High School History Recap

We delve into some Irish history with Prof Liam Kennedy. Liam has published a myriad of books on Irish history. We look closely at his 2020 book "Who was responsible for the Troubles".

These are some of the questions we try to answer:

Link to Untextbooked.

Have you ever heard about the East Bank Location Massacre on 9 November 1952? Neither have we. Dr Mignonne Breier joins us to talk about her book Bloody Sunday in which she uncovered the gruesome details of this massacre that upends the conventional apartheid narrative.

Here are some of the questions we consider:

In this episode, we get our hands dirty with some military history. Prof Timothy Stapleton of the University of Calgary joins us to discuss South Africa's turbulent past. We look at wars from the earliest colonial times to the end of apartheid.

These are the questions we try to answer:

How should we combat misinformation in the history classroom? What does it take to stop misinformation at the outset? Dr Jon Roozenbeek is a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge and joins us to discuss his team's latest research on "prebunking" misinformation.

Some of the questions we try to answer:

Many streets and clinics bear Lilian Ngoyi's name, but who was she and what was the nature of her accomplishments as an anti-apartheid activist? Dr Martha Evans is working on a substantive biography of Ma'Ngoyi and joins us to share some interesting insights about Lilian's remarkable life. 

Here are some of the questions we try to answer:

Prof Bob Bain joins us, probably one of the biggest names in history teaching. This conversation brought a whole new dimension to what effective history teaching should look like.

Questions we set out to answer:

In this first episode of our fifth season, we explore the field of learning. Dr Carolina Kuepper-Tetzel is a cognitive psychologist who specialises in how we learn best. She is part of an inspiring initiative called the Learning Scientists. She shares some of her valuable insights with us.

Questions we explore:

The following twitter post accompanies this episode of The Cradock Four.

https://mobile.twitter.com/valavoosh/status/1276826105740169218

The historian, Zikhona Valela, joins us to talk about the Cradock Four and, more specifically, misinformation around the supposed famous photo of the Cradock Four. Zikhona tells the story of the four men who were murdered on June 27th, 1985. How did it happen that two of the four men, and the trauma of their families, were actually erased from the historical record? Why do we continue sharing convenient narratives that are, on closer inspection, inaccurate and untrue? Zikhona...

Join us for a conversation with Prof Sean McMeekin on his new book Stalin's War: A New History of World War II. This is a very timely discussion in light of the unfolding war in Ukraine.

Some of the points of discussion:

Michael joins us again to challenge some widely held beliefs about the causes of WWI. The long-term causes of World War One are often conveniently taught using the acronym MAIN, which stands for militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism. It is often argued that the presence of these ingredients in Europe made the First World War inevitable, or to use a term Michael taught us, overdetermined.  But by looking at each one of these factors, we learn that this is not necessarily the case. In fact, militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism might have only really come to...

In this episode we explore Civic Online Reasoning in more depth. We are joined by Dr Joel Breakstone of the Stanford History Education Group (SHEG). This is in an effort to effectively fight misinformation. 

Taylor Downing joins us again for another discussion - this time about his newest work entitled 1942: Britain at the Brink. The book and this discussion delves into the fateful year of 1942 when British morale reached a new low - military defeats abroad saw the British public lose faith in their leadership and it seemed as though wartime prime minister Winston Churchill was facing his darkest hour. Well, let me not spoil it here...let historian, writer and broadcaster, Taylor Downing tell you all about it!

We are super excited about this new jingle! It was written and performed specifically for our show by Alwyn Bekker. When it comes to acoustic guitar chops, his guy is the real deal! It's like he has fifty fingers!
I recommend you guys go and check out his band, Bad Peter, as well. Our favourite song is definitely "On This River".

I hope you guys enjoy it! And thanks again, Alwyn!

In this episode Prof Peter N Stearns of the George Mason University provides an overview of the Industrial Revolution. The 5th edition of Peter's book, The Industrial Revolution in World History, was published in 2021.

