HIS- 3-2-1 Discussion: Historical Lenses

In this discussion, you will consider how historical lenses can affect the study of a historical topic. Select one of the secondary source articles from your research. After reading that article, write a discussion post about which of the following lenses you believe the article is using: social, political, economic, or other. Use at least two quotes from your source to justify your choice of lens. Your post title should also indicate which topic you have selected.

When responding to your peers, compare and contrast the lens they identified with the lens you identified for your source. If you identified the same lens, how does the evidence you each found to justify that choice compare with each other? If you selected different lenses, discuss how your historical topic might look through the lens they identified

For your response posts (2), you must do the following: 

•   Reply to at least two different classmates outside of your own initial post thread.
   
•   In Module One, complete the two response posts by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.
   
•   In Modules Two through Eight, complete the two response posts by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. of your local time zone.
   
•   Demonstrate more depth and thought than simply stating that “I agree” or “You are wrong.” Guidance is provided for you in each discussion prompt. 

classmates Post #1:  

I chose to study more about Nelson Mandela and his lifelong wish to end apartheid in South Africa.  In my research I chose to narrow the timeline to his life to prison on Robben Island.  I believe my article is seen through the political lens as well as a social lens. The writer focuses on Nelson Mandela and fellow prisoners who opposed the apartheid and wanted all South Africans to have equal rights.  It concentrates on how the men tried to study and understand how to better change the laws of the country that they loved while they were incarcerated. The men studied and debated during any free time they had on the island.  The political climate on the island was fractious and involved inter-organizational disputes and suspicions. Once the debate got underway, however, it allowed organizations and the individuals within them to clarify important social and historical questions for themselves. (Soudien, 2015)

During incarceration Nelson Mandela and his fellow inmates tried to study using books and publications.  The prison guards made it very hard for them to do so.  Prisoners still persevered debating to understand the world around them.  Their dream was to reshape South Africa to make it a place where people of color were treated as equals under the law.  Alexander a fellow prisoner explained, ‘throughout this period, even when they took away our study privileges, when they really messed us around, we turned that prison into a university’. (Soudien, 2015)

Reference:  Soudien, Crain. (April 2015) Nelson Mandela, Robben Island and the Imagination of a New South Africa. Journal of Southern African Studies.

classmates Post #2: 

My research topic is the South African Apartheid. I reviewed many of the primary and secondary source articles, but for this discussion, we want to review one of my secondary source articles.  There was a secondary source article in the  ProQuest Central. I found an article from the Los Angeles Sentinel on Oct 1, 1992.  The title of the article was “South African Talks Resume”. This particular article is using the social lens as they give us details on what is going on at this time in Johannesburg, South Africa. It doesn’t take long to come to this conclusion after reading the second paragraph which states “Disagreements between the government and the African National Congress on a new constitution have stalemated efforts to end apartheid and share power with the black majority”. This is a specific example of examing the actions and behaviors of how different groups of people interact with each other. There is another quote in this article that states ” De Klerk ask Mandela to attend a Summit after 28 ANC protesters were killed Sept. 7 when security forces in the Ciskel Black homeland fired on a protest March”.  This article in the Los Angeles Sentinel on Oct 1, 1992, is definitely using the social lens here because it focuses on people and their interaction with each other. As you may already know the South African Apartheid was centered around areas of ethnicity and classes of people, but that wasn’t all this terrible law was about. 

Reference: ProQuest Central:  Los Angeles Sentinel on Oct 1, 1992