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4th Discussion

This document discusses criteria for assessing the historical significance of events, people, and developments from the past. It identifies several interrelated criteria historians use, including relevance, resonance, being remarkable or remembered, revealing other aspects of the past, resulting in change, and durability. However, assessing historical significance is relative and can depend on contemporary contexts, values, interests, knowledge, location, generation, and ideological perspectives. The level of significance can range from not significant to globally significant.

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JEMIMA RUTH MARA
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266 views17 pages

4th Discussion

This document discusses criteria for assessing the historical significance of events, people, and developments from the past. It identifies several interrelated criteria historians use, including relevance, resonance, being remarkable or remembered, revealing other aspects of the past, resulting in change, and durability. However, assessing historical significance is relative and can depend on contemporary contexts, values, interests, knowledge, location, generation, and ideological perspectives. The level of significance can range from not significant to globally significant.

Uploaded by

JEMIMA RUTH MARA
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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IDENTIFICATION OF

THE HISTORICAL
IMPORTANCE
OF THE TEXT
HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

The process used to evaluate what


was significant about selected
events, people, and development in
the past.
CRITERIA ON
ASSESSING THE
HISTORICAL
SIGNIFICANCE
There are a number of criteria that historians’ use that can
be applied to establish the significance of events. These
criteria are interrelated with each other.
RELEVANCE

Is it important to people living at the


time?

Is something still relevant to our


present lives even if it had only a
passing importance?
RESONANCE

Who have been affected by the event?

Why was it important to them?

How were people’s lives affected?


REMARKABLE

Was the event remarked on by the


people at the time or since?
REMEMBERED

Was the event important at some stage


within the collective memory of a group
or groups?
REVEALING

Does it reveal some other aspects of


the past?
RESULTING IN CHANGE

Does it have consequences for the


future?
DURABILITY

For how long have people’s lives been


affected? A day, a week, a year, or all
their lives?
QUANTITY

How many people were affected? Did


the event affect many, everyone, or
just a few? A whole barrio, a town, a
province, a country, or the entire
race?
PROFUNDITY

Was the event superficial or deeply


affecting? How deeply people’s lives
were affected? How were people’s
lives affected?
“
ISSUES
ON ASSESSING
HISTORICAL
SIGNIFICANCE
“
Our views about historical
significance are often
shaped by contemporary
contexts and can be
dependent upon our own
values, interests and
knowledge.
“
Historical significance is
how we define past events
that the current writer of
history deems important/
relevant.
“
Historical significance is
relative and varies from
location, generation, or
sometimes to ideological or
political orientation of the
one doing the evaluation or
assessment.
LEVEL OF SIGNIFICANCE
Not at all significant – no one need to remember the event.
Individually significant – only the descendants and family of the people
involved should know about the event.
Regionally significant – every individual in the region or a specific group
should know about the event.
Nationally significant – every citizen of the country should know about
the said event.
Globally significant – everyone in the world should know the details
about the event.

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