The Historian as Citizen of the World:
Perspectives on Modern Issues
Implicit in the profession of studying the past is the obligation and opportunity to connect the past and the present, to contemplate issues and questions of purpose, social organization, and forces at work reshaping the social, political, and economic landscape. Presumably, despite the values of specialization and of developing expertise in particular areas of history, the historian also is conversant in the critical concepts of freedom, democracy, and other relationships important in the organization of life. Just as we turn to history to prepare citizens for full participation in our society, the historian is also thus prepared to be a Citizen of the World, is prepared to be an observer and participant in the forces that he or she studies.
Because of my own work in the history of social change I was invited in the 1990s to participate in two examinations of social change in other parts of the world. I was an Official Observer of the 1990 elections in Nicaragua and I was a guest of two universities in Buenos Aires in 1995. Of course, I was supposed to provide services on both occasion but I found each trip a huge opportunity to learn and grow, and to hone my analytic tools as a historian at home.
These two reports that I prepared and circulated to friends and colleagues after my trips are largely unrevised and thus dated. I am struck, however, by how they continue to address the forces at work reshaping not just the world but American society.
Because of my own work in the history of social change I was invited in the 1990s to participate in two examinations of social change in other parts of the world. I was an Official Observer of the 1990 elections in Nicaragua and I was a guest of two universities in Buenos Aires in 1995. Of course, I was supposed to provide services on both occasion but I found each trip a huge opportunity to learn and grow, and to hone my analytic tools as a historian at home.
These two reports that I prepared and circulated to friends and colleagues after my trips are largely unrevised and thus dated. I am struck, however, by how they continue to address the forces at work reshaping not just the world but American society.
