DEFINITIONS

Afrocentricity, or Afrocentrism – a world view which emphasizes the importance of African peoples in culture, philosophy, and history. Fundamental to Afrocentrism is the assumption that approaching knowledge from a Eurocentrist perspective, as well as certain mainstream assumptions in the application of information in the West, has led to injustices and also to inadequacies in meeting the needs of African peoples, meaning indigenous, Black Africans and the peoples of the African diaspora. The Afrocentrist paradigm seeks to discover and also reinterpret information through African eyes. As an ideology and scholarly and social movement, the Afrocentrist paradigm has its beginnings among Black intellectuals, political figures and historians in the practice of history and social and political activism.

Agent – term commonly used to refer to a being assumed to be intentional – that is, a being who acts, has motivations that inspires such actions, and can therefore be held accountable for these motives and actions. Human beings are therefore to possess the quality known as agency.

Annales School – a school of historical writing named after the French scholarly journal Annales d'histoire économique et sociale where it was first expounded. Annales school history is best known for incorporating social scientific methods into history. Annales approach combines geography, history, and the sociological approaches to produce an approach which rejected the predominant emphasis on politics, diplomacy and war of many 19th- and early 20th-century historians. This is an approach to a study of long-term historical structures (la longue durée) over events and political transformations. Geography, material culture, and the psychology of the epoch, are also characteristic areas of study. The Annalistes advocated a complete study of an historic problem.

Anthropology - [Greek anthropos, meaning human being + Greek logos, meaning the systematic study of] the modern, comparative and cross-cultural science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of humankind. ("anthropocentric": centered on the study of human behavior.

Art –Refers to a diverse range of human activities and artifacts, and may be used to cover all or any of the arts, including music, literature and other forms. It is most often used to refer specifically to the visual arts, including media such as painting, sculpture, and printmaking. However it can also be applied to forms of art that stimulate the other senses, such as music, an auditory art. Aesthetics is the branch of philosophy which considers art. Traditionally the term art was used to refer to any skill or mastery, a concept which altered during the Romantic period, when art came to be seen as "a special faculty of the human mind to be classified with religion and science". Generally art is a (product of) human activity, made with the intention of stimulating the human senses as well as the human mind; by transmitting emotions and/or ideas. Beyond this description, there is no general agreed-upon definition of art. Art is also able to illustrate abstract thought and its expressions can elicit previously hidden emotions in its audience.

Atlantis – [Greek "island of Atlas"] the name of a legendary island. In Plato's account, Atlantis, lying "beyond the pillars of Heracles", was a naval power that conquered many parts of Western Europe and Africa approximately 9500 BC. After a failed attempt to invade Athens, Atlantis sank into the ocean "in a single day and night of misfortune". The possible existence of a genuine Atlantis was actively discussed throughout classical antiquity, but it was usually rejected and occasionally parodied by later authors. While little known during the Middle Ages, the story of Atlantis was rediscovered by Humanists in modern times. Plato's description inspired the utopian works of several Renaissance writers, like Francis Bacon's "New Atlantis". Atlantis inspires today's literature, from science fiction to comic books and films, its name having become a byword for any and all supposed prehistoric but advanced (and lost) civilizations.

Bayesian inference – statistical inference in which evidence or observations are used to update or to newly infer the probability that a hypothesis may be true. The name "Bayesian" comes from the frequent use of Bayes' theorem in the inference process. Bayesian inference uses aspects of the scientific method, which involves collecting evidence that is meant to be consistent or inconsistent with a given hypothesis. As evidence accumulates, the degree of belief in a hypothesis ought to change. With enough evidence, it should become very high or very low. Bayesian inference uses a numerical estimate of the degree of belief in a hypothesis before evidence has been observed and calculates a numerical estimate of the degree of belief in the hypothesis after evidence has been observed. Bayesian inference usually relies on degrees of belief, or subjective probabilities, in the induction process and does not necessarily claim to provide an objective method of induction.

B.C.E/C.E. - Unlike the explicitly Christian classification system known to most people in North America and Europe and which is based on the Gregorian calendar--with B.C., standing for "Before Christ," in the English version of the older A.C.N., which is Latin for Anti Christi Natus (meaning "before the birth of Christ") and A.D., standing for the Latin phrase Anno Domini ("year of Lord," short for Anni Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, meaning "In the year of our Lord Jesus Christ")--B.C.E. and C.E. use precisely the same numbers but stand for "Before the Common Era" and "Common Era." Scholars often adopt this alternative notation to avoid the explicitly theological assumptions of the so-called Western dating system.

Big Bang – A cosmological model of the universe that has become well supported by several independent observations. After Edwin Hubble discovered that galactic distances were generally proportional to their redshifts in 1929, this observation was taken to indicate that the universe is expanding. If the universe is seen to be expanding today, then it must have been smaller, denser, and hotter in the past. This idea has been considered in detail all the way back to extreme densities and temperatures, and the resulting conclusions have been found to conform very closely to what is observed.

Buddhism - the name given to a collection of beliefs, practices, and institutions that developed from (sometimes said to be in reaction to) Hindu/Indian institutions and that revolve around the importance placed upon the teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, thought to have lived and taught in northwestern India between the sixth and fifth centuries BCE. Gautama is known by the honorary title of "the Buddha" (which, in the language of Pali, means "awakened one"). The Buddha is thought to have awoken to the true nature of reality, thereby experiencing nirvana (to extinguish ones presumption of having a distinct, enduring self). His teachings involve understanding that all appearances are misleading and that impermanence, or change, is the basis of all reality. Several dominant branches of Buddhism exist today and it has distinctive shape in different geographic locations (such as in Southeast Asia as opposed to Tibet, China, Japan, Europe, and North America). Although "Buddhism" is an outsider's term (coined under the earlier European presumption that this Asian mass movement is centered on the worship of the Buddha just as Christianity is centered on the worship of the Christ), a more apt term for this tradition may be "the Middle Path" (between the two extremes of craving and complete renunciation).

