colston’s statue from its plinth in Bristol.
- The events of 7 June followed years of campaigning against the public display of an individual that transported an estimated 84,500 Africans into slavery and was responsible for the deaths of approximately 19,300 men, women, and children.
5th slide
- Journalist and historian Claudine van Hensbergen said in her article on the 8th June 2020, a day after the riot that ‘‘What has happened in Bristol will become a defining moment in the life of the Colston statue.’’, as she goes on to say that the statue should be fished out of the water and stuck in a museum so the country can use Colston to learn from his mistakes. However throughout the article there is really a lack of opinion.
- Whereas David Olusoga describes the events as ‘‘The historical symmetry of this moment is poetic. A bronze effigy of an infamous and prolific slave trader dragged through the streets of a city built on the wealth of that trade, and then dumped, like the victims of the Middle Passage, into the water.’’, and it is from this quote alone that he makes his view of the event clear, and he uses the history and background of Colston to make his point much more effectively.
- However while both historians use history to describe how the removal of the statue of Colston should be placed in a museum and learnt from, Olusoga states his opinion much more passionately by using a combination of historical studies and his own opinion to make his point throughout the article.
6th slide
– 1st article – Patrick Vernon commented- organisations and leaders must acknowledge “current and historical discrimination” and “change their practises and create a culture of inclusion that respects and values black people” – importance of historicising the current events, as future communities would see this as an event of great historical significance – journalist using history to mark importance of BLM protests
– 2nd article – historicises event by noting how as a result of protests black history will be taught in schools, offers view of criticism of BLM movement that wasn’t present in 1st article (suggestions black people are being used to push Marxist agenda), analysis with hindsight – article depicts BLM as historical event with appropriate depth of analysis and varied historical readings of the event
7th slide
We see that in France, the ideology on race (hence the discourse on BLM) is slightly different. France’s strong republican values, and historical experience during World War II, has meant there is little to no official acknowledgment of race. It’s largely regarded as a taboo subject.
Partly as an extension of this, religion (particularly Islam) is ‘essentailsed’ into the racist framework.
So the BLM movement there is considered to include other ethnic and religious minorities, but within a society that strongly emphasises the national French identity to be prioritised over any other community identity.
This creates a contradiction on the discourse on racial discrimination, with an ideal that ones ethnicity should not be acknowledged by the state, but the reality of socio-economic division that occurs between communities.
8th slide
So we can see how a contemporary understanding of race can change partly due to (re)interpretations of history, which is itself influenced by contemporary ideologies and current affairs.
Paul Gilroy argues that race (and class) are not stable formations, but rather arise and change depending on many variable social factors. Social movements such as BLM reflect the shifting identities.
So it is arguably a part of the historiographical process for contemporaries (journalists, politicians, activists, ect) to discuss how history has affected modern political movements (such as BLM), which in turn contributes to new debates in history, and hence new understandings of today’s world.
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Bibliography:
- Beaman, J. (2021) ‘France’s Ahmeds and Muslim others: The entanglement of racism and Islamophobia’, French Cultural Studies, 32(3), pp. 269–279. doi: 10.1177/09571558211009370.
- Boubeker, A. (2013) ‘The outskirts of politics: The struggles of the descendants of postcolonial immigration in France’, French Cultural Studies, 24(2), pp. 184–195. doi: 10.1177/0957155813477797.
- Burrell, Ian. 2020. “Coverage Of Black Lives Matter Shows There Is A Lack Of Diversity In UK Media”. Inews.Co.Uk. https://inews.co.uk/news/uk-protests-black-lives-matter-lack-diversity-uk-media-434796.
- Charbit, N. et al (2020) History of racism: A French taboo. France24. Available at: https://www.france24.com/en/france/20200619-history-of-racism-a-french-taboo
- Heyer, E. (2017). Race and racism in France. Journal of Anthropological Sciences, 95, pp. 307–310. https://doi.org/10.4436/JASS.95009
- (Huck Magazine, Micha Frazer-Carroll, June 2020, “A Brief history of police brutality in the UK”)
- Gilroy, P. (1991) ‘There ain’t no black in the Union Jack’: the cultural politics of race and nation. Black literature and culture. Chicago, Ill, University of Chicago Press.
- Goodwin, Sage. 2022. “The Civil Rights Movement And The Media”. Obo. https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756841/obo-9780199756841-0231.xml.
- Kushner, Tony. 2020. “5 The Summer Of 2020: Memorialization Under Covid-19 And Black Lives Matter”. Patterns Of Prejudice 54 (5): 513-535.
- Lebrun, B. (2012). Carte de Séjour: Revisiting ‘Arabness’ and anti-racism in 1980s France. Popular Music, 31(3), 331-346. doi:10.1017/S026114301200027
- (Olusoga, David. 2020. “The Toppling Of Edward Colston’s Statue Is Not An Attack On History. It Is History | David Olusoga”. The Guardian.)
- (Nasar, Saima. 2020. “Remembering Edward Colston: Histories Of Slavery, Memory, And Black Globality”. Women’s History Review 29 (7))
- (The Guardian, Alexandra Heal, April 2018, “Stephen Lawrence: timeline of key events”)
- (van Hensbergen, Claudine. 2020. “Public Sculpture Expert: Why I Welcome The Decision To Throw Bristol’s Edward Colston Statue In The River”.)
- Villeminot, F. (2020) Colour-blind republic? France grapples with its own Black Lives Matter moment. France24. Available at: https://www.france24.com/en/france/20200619-french-connections-colour-blind-republic-france-grapples-with-its-own-black-lives-matter-moment
