I would like to make one other observation and it is not my intention to
offend anyone.
I see the recent interest with prehistory and the future as signs of
retreat. Unable to deal with or make sense the present, there has been a
retreat into the past and/orthe future.
I am not a historian and history per se, as recording, recounting and
reinterpreting past events is as interesting and relevant for me as
scholastic philosophy and debates about the number of angels which could
dance on the head of a pin.
This is not to say that history is irrelevant, History is eminently
relevant insofar as it enables us to understand the genesis of the trends
which have shaped the present and are shaping the future. Hence, the
criteria, at least for a social scientist, in evaluating/appraising all
historical explanation should be: how does this help us understand the
present and the future.
Moreover, isn't the movement to the past to explain the present the
hallmark of some of the most important and seminal work in WST such as A.G.
Frank's early works, IW's MWS or Arrighi's Long 20th c.. History is sued to
reveal the origin and genesis of the trends shaping the present. I am
however, hard pressed to see how extending the time line back 3 or 4000
years and expanding the scope eastward and westward fulfills this
function.
Of course, one could and many have, argued that everything is connected
but
it is also necessary to draw some lines and realize when the fascination
with the lineages of the connections overwhelms and detracts from the
original reason for the interest in these connections: understanding the
present.
>
> -----------------------------------
> Carl H.A. Dassbach DASSBACH@MTU.EDU
> Dept. of Social Sciences (906)487-2115 - Phone
> Michigan Technological University (906)487-2468 - Fax
> Houghton, MI 49931 USA (906)482-8405 - Home
>