Ca. –a written abbreviation of circa (=about) ex. dating from ca. 1900

Christendom – Usually refers to Christianity as a territorial phenomenon. It can also refer to the part of the world in which Christianity prevails. The term Christendom has been used to refer to the medieval and renaissance notion of the Christian world as a sort of social and political polity. In essence, the vision of Christendom is a vision of a Christian theocracy, a government devoted to the enforcement of Christian values, whose institutions are suffused with Christian doctrine. In this vision, members of the Christian clergy wield political authority. The specific relationship between the political leaders and the clergy can vary but, in theory, national or political divisions are subsumed under the leadership of a church institution. This vision would tempt Church leaders and political leaders alike throughout European history. The term can also refer to Christians considered as a group (the "Christian World") or to the informal cultural hegemony that Christianity has traditionally enjoyed in the West.

Christianity - the name given to a collection of beliefs, practices, and institutions that developed from out of the ancient Jewish, as well as the Greco-Roman, world of antiquity. Focused on the life and teachings of a turn-of-the-era Jew named Jesus of Nazareth, it began as an oppositional movement that was persecuted and, by the early fourth century CE, it had become tolerated throughout the Roman empire. Its teachings, found in its scripture called the Bible (from the Greek for paper, scroll, or book), include much of the previously existing Jewish scripture, including the Torah, along with the New Testament comprising the Gospels (from the Greek for "good news"), which present various narrations of the life and significance of Jesus (including his resurrection from the dead after being executed by the Roman authorities), along with the Epistles (Latin epistola, meaning letter), comprising communications between early Christian leaders (such as the influential early convert to Christianity and missionary, Paul) and various isolated early Christian communities or house churches. Jesus, considered early on to be the messiah ("anointed one of the Lord") was soon understood by his followers to have been "the son of God," and later in Christian doctrine is understood to have been one of three aspects of God (the others including God the Father and the Holy Spirit). Currently, Christianity involves three major sub-types, some of which differ significantly from the others on issues of doctrine and ritual: Roman Catholicism, Protestantism (which contains a large number of sub-types), and Greek Orthodoxy.

Civilizationorcivilisation – [Latin civilis, meaning a "citizen" or "townsman" governed by the law of his city] human society or culture group normally defined as a complex society characterized by the practice of agriculture and settlement in cities. Compared with less complex cultures, members of a civilization are organized into a diverse division of labour and an intricate social hierarchy. The term civilization is often used as a synonym for culture in both popular and academic circles. Every human being participates in a culture, defined as "the arts, customs, habits... beliefs, values, behavior and material habits that constitute a people's way of life". Civilizations can be distinguished from other cultures by their high level of social complexity and organization, and by their diverse economic and cultural activities. The term civilization has been defined and understood in a number of ways different from the standard definition. Sometimes it is used synonymously with the broader term culture. Civilization can also refer to society as a whole. Civilization can be used in a normative sense as well: if complex and urban cultures are assumed to be superior to other "savage" or "barbarian" cultures, then "civilization" is used as a synonym for "superiority of certain groups." In a similar sense, civilization can mean "refinement of thought, manners, or taste". However, in its most widely used definition, civilization is a descriptive term for a relatively complex agricultural and urban culture.

Cognitive Science - [cognitive: Latin cognition, meaning a getting to know, acquaintance, notion, knowledge; science: Latin scientia, meaning knowledge] the systematic study of the precise nature of different mental tasks and forms of cognition, and the operations of the mind/brain; this study uses elements of psychology, computer science, philosophy, and linguistics.

Colonialism - [Latin colonia, meaning tiller, farmer, cultivator, planter, settler in a new country. Latin colonia had the senses of 'farm,' 'landed estate,' or 'settlement' and was especially the proper term for a public settlement of Roman citizens in a hostile or newly conquered country] the economic or political control or governing influence of one nation over another (a dependent country, territory, or people); also, the extension of a nation's sovereignty over another outside of its boundaries to facilitate economic domination over the latter's resources and labor usually to the benefit of the controlling country. Although not limited to European nations, their rapid colonial expansion across the globe during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries today attracts a great deal of attention among scholars and has led to the development of a new field known as postcolonial studies (which focuses on the implications of, and local reactions to, the colonial era).

Comparative history – the comparison between different societies at a given time or sharing similar cultural conditions. Historians generally accept the comparison of particular institutions (banking, women's rights, and ethnic identities) in different societies, but generally do not pay much attention to sweeping comparative studies.

Confucianism - Name given by European scholars to a group of Chinese schools of thought associated with the teachings of such writers as Confucius (551-479 BCE), Mencius (372-289 BCE), and Hsun-tzu (298-238 BCE). These traditions focus upon developing proper forms of social and political behavior. During the Chinese Han dynasty (206-220 CE), these schools became offical state orthodoxy, and a authoritative collection of texts and temples were established.

