| Now
that we are more than a month into the school year, what better way to
recharge your intellectual battery than to explore the exciting mix of
pedagogical, informational, and even philosophical approaches to teaching
and researching world history in this issue of World History Connected?
Secondary and post-secondary teachers alike will find much to use and
much to ponder here, both in terms of essential background knowledge as
well as practical techniques to use in the classroom.
For
starters, Jerry Bentley encourages us to think systematically about why
we teach world history in the first place, and offers his own answer to
this important question. From there, Craig Lockard synthesizes a great
deal of scholarship on southeast Asia while highlighting the myriad ways
that the region was connected to—and important in—the history
of the world. Lockard's essay is followed by three pieces that guide readers
through specific pedagogical techniques to use in world history classrooms,
ranging from analyzing familiar Disney movies to utilizing performance
and historical simulation. We are privileged, too, to feature an essay
by Olusoji Oyeranmi from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, who reminds
us that the place of history both in schools as well as in national culture
is far from secure everywhere in the world. Finally, we are happy to reprint
here a panel from the 2007 World History Association conference in Milwaukee
in an effort to publicize some of the scholarly work being done at the
annual meeting every year. In addition to the variety offered in the essays,
this issue features regular columns as well as twenty-seven book reviews
on topics or themes related to world history.
We
hope you will find the issue thought-provoking, and that you will find
its contents useful both in and out of the classroom.
Heather Streets, co-editor
Tom Laichas, co-editor
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