The socio-political impact of the new scientific and educational trends in archaeology, history and related fields
Abstract
The interest for the past represents one of the key elements of history of education and science andthe interrelation between the historical disciplines and the development of the societies has been proven to bemore than complex.From antiquity to contemporary society many scholars and laymen have reached for theaccomplishments, materials, arts and science, and even “wisdoms” and “truths” of the ancient “nations” and“civilizations”, in their attempt to make new breakthroughs in science, or, even more important, to look for ideasand solutions to crucial acute and future problems and challenges of mankind.Yet, in the modernity, and especially in the period after the French revolution, the rapid growth andtransformation of the society brought new ideas for the future development of humanity. For many radicalprotagonists of “via moderna” historicism and the relation with the past and the traditions represented the worstpossible approach towards the development of science, education and society as a whole. Many modernscientists and educators in the twentieth century were striving to purify the science and knowledge from themyths, traditions and subjectivities or the past in order to create a better and a more humane society, which isnot struggling with the accumulated problems but rather looks towards the future and its upcoming challenges.Finally, in the last decades of the twentieth century the great global social and political changes andturmoil and the new trends of self-reflective research and relativism in social sciences have seriouslychallenged the ideas of value-neutral and absolute knowledge. The new scientific research in the last decadesin the fields of archaeology, history, sociology, anthropology and political science has revealed the greatinterrelation and the influence of the social, cultural and political developments over science, as well as thegreat impact of the knowledge, prejudices and misconceptions created by the scientists in the development ofthe contemporary society.Therefore, today the scientists and educators in the social fields, and especially in the disciplinesrelated to the past and the personal and collective identities, have an even greater responsibility for the sociopoliticalimpact of the dissemination of the knowledge that has proven to represent an important buildingmaterial for the future of all societies.Downloads
References
Coleman, J. (1992), Ancient and medieval memories: studies in the reconstruction of the past, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nietzsche, F. (1998), On the Use and Abuse of History for Life, 1873, translated by Ian C. Johnston, Nanaimo, British Colombia: Liberal Studies Department, Malaspina University-College.
Smith, T. W. (1999), History and International Relations, London, UK & New York, USA: Routledge.
Jackson, R. H. (2005), Classical and modern thought on international relations: from anarchy to cosmopolis, New York, N.Y.: Palgrave MacMillan.
Trigger, B. (2006), A History of Archaeological Thought, New York, USA: Cambridge University Press.
Pangle, T. L. (2006), Leo Strauss: an introduction to his thought and intellectual legacy, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Holtorf, C. (2007), Archaeology is a Brand! The Meaning of Archaeology in Contemporary Popular Culture, Oxford, UK: Archaeopress.
Dıaz-Andreu, M. (2007), A World History of Nineteenth-Century Archaeology - Nationalism, Colonialism, and the Past, New York, USA: Oxford University Press.
Geary, P. J. (2002), The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Isayev, E. (2006), Archaeology ≠ object as history ≠ text: nudging the special relationship into the post-ironic, World Archaeology, vol. 38, no. 4.