Contemporaneous corroboration – an historical method used by historians to establish facts beyond their limited lifespan. It is used to locate, identify and examine testimony of primary source witnesses. It is similar to methods used by police and lawyers based upon Mosaic Law, "by the testimony of two witnesses a matter is established." Literally it means, "at the same time the story is told by multiple witness." (It differs from "contiguous", or sequential events, and "consequential" or the accumulation of events). In contemporaneous corroboration the researcher or investigator must put out of his mind any conclusions he may be aware of, so as not to color his judgment. Under the "contemporaneous" method of investigation, the researcher is ignoring conclusions and seeking out the heart and soul of the matter that consequently led to conclusions. The contemporaneous method seeks to "live the life" of the event, beginning at a point in time and moving forward. The reverse method, also sometimes known as "reexamining a verdict", begins with a conclusion and works backward. Historians call this a backward argument, or "arguing backwards". The danger under the reverse method is beginning with a conclusion; one often arrives at the same result.

Correspondence Theory - a common approach to understanding how truth and meaning-making works, and thus how definition works; the truth of some claim is thought to be determined by whether or not the claim fits, or corresponds, to some observable set of facts. This correspondence theory (also called a referential theory insomuch as words are thought to refer to things) applies equally well to the production of meaning, since it is commonly thought that a word as in the proposition

Critical Historiography – the study of the ambiguous relationship between history writing and historiography. Traditionally, historiography was seen as the study of the history-of-history or as a very specialized form of history writing. Increasingly there are those who view history writing in reverse, namely as a specialized form of historiography. The historian can try to stabilize poetic production so as to better understand the work of art, but can never completely extract the historical subject from history.

Culture –[Latin cultura, meaning "to cultivate"] generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance. Cultures can be "understood as systems of symbols and meanings that even their creators contest, that lack fixed boundaries, that are constantly in flux, and that interact and compete with one another. Different definitions of "culture" reflect different theoretical bases for understanding or criteria for evaluating human activity. Culture is manifested in music, literature, lifestyle, painting and sculpture, theater and film and similar things. Although some people identify culture in terms of consumption and consumer goods (as in high culture, low culture, folk culture, or popular culture), anthropologists understand "culture" to refer not only to consumption goods, but to the general processes which produce such goods and give them meaning, and to the social relationships and practices in which such objects and processes become embedded. For them, culture thus includes art, science, as well as moral systems. Cultural Anthropologists most commonly use the term "culture" to refer to the universal human capacity and activities to classify, codify and communicate their experiences symbolically. This capacity has long been taken as a defining feature of humans. (although some primatologists have identified aspects of culture among humankind's closest relatives in the animal kingdom).

Democracy – Describes a small number of related forms of government and also a political philosophy. A common feature of democracy as currently understood and practiced is competitive elections. Competitive elections are usually seen to require freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and some degree of rule of law. Civilian control of the military is often seen as necessary to prevent military dictatorship and interference with political affairs. In some countries, democracy is based on the philosophical principle of equal rights. Majority rule is a major principle of democracy, though many democratic systems do not adhere to this strictly - representative democracy is more common than direct democracy, and minority rights are often protected from what is sometimes called "the tyranny of the majority". Popular sovereignty is common but not a universal motivating philosophy for establishing a democracy. Though the term "democracy" is typically used in the context of a political state, the principles are also applicable to private organizations and other groups. Democracy has its origins in Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome but modern conceptions are significantly different. Democracy has been called the "last form of government" and has spread considerably across the globe. Suffrage has been expanded in many jurisdictions over time from relatively narrow groups (such as wealthy men of a particular ethnic group), but still remains a controversial issue with regard disputed territories, areas with significant immigration, and countries that exclude certain demographic groups.

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) – a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses. The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information. DNA is often compared to a set of blueprints, since it contains the instructions needed to construct other components of cells, such as proteins and RNA molecules. The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in regulating the use of this genetic information.

Diplomacy – [Greek diploma, meaning 'folded in two'] the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states. It usually refers to international diplomacy, the conduct of international relations through the intercession of professional diplomats with regard to issues of peace-making, trade, war, economics and culture. International treaties are usually negotiated by diplomats prior to endorsement by national politicians. In an informal or social sense, diplomacy is the employment of tact to gain strategic advantage, one set of tools being the phrasing of statements in a non-confrontational or polite manner.

Discourse - [Latin discurrere, meaning to run to and fro; the modern usage of the English word probably derives from the French discourir, meaning to discourse of] most simply, the communication of thought by words/conversation; a discourse could therefore be likened to a conversation or, more technically, to a teaching or a systematic exploration of a topic; many scholars now use the term to refer to any number of fields or disciplines, the formal discussion of a subject in speech or writing, or even the series of material conditions, practices, assumptions, institutions, architecture, and conventions that make specific types of thought and action possible (such as the discourse of the academy).

Economics – [Greek oikos (house) and nomos (custom or law), hence "rules of the house(hold)"] the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. A definition that captures much of modern economics is that of Lionel Robbins in a 1932 essay: "the science which studies human behaviour as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses." Scarcity means that available resources are insufficient to satisfy all wants and needs. Absent scarcity and alternative uses of available resources, there is no economic problem. The subject thus defined involves the study of choices as they are affected by incentives and resources.

Emic and Etic Perspectives – These terms are derived from the suffixes of the words "phonemic" and "phonetic"; the former refers to any unit of sound significant to the users of a particular language (each such unit of sound is known by scholar of linguistics as a phoneme) and the latter refers to the system of cross-culturally useful notations that represent each of these vocal sounds (as in the phonetic alphabet found in the front of most dictionaries and used as a pronunciation guide); derived from the same Greek root, "phonemic" designates the complex sounds themselves whereas "phonetic" specifies the signs and systems scholars devise to represent and then compare the manner in which the basic phonemic units of a language are produced and pronounced. Adopted by anthropologists, the terms emic and etic come to stand for the participant's (emic) and the non-participant's (etic) viewpoints.

