Question

Historians need particular skills, called historical thinking skills, to successfully study and write about history. List three historical thinking skills that you have studied in this unit. Then select one of these three skills to elaborate on. Describe a scenario in which a historian would use that skill. What might they learn by applying this skill?

Answer 1

There are several skills that historians need to be able to perform their activities, but among them, three that are very important are: Interpretation, comparison and contextualization. Contextualization, is, basically, the ability to place knowledge within a context and understand said knowledge under the light of a time, a place, a society, a culture and a series of events that are interconnected. And it allows a historian to draw conclusions that are free from any guessing or misinterpretation. One scenario in which a historian might apply this very important skill would be understanding the reasoning behind an event like the Cold War. What led to it? What were the reasons behind it? And a historian might learn by applying contextualization that it is impossible to understand an event like the Cold War unless he/she understands the mindset and complexity of beliefs, customs and ways of thinking and acting that took place during such a time.