Exploring the concept of a 'historical gaze'

Carol Bertram

School of Education and Development, Faculty of Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this paper is to interrogate what makes history a specialised and particular discipline; to ask what does it mean to do history and to know history. I draw on the work of those working within the field of the sociology of knowledge, particularly the work of Dowling, to begin a discussion around the concept of an historical gaze. I argue that this concept may provide an analytic tool to help us to keep the inter-twined strands of procedural knowledge and substantive knowledge in history from unraveling and coming apart.

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1 Paper presented at the South African Society Of History teaching Annual Conference, Cape Town, 26 and 27 September 2008. This is a discussion paper - please do not quote without author's permission.