Essentialism - [essentialis form of the verb essential meaning to be, in imitation of] a theory that maintains that membership within a class or group is based on a finite list of characteristics, all of which an entity must possess to be considered a member of the group, as opposed to the merely accidental or contingent characteristics a thing might or might not possess.

Ethics – Encompasses right conduct and good life. It is significantly broader than the common conception of analyzing right and wrong. A central aspect of ethics is "the good life", the life worth living or life that is satisfying to be more important than moral conduct. Ethics and morals are respectively akin to theory and practice. Ethics denotes the theory of right action and the greater good, while morals indicate their practice. "Moral" has a dual meaning. The first indicates a person's comprehension of morality and his capacity to put it into practice. In this meaning, the antonym is "amoral", indicating an inability to distinguish between right and wrong. The second denotes the active practice of those values. In this sense, the antonym is "immoral", referring to actions that violate ethical principles. Personal ethics signifies a moral code applicable to individuals, while social ethics means moral theory applied to groups. Social ethics is the foundation of a good society or state. Ethics is not limited to specific acts and defined moral codes, but encompasses the whole of moral ideals and behaviors, a person's philosophy of life.

Ethnocentrism– the tendency to look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own culture. Ethnocentrism often entails the belief that one's own race or ethnic group is the most important and/or that some or all aspects of its culture are superior to those of other groups. Within this ideology, individuals will judge other groups in relation to their own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to language, behavior, customs, and religion. These ethnic distinctions and sub-divisions serve to define each ethnicity's unique cultural identity. Anthropologists such as Franz Boas and Bronisław Malinowski argued that any human science had to transcend the ethnocentrism of the scientist. Both urged anthropologists to conduct ethnographic fieldwork in order to overcome their ethnocentrism. Boas developed the principle of cultural relativism and Malinowski developed the theory of functionalism as guides for producing non-ethnocentric studies of different cultures.

Ethnogenesis– [Greek: ethnos(nation)+genesis(birth)] the process by which a group of human beings comes to be understood or to understand themselves as ethnically distinct from the wider social landscape from which their grouping emerges. By self-reinvention ethnic groups are present at their own creation, setting traditional teleological nation-building narratives that were once uncritically accepted as history, into the framework of legend. Ethnogenesis can occur passively, in the accumulation of markers of group identity forged through interaction with the physical environment, cultural and religious divisions between sections of a society, migrations and other processes, for which ethnic subdivision is an unintended outcome. It can occur actively, as persons deliberately and directly 'engineer' separate identities in order to attempt to solve a political problem – the preservation or imposition of certain cultural values, power relations, etc.

Eurocentrism – the practice of viewing the world from a European perspective, with an implied belief, either consciously or subconsciously, in the preeminence of European (and, more generally, of Western) culture, concerns and values at the expense of non-Europeans. The Eurocentrism prevalent in international affairs in the 19th to 20th centuries has its historical roots in European colonialism and imperialism from the Early Modern period (16th to 18th centuries). In both Europe and North America, the heyday of Eurocentricism was in the 19th century, today it is much less prevalent due to developments in popular culture and teaching. Alternatively, Eurocentric and Eurocentrist are occasionally used in British political discourse to describe supporters of European integration and the European Union, in other words as an antonym of Eurosceptic.

Eusebia - ancient Greek term for the quality one was thought to possess if one properly negotiated the various social expectations and duties required based upon such factors as ones social rank, gender, birth order, generation, occupation, etc.

Evolution – [Latin evolutio, meaning the unrolling or opening of something] theory developed in the nineteenth century by such scholars as Herbert Spencer and Charles Darwin to explain biological change in the gene pool of a population from generation to generation by such processes as random mutation, natural selection, and genetic drift. The much criticized theory known as Social Darwinism names a school of thought that applied this biological theory to account for cultural changes over time and place (assuming a uniform, linear development from so-called lower or primitive cultures to so-called higher or civilized cultures). Although so-called creation science, or intelligent design, has been proposed as an alternative to evolutionary theory, and in some cases is taught along side it in public schools, so far no non-Christian views on the creation of the universe have gained sufficient support to prompt them also to be taught in the public school system as competitors to evolutionary theory.

Existentialism - although it can be traced to earlier influences, it is primary understood today as a mid-twentieth-century European philosophical movement, much associated with post-World War II French intellectuals (philosophers, literary critics, authors, playwrights, etc.), that takes as its starting point the priority of the individual along with the assumption that, in the words of one of the best known representatives of the movement, Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980), "existence precedes essence"– that is, historical human beings come before, and are thus the makers of, qualities and values. As Sartre also observes, human beings are therefore "condemned to be free"– that is, have no choice but to be accountable for their own actions, desires, and the values they produce. Existentialism, then, can be understood to be in opposition to essentialist approaches to the study of culture and meaning.

Functionalism - [Latin functio, meaning action, to perform] the view that, rather than some internal quality, things are defined by what they do and can be studied in terms of the purposes that they serve or the needs that they fulfill. Functionalists can study the social, political, or psychological role played by, for example, a myth or a ritual, examining how it functions either for the individual or how it contributes to maintaining an overall social structure into which the individual is placed.

Great man theory – a theory held by some that aims to explain history by the impact of "Great men", or heroes: highly influential individuals, either from personal charisma, genius intellects, or great political impact. For example, a scholarly follower of the Great Man theory would be likely to study the Second World War by focusing on the big personalities of the conflict – Sir Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, etc. – and view all of the historical events as being tied directly to their own individual decisions and orders. This theory is usually contrasted with a theory that talks about events occurring in the fullness of time, or when an overwhelming wave of smaller events cause certain developments to occur. The Great Man approach to history was most fashionable with professional historians in the 19th century.

