Understanding Of World History Research Articles

미국사의 렌즈로 바라보는 세계사: 미국 학생들의 세계사 이해의 문제점과 대안

In this study, I examined how U.S. middle school students made sense of a variety of topics from world history. For this study, I conducted qualitative, task-based, small group interviews with 66 sixth and seventh grade students. Findings are as follows. First, students often mixed content knowledge from U.S. history into their understanding of world history. Second, students appropriated a narrative theme of ‘progress’―a sociocultural tool for understanding U.S. history―to structure world history knowledge. Finally, strong beliefs in the greatest United States were embedded in students’ world history narratives. Overall, it is found that narratives that served as sociocultural tools in students’ reasoning about U.S. history were found to wield significant influence over their understanding of world history topics. These findings suggest that students’ understandings of world history are contradictory to the purposes of world history education. Therefore, it is important that students are provided a variety of tools, such as historical inquiry, in order to develop more complete and nuanced historical understanding.

“Julius Caesar was the last emperor”: Students’ understanding of world history

This study explored how U.S. middle school students made sense of a variety of topics from world history. I conducted qualitative, task-based, small group interviews with 66 sixth and seventh grade students enrolled in world history courses. Findings indicated that students assimilated new information from world history to their prior knowledge of U.S. history, often mixing content knowledge from U.S. history into their understanding of world history. They also used a narrative theme of progress to structure world history knowledge and centered historical narratives on individuals rather than larger social/political circumstances. Thus, narratives that served as tools in students’ reasoning about U.S. history were found to wield significant influence over their understanding of world history topics. These findings suggest that conceptual changes are necessary for students to develop more complete and nuanced historical understanding.

Korean Apocalyptic Visions and Biblical Imagery

This study examines the character and imagery of the apocalyptic visions of a rural evangelist in Korea at the end of the Second World War. Pak Tonggi, a charismatic figure who founded a millennarian movement called the Empire of Mount Sion, experienced five major visions which shaped both his ministry and his understanding of world history. This article examines these visions and compares them with the form and motifs of apocalyptic visions recorded in the Old and New Testaments. While Pak’s visions owe much to the ethos of the Biblical visions, their precise content and imagery are seen to be very ‘local’.

Spiel mit dem klassischen Erbe: Volker Brauns Iphigenie in Freiheit

This article analyzes Volker Braun’s understanding of world history as theatrum mundi as depicted in the text Iphigenie in Freiheit (1992). Braun sees mankind’s history as perpetually determined by forces beyond an individual’s control, by war, and by murder, and suggests that the only way to escape this vicious circle is by renouncing violence. How then, Braun asks, is one to embrace this new, right(eous) way of life after the loss of belief in a political system’s utopian potential? By analyzing Braun’s engagement with fragments of German dramas from the 18th to the 20th centuries, namely Lessing’s Philotas , Buchner’s Dantons Tod and Brecht’s Der Untergang des Egoisten Johann Fatzer , I show that while Braun’s text proclaims the death of utopia, by continuing to write, Braun confirms that ultimately he still believes in mankind’s salvation through fiction. However, he also realizes that unlike the classical texts, post-modern fiction is unable to mediate transcendence. It can only polemicize with itself and the world. (CP)

World History and Teacher Education: Challenges and Possibilities

This article discusses the role that teacher educators can play in helping their students develop a fuller understanding of world history. Trends such as globalization have led to calls for increased teaching about the diverse cultures and peoples of the world. However, prospective teachers’ educational backgrounds have in most cases not adequately prepared them to teach world history effectively. The article begins with a discussion of the historical evolution of the course in world history; it then defines different approaches to this field, and concludes by providing suggestions for how teacher educators can help their students bring a true version of world history to their classrooms.

한국의 도시사 연구 지형도와 향후 전망

This paper provides a research topology which classifies the academic investigations on the urban history done in Korea. With this topology it is intended to show the present status of urban history. It is to be hoped that further research on the pre-modern cities, and mid-sized cities, comparative urban history, and interdisciplinary investigations will broaden our horizons of knowledge in this field. Cities in Korea store historical and cultural heritage of premodern traditional towns, experienced colonization, underwent rapid urbanization of the late 20th century, and went through urban changes in accordance with world changes. Therefore, studies of urban history in Korea are sure to make a good contribution to better understanding of world history. They can also contribute to shape dream cities which should be more human-friendly with strengthened social services and well-organized cultural environment.