Department of History
Introduction
History is the study of life in society in the past, in all its aspect, in relation to present
developments and future hopes. It is the story of man in time, an inquiry into the past based on evidence. Indeed, evidence is the raw material of history teaching and learning. It is an Inquiry into what happened in the past, when it happened, and how it happened. It is an inquiry into the inevitable changes in human affairs in the past and the ways these changes affect, influence or determine the patterns of life in the society. History is, or should be an attempt to re-think the past. Collingwood (1945) is particularly interested in this concept of history.
Career objectives:
History aims at helping students to understand the present existing social, political, religious and economic conditions of the people. Without the knowledge of history we cannot have the background of our religion, customs institutions, administration and so on. The teaching of
history helps the students to explain the present, to analyze it and to trace its course. Cause-and-effect relationship between the past and the present is lively presented in the history. History thus helps us to understand the present day problems both at the national and international level accurately and objectively.
Scope of History
The scope of History is vast; it is the story of man in relation to totality of his behavior. The scope of history means the breadth, comprehensiveness, variety and extent of learning experiences, provided by the study. History which was only limited to a local saga, has during the course of century become universal history of mankind, depicting man’s achievements in every field of life-political, economic, social, cultural, scientific, technological, religious and artistic etc., and at various levels-local, regional, national, and international. It starts with the past; makes present its sheet-anchor and points to the future.
Events like wars, revolutions, rise and fall of empires, fortunes and misfortunes of great
empire builders as well as the masses in general are all the subject matter of history. History is a comprehensive subject and includes-History of Geography, History of Art, History of Culture, History of Literature, History of Civilization, History of Religion, History of Mathematics, History of Physics, History of Chemistry, History of Education, History of Biology, History of Atom, History of Philosophy-in fact history of any and every social, physical and natural science we are interested in. History today has become an all-embracing, comprehensive subject with almost limitless extent.
Values and aims of History
Value is that experience or fruit which one gets in the path of achieving aim whereas aim is a conscious and active purpose that we always keep before our mind. It always remains before us in the path of achievement. History is valuable as a study in more ways than one. Some of the values are general that is they apply to the teaching of the subject in all circumstances. Other values are limited and specific. They apply to particular types of history, hold for a particular level of schooling or are the necessary result of teaching if carried out in a particular way.