Greek - [Graecus meaning the name applied by the Romans to the people called by themselves Hellenes] the ancient texts were written in a script known as common or koine (pronounced "coin-ay") Greek. It is important to note that words/concepts that were once prominent in the Hellensitic world, and therefore used in the production of these texts, eventually were translated into Latin, and then into the many language.

Habermas (Jürgen) is a German philosopher in the tradition of critical theory and American pragmatism. He is best known for his work on the concept of the public sphere, which he has based in his theory of communicative action. Habermas's theoretical system is devoted to revealing the possibility of reason, emancipation and rational-critical communication latent in modern institutions and in the human capacity to deliberate and pursue rational interests. It is distinguished from the rationalist tradition by locating rationality in structures of interpersonal linguistic communication rather than in the structure of either the cosmos or the knowing subject. This social theory advances the goals of human emancipation, while maintaining an inclusive universalist moral framework.

Hinduism- [sindhu, meaning river, especially the body of water known today as the Indus River (in northeastern India), hence the region of the Indus, which today also names the entire nation-state of India] the name given to the mass social movement found originally in the sub-continent that is today known as India and dates to up to 1,500 years prior to the turn-of-the-era; those who practice Hinduism refer to it as Sanatana-dharma; it is a term for indigenous Indian religions, and is characterized by a diverse array of belief systems, practices, institutions, and texts. It is believed to have had its origin in the ancient Indo-Aryan Vedic culture. Texts in Hinduism are separated into two categories: shruti (inspired) and smriti (remembered). The Veda, a body of tests recited by ritual specialists (Brahmins) is considered shruti, whereas the Bhagavad Gita is considered to be smriti. Studies of Hinduism will often focus on the role played by the dharma system (social system of duties and obligations), the caste system (similar to a class system but inherited), beliefs in karma (social actions result in future reactions), atman (the name for ones soul or self), and samsara (the term for the almost limitless cosmic system of rebirths), and the central role of brahmins (a caste of ritual specialists).

Historical materialism – the methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history which was first articulated by Karl Marx (1818-1883). Marx himself never used the term but referred to his approach as "the materialist conception of history". He also distinguished "philosophical materialism" from what he called "popular materialism". Historical materialism looks for the causes of developments and changes in human societies in the way in which humans collectively make the means to live, thus giving an emphasis, through economic analysis, to everything that co-exists with the economic base of society (e.g. social classes, political structures, ideologies).

Historical revisionism – Within the academic field of history, historical revisionism is the critical reexamination of historical facts, with an eye towards rewriting histories with either newly discovered information or a reinterpretation of existing information. The assumption is that history as it has been traditionally told may not be entirely accurate. The pejorative use refers to illegitimate manipulation of history for political purposes. Revisionist historians contest the mainstream or traditional view of historical events; they raise views at odds with traditionalists, which must be freshly judged.

History - [Latin historia, meaning narrative, account, tale, story] by "history" we today mean at least two things: (1) a narrative about the accumulated, chronological past that either demonstrates development over time or established lineage and (2) a more general usage that refers to the world of cause/effect in which unanticipated events intermingle with the intentions of agents. Saying that something is "an element of the historical world" therefore implies that the present is the result of past plans as well as accidents, which were themselves the results of yet other past plans and accidents. To say that something is "historical," therefore means that it is contingent, i.e., depends on prior things happening and therefore could have been otherwise.

History from below – a level of historical narrative which was developed as a result of the Annales School and popularized in the 1960s. This form of social history focuses on the perspectives of ordinary individuals within society as well as individuals and regions that were not previously considered historically important. This includes women and the working class, as well as regions such as India or Africa. The historian Jim Sharpe argues that this form of historical scholarship needs to be concretely linked to its place in history (e.g. its antecedents, consequences, etc) in a manner similar to what anthropologists call "thick description".

Human Nature – It is a concept – sometimes termed the human spirit, the human condition, the human heart, or the human experience – that asserts all human beings hold some essential characteristic(s) that are universal and thus not bound by any notions of time or space. In other words, all human beings, from the beginning of time and spanning the entire present world, are said to share these characteristics, making them the defining element, or essence, of the human species as a species separable from all others.

Human Sciences – those academic studies of minds, texts, institutions, political organization, and economic activity, that seek to develop theories that explain human behavior rather than offer an interpretation of, or appreciation for, the meaning of the behavior or its various artifacts (such as texts, art, architecture, etc.). This classification of work carried out in the modern university provides an alternative to the traditional division of social sciences versus humanities insomuch as the human sciences groups together fields previously studied separately in either of these other divisions, understanding all elements of human social life to be subject to the tools of observation, analysis, generalization, and explanation.

Humanities – an organizational title given to that area of the modern university that usually includes such academic disciplines as the study of literatures, languages, theater, philosophy, history--all of which are often presumed to study various expressions of the enduring human spirit as it is manifested in the conscious and intentional actions of human beings in different historical periods and regions.

Ideology – first coined in late18th century France, the term stood originally for the systematic study of ideas, or science of ideas, but soon came to stand in for both a complete system of ideas, or what we sometimes term a worldview, as well as an incorrect or false system of ideas (the former a more descriptive use of the term whereas the latter is a more normative use of the term).

Inference - to derive a conclusion from something known or assumed to be the case, knowledge which was itself gained by means of either induction or deduction.

