From myth to history and back again

References to the past have taken one or another of two general forms, which we call mythic and historical, or a mix of the two. We tend to think of mythic accounts of the past as belonging to oral cultures and historical forms to be one of the “consequences of literacy.” Mythic accounts have tended to refer to an original beginning whose events are seen to determine, rather directly, current conditions. The intervening events, represented in a causal sequence, and secured by rational inquiry, are generally seen as a product of the development of historical thinking. But the difference between the two is not so clear. Increasingly it is recognized that our imaginations play a constructive role in the kind of meaning we compose from past events. This leaves us with some discomfort, or at least challenges, in considering the kind of thinking we are encouraging in our pupils as we teach them history.