This is what we've discussed:

In the third part of the series, Dr Dooling tells us about the various ways in which the people of South Africa resisted the oppressive Apartheid regime.  Dr Dooling delves into the different political currents in 20th century South Africa, touching on organisations such as the the ICU, the ANC, the PAC as well as the various affiliated organisations such as the ANC Youth League, MK and Poqo. We also discuss a few of the pivotal events in South African resistance history such as the Defiance Campaign, the Congress of the People and the Freedom Charter, the Women's March a...

At the end of 2021, we are very fortunate to talk to Dr Joel Breakstone of the Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) about their Reading Like a Historian lesson plans and Beyond the Bubble history skills assessments. We also find out more about SHEG's Civic Online Reasoning curriculum which will greatly benefit history learners in identifying misinformation.

What we discuss:

About a month ago, the University of Pretoria celebrated the life of Chief Albert Luthuli. At these celebrations, Prof Benda Hofmeyr gave a presentation on the philosophical legacy of Albert Luthuli with specific emphasis on his charismatic leadership style.

What we discuss:

Join our history geek-out session with Kevin Manzel. Kevin is the senior director of content development at Wondrium. Colin and I are both big fans of Wondrium's history courses and use them as resources in our history classrooms.

We cover the following:

William talks to the learning expert, Donald Clark, about the history of learning theory and about the best way to teach and learn history.

Questions covered:

In the second episode of the Apartheid Series we transition from the policies of Segregation in South Africa towards the implementation of Apartheid. In this episode Dr Dooling discusses some of the motivations behind the National Party's choice to put such a rigid system of racial segregation and separation in place. Topics such as Afrikaner Nationalism takes center stage as we look at why and how the NP won the 1948 elections. Some of the Apartheid laws are discussed and we look at how these laws affected the every day lives of South Africans, which will then lead us to...

In the first episode of our Apartheid Series, Colin is joined by Dr Wayne Dooling from  the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. The conversation deals with the concept of segregation in South Africa, where it comes from and how it was implemented. As an expert on Race, Segregation, and Apartheid in Twentieth-century South Africa, Dr Dooling helps us make sense of the systems of racial separation that would lead to the overarching system of Apartheid.

A great collaboration with Kelly Chase of the History Detective! The perfect way to start Season 4. 

In this episode we aim give an overview of the policy and practice of apartheid in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. Here are some of the questions we cover.

In this episode, Colin is joined once again by the American military historian, Michael Neiberg. This time they discuss a little thing called D-Day a.k.a. the Normandy Invasion a.k.a. Operation Overlord. Operation Overlord is one of the largest operations in military history and in this discussion Michael and Colin delve into not only the events of June 6th, 1944, but also the logistical challenges faced by Dwight Eisenhower and his team of planners, French involvement in the operation, as well as the living legacy left on the beaches.
So if you know a few things...

In this episode Colin speaks to the author of  Choreomania: Dance and Disorder, Dr Kelina Gotman. Kelina is from King's College in London and her research interests include theatre, dance and performance history, and philosophy. In this episode we tackle  the formation of the concept of the ‘dancing disease’ in nineteenth-century colonial medical, psychiatric and anthropological circles. What is choreomania really all about? Did people truly go mad and dance themselves to insanity? Well, Kelina sets the record straight!

In this episode William discusses the neglected narrative of Dr Abdullah Abdurahman with Stephen Langtry. Dr Abdullah was South Africa's first elected black politician.

Here are some of the questions we look at:

·         The life and times of Dr Abdullah
·         We discuss Martin Plaut's biography of Dr Abdullah
·         Are there many lost figures in South African history?
·         Why are some stories remembered at the expense of others?
·         What is the balancing point in writing history?
·         A short biography of Dr Abdullah
·         The friendship between Dr Abdullah and Mahatma Gandhi
·         The schools set up by Dr Abd...