Islam - in Arabic meaning literally "submission", the name given to a collection of beliefs, practices, and institutions that date to the sixth and seventh centuries CE, originating in the Arabian peninsula, which place importance on the role played by the Prophet Muhammad who is believed to have received, by means of recitations granted to him by an angel, the word of Allah (Arabic, "the God") which is contained in their scripture, known as the Qur'an (sometimes written in English as "Koran"). These revelations, which occurred in the area outside of the city of Mecca were eventually transcribed and today comprise the Qur'an's 114 suras, or chapter divisions, each of which have a number of verses. Merging indigenous Arabian cultural practices with elements of Jewish and Christian belief, Muslims (those who submit to the will of Allah) understand Muhammad to have been the last in a long line of prophetic figures (stretching from Abraham to Jesus); he is understood to have been the "seal of the prophets", all of whom conveyed the divine word, law, and instructions of Allah. After establishing the first Muslim community in the nearby city of Medina, Islam spread successfully throughout much of the then "known" world, stretching across north Africa, Europe, and well into Asia. Today it can be found all throughout the world. Early on in its development, disagreements over such things as leadership succession led to a division, leaving two main sub-types: Sunni and Shi'ite (a third sub-type, Sufism, is considered the mystical aspect of Islam) – all of which have their own sub-types, often based on differing traditions of legal and textual interpretation.

Judaism - the name given to a collection of beliefs, practices, and institutions that date at least to several hundred years prior to the turn-of-the-era and whose significant historical events transpired in the area of the world now known as the Middle East; although today considered a religious designation, to some it has always been an ethnic designation and – especially since the founding of the state of Israel in 1948 – for yet others it designates a national identity (sometimes designating all three at once). Although one might talk of ancient Hebrew religion (involving twelve ancestral tribes, a distinctive role for the members of a priestly tribe, the centrality of temple worship, animal sacrifice, a period of enslavement in ancient Egypt, and a belief in a divine mandate to settle "the promised land"), after the Exilic period (in which it is held that, for much of the sixth century BCE, Hebrews were conquered by the ancient Babylonian empire and forcibly removed from their land) the centrality of textual interpretation, the role of the rabbi (Hebrew: master), and the place of the synagogue came to supplant the prior place of the temple and priests. The main scripture is known as TANAKH, an acronym standing for the letters that signify the three main bodies of work that comprise what is sometimes called the Hebrew Bible: Torah (the Law, which comprises the first five books of the Hebrew Bible), Neviim (the writings attributed to the Prophets), and Ketuvim "the writings" (such as the more poetic book of Psalms that is attributed to the patriarch and onetime Hebrew King, David). Today, Jews are found worldwide and the modern state of Israel (the so-called "promised land") plays a particularly important role in the social identity for many Jews.

Language – is a system of visual, auditory, or tactile symbols of communication and the rules used to manipulate them. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon. Language is considered to be an exclusively human mode of communication; although other animals make use of quite sophisticated communicative systems, none of these are known to make use of all of the properties that linguists use to define language.

Linguistics - [Latin lingua, meaning tongue] the cross-cultural and comparative science of language as a human phenomenon, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and historical linguistics. General (or theoretical) linguistics encompasses a number of sub-fields, such as the study of language structure (grammar) and meaning (semantics). The study of grammar encompasses morphology (formation and alteration of words) and syntax (the rules that determine the way words combine into phrases and sentences). Also part of this field are phonology, the study of sound systems and abstract sound units, and phonetics, which is concerned with the actual properties of speech sounds (phones), non-speech sounds, and how they are produced and perceived. Linguistics compares languages (comparative linguistics) and explores their histories to find universal properties of language and to account for its development and origins (historical linguistics). Applied linguistics puts linguistic theories into practice in areas such as foreign language teaching, speech therapy, translation, and speech pathology.

Literature – is a body of written works related by subject-matter, by language or place of origin, or by dominant cultural standards. Literally translated, the word means "acquaintance with letters" [Latin littera, letter]. In Western culture the most basic literary types include poetry and prose, fiction and non-fiction. The word "literature" has different meanings depending on who is using it and in what context. It could be applied broadly to mean any symbolic record, encompassing everything from images and sculptures to letters. In a more narrow sense the term could mean only text composed of letters, or other examples of symbolic written language. An even more narrow interpretation is that text has a physical form, such as on paper or some other portable form, to the exclusion of inscriptions or digital media. Illustrated stories, hypertexts, cave paintings and inscribed monuments have all at one time or another pushed the boundaries of "literature."

Marxist or Historical Materialist Historiography is a school of historiography influenced by Marxism. The chief tenets of Marxist historiography are the centrality of social class and economic constraints in determining historical outcomes. Marxist historiography has made contributions to the history of the working class, oppressed nationalities, and the methodology of history from below. The chief problematic aspect of Marxist historiography has been an argument on the nature of history as determined or dialectical; this can also be stated as the relative importance of subjective and objective factors in creating outcomes. Marxist history is generally teleological, in that it posits a direction of history, towards an end state of history as classless human society. Marxist historiography is generally seen as a tool. Its aim is to bring those oppressed by history to self-consciousness, and to arm them with tactics and strategies from history: it is both a historical and a liberatory project.

Meta-analysis – combines the results of several studies that address a set of related research hypotheses. The first meta-analysis was performed in an attempt to overcome the problem of reduced statistical power in studies with small sample sizes; analyzing the results from a group of studies can allow more accurate data analysis. Meta-analysis is widely used today; more sophisticated analytical techniques were introduced in educational research. Meta analysis leads to a shift of emphasis from single studies to multiple studies. It emphasizes the practical importance of the effect size instead of the statistical significance of individual studies.

Metanarrative –[sometimes master- or grand narrative or "grand narratives," typically characterized by some form of 'transcendent and universal truth'] is an abstract idea that is supposed to be a comprehensive explanation of historical experience or knowledge. According to John Stephens it "is a global or totalizing cultural narrative schema which orders and explains knowledge and experience". The prefix meta means "beyond" and is here used to mean "about", and a narrative is a story. Therefore, a metanarrative is a story about a story, encompassing and explaining other 'little stories' within totalizing schemas.

Microhistory – is a branch of the study of history. Microhistory is the study of the past on a very small scale. The most common type of microhistory is the study of a small town or village. Other common studies include looking at individuals of minor importance, or analyzing a single painting. Microhistory is an important component of the "new history" that has emerged since the 1960s. It is usually done in close collaboration with the social sciences, such as anthropology and sociology. Microhistory is to be distinguished from local history, in which research is not seen as a case study for more general historical trends, but is appreciated for its inherent interest to the local community.

Monarchy – [the Greek μονος, "one," and αρχειν, "to rule"] is a form of government in which a monarch, usually a single person, is the head of state. Monarchies were formed through conquest, popular sovereignty, greed, tradition, political necessity and an opportunity to exploit certain situations. In most monarchies, the monarch holds their position for life and passes the responsibilities and power of the position to their children or family when they die. The term monarchy is also used to refer to the people (especially the dynasty, also known as royalty) and institutions that make up the royal or imperial establishment, or to the realm over which the monarch reigns. Monarchs serve as symbols of continuity and statehood. Many monarchies are constituted by tradition or by codified law, so that the monarch has little real political power; in others the monarch holds some power but is limited from exercising it by popular opinion or precedent; in still others the monarch holds substantial power and may exercise it without limit. Monarchy is one of the oldest forms of government, with echoes in the leadership of tribal chiefs. Many monarchs once claimed to rule by divine right, or at least by divine grace, ruling either by the will of the god(s) or even claiming to be (incarnated) gods themselves. Monarchs have also been selected by election.

Myth – [Greek mythos, meaning word, story, or narrative; traced back to an argument of Plato's in his ancient Greek dialogue entitled The Republic, "myth" comes to designate fanciful, false, or fictional narratives that are to be distinguished from historical narrative or rational discourses (Greek, logos)] commonly used to refer to narratives that are transmitted orally and tell of supernatural beings that can accomplish deeds that humans cannot.

'Narrative' –[Latin verb narrare, which means "to recount" and is related to the adjective gnarus, meaning "knowing" or "skilled"] is a construct created in a suitable medium (speech, writing, images) that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events. The word "story" may be used as a synonym of "narrative", but can also be used to refer to the sequence of events described in a narrative. A narrative can also be told by a character within a larger narrative. For general purposes a 'narrative' is a story or part of a story. It may be spoken, written or imagined, and it will have one or more points of view representing some or all of the participants or observers. In stories told verbally, there is a person telling the story, a narrator whom the audience can see and/or hear, and who adds layers of meaning to the text nonverbally. Whatever the form, the content may concern real-world people and events. This is termed personal experience narrative. It is customary to distinguish a first-person from a third-person narrative . In some stories, the author may be overtly omniscient, and both employ multiple points of view and comment directly on events as they occur.

Nation-State – [Latin natio, meaning stock or race, "that which has been born"; as in native + Latin status, meaning "position, the manner of standing, ones condition, as in the condition of a region or place] a term for modern, large-scale social units that combines the earlier sense of an ethnic or ancestral group (a nation, clan, or tribe) with the more recent political sense of a group organized around legal principles (such as those who possess citizenship not as a birthright but as an identity adopted by means of legal procedures). Often, nationalism, understood as an expression of ones political identity, is distinguished from patriotism with only the latter being understood as positive. This distinction is spurious for it is apparent that the same behavior (singing songs, marching, displaying flags and military hardware, engaging in nationalist rhetoric, presumptions that God is on ones side during a time of war, etc.) when practiced by ones enemies is classified as nationalistic whereas when practiced by ones own group of ones allies it constitutes benign patriotism.

Natural Science – refers to a rational approach to the study of the universe, which is understood as obeying rules or law of natural origin. The term natural science is also used to distinguish those fields that use the scientific method to study nature from the social sciences, which use the scientific method to study human behavior and society; and from the formal sciences, such as mathematics and logic, which use a different methodology.

New Age – is the term commonly used to designate the broad movement of late 20th century and contemporary Western culture, characterized by an eclectic and individual approach to spiritual exploration and references the supposed coming astrological Age of Aquarius. Self-spirituality, New spirituality, and Mind-body-spirit are other names sometimes used for the movement. Beliefs in New Age ideas are found among diverse individuals, including some who graft additional beliefs onto a traditional religious affiliation. The New Age movement includes elements of older spiritual and religious traditions from both East and West, many of which have been melded with ideas from modern science, particularly psychology and ecology. New Age ideas could be described as drawing inspiration from all the major world religions.

Occult– [Latin occultus, clandestine, hidden, secret] refers to "knowledge of the hidden". The word has many uses in the English language, popularly meaning "knowledge of the paranormal", as opposed to "knowledge of the measurable", usually referred to as science. The term is sometimes popularly taken to mean "knowledge meant only for certain people" or "knowledge that must be kept hidden", but for most practicing occultists it is simply the study of a deeper spiritual reality that extends beyond pure reason and the physical sciences. The terms esoteric and arcane can have a very similar meaning, and the three terms are often interchangeable. The term occult is also used as a label given to a number of magical organizations or orders, and the teachings and practices as taught by them.

Oral history – can be defined as the recording, preservation and interpretation of historical information, based on the personal experiences and opinions of the speaker. It often takes the form of eye-witness evidence about past events, but can include folklore, myths, songs and stories passed down over the years by word of mouth. While it is an invaluable way of preserving the knowledge and understanding of older people, it can also involve interviewing younger generations. More recently, the use of video recording techniques has expanded the realm of oral history beyond verbal forms of communication and into the realm of gesture.

Orientalism – [Latin orientem, meaning the east, or from where the sun rises] a term that has traditionally named a scholarly discipline, at its height in nineteenth-century Europe, that takes as its subject matter the study of the Arab world (the so-called Orient or "Mystic East"), its history, language, and contemporary customs, religion, and politics. More critically, "Orientalism" now often stands for a particular attitude toward what scholars term "the Other"; in this sense, most famously examined in a book by this title by critic Edward Said, Orientalism names a widespread strategy whereby groups create a sense of themselves as distinct from others by generating powerfully negative and easily reproduced caricatures and stereotypes of those from whom they see themselves to differ. In Said's analysis (Orientalism), the 18^th and 19^th century preoccupation among Europeans intent on studying "the Orient" – learning its languages, mapping it, studying its culture, and writing novels about its mystery and danger – functioned to create a representation of the Orient that reflected not actual traits in this distant part of the world, but instead, functioned to reinforce a sense of superiority and order at home. Given that today the term "Orient" refers not to the so-called Middle East (and such modern countries as Egypt, Israel, Syria, etc.) but to parts of Asia (e.g., China, Japan, Korea, etc.), it should be evident that this term is plastic and can be applied to whomever the apparent in-group sees as different from themselves and thus unknown.

Politics – is the process by which groups of people make decisions. The term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, but politics has been observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious institutions. Politics consists of "social relations involving authority or power" and refers to the regulation of a political unit, and to the methods and tactics used to formulate and apply policy. Political science (also political studies) is the study of political behavior and examines the acquisition and application of power. Related areas of study include political philosophy, which seeks a rationale for politics and an ethic of public behavior, and public administration, which examines the practices of governance.

Political Economy – the systematic study (science) of the manner in which systems that govern power and privilege are interconnected with systems that govern patterns of exchange and the valuation of commodities; the earlier name for what is today often referred to simply as economics.

Positivism – Although for some "positivism" is used along with "reductionistic" to name an attitude toward the study of culture that is seen as overly reliant on the effort to reduce the meaning of a participant's testimony to observable, and thus predictable, facts, more properly it is termed "Logical Positivism" – a term which refers to an originally Austrian and German philosophical school of thought that dates to the early decades of the twentieth century.

Pragmatism –is a philosophic school generally considered to have originated in the late 19^th century with Charles Sanders Peirce, who first stated the pragmatic maxim. It came to fruition in the early 20^th century. Most of the thinkers who describe themselves as pragmatists consider practical consequences or real effects to be vital components of both meaning and truth. Other important aspects of pragmatism include radical empiricism, instrumentalism, anti-realism, verificationism, conceptual relativity, a denial of the fact-value distinction, a high regard for science, and fallibilism.

Presentism – is a mode of historical analysis in which present-day ideas and perspectives are anachronistically introduced into depictions or interpretations of the past. Most modern historians seek to avoid presentism in their work because they believe it creates a distorted understanding of their subject matter.

Progress – [Latin progressus, meaning a going forward, advance] indicates generally forward moving and may refer to: Evolutionary progress, the idea that there is a largest-scale trend in evolution of organisms and that the trend is toward improvement; Scientific progress, the idea that science increases its problem solving ability through the application of some scientific method; Social progress, process in which societies or individuals become better; Progress trap, process in which science and technology, in pursuing innovation, create more problems than they can solve. Historical progress has been a main object of philosophy of history. It has been linked to progress in philosophy, as the philosophy of history was linked to history of philosophy. Progress can be conceived as linear, spiral (as in Hegel's philosophy of history), positive ("social progress") or negative (decadence), circular (as in various circular conceptions of history; in this case, it can't really be said to be a "progress", since it invariably returns to an initial original state).

Prosopography – is an investigation of the common background characteristics of a historical group, whose individual biographies may be largely untraceable, by means of a collective study of their lives. It is an increasingly important approach within historical research. Prosopographical research has the aim of learning about patterns of relationships and activities through the study of collective biography, and proceeds by collecting and analyzing statistically relevant quantities of biographical data about a well-defined group of individuals. A uniform set of criteria needs to be applied to the group in order to achieve meaningful results.

Prototype - the original or model on which something is based or formed; something that serves to illustrate the typical qualities of a class or group. The selection of features to be included in family resemblance definitions are generally thought to be arise from a prototype with which one happens to be familiar.

Pseudohistory – is a pejorative term applied to texts which purport to be historical in nature but which depart from standard historiographical conventions in a way which undermines their conclusions. Works which draw controversial conclusions from new, speculative or disputed historical evidence, particularly in the fields of national, political, military and religious affairs, are often rejected as pseudohistory.

Psychology - the systematic study (science) of the mind or of mental states and processes.

Quantitative History – is an approach to historical research that makes use of quantitative, statistical and computer tools. It is considered a branch of social science history.

Reductionism - an approach to the creation of new knowledge that attempts to account for one level of phenomena in terms of a more basic series of propositions, much as observations from the world of biology (such as monitoring the growth rate of cells) can be explained by reducing them to the language of chemistry, which in turn can be reduced to the theories of physics.

Relativism – is the idea that some element or aspect of experience or culture is relative to, i.e., dependent on, some other element or aspect. Some relativists claim that humans can understand and evaluate beliefs and behaviors only in terms of their historical o