The subject of history is now dead as a discipline and has been replaced by post-modernist theory, an expert from the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) has claimed.
Bella d’Abrera, who is the director of the Foundations of Western Civilisation Project at the IPA, said that history as a discipline in Australian universities is no longer a study of the past but something that has turned into a “woke political project.”
In 2022, “gender” overtook “Indigenous issues” as the most common theme, followed by “race.”
She also found that more history subjects taught about race than democracy (86 verses 33).
Just 280 of the offered history subjects taught essential core topics, the most common being Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece, The Middle Ages, and World War II, while the least common include the Russian Revolution and the American constitution.
The IPA believes 20 topics form the basis of an undergraduate degree in history, which also include topics such as the history of Christianity, Communism/Nazism, and the Renaissance.
Should Be Taught Under Gender or Sociology Studies
D’Abrera said by deliberately “choosing to forget” the past, graduates will be prone to repeating history’s mistakes.“Our future leaders need to be able to recognise the signs of totalitarianism, threats to our freedoms, and threats to our personal sovereignty,” she said. “The only way of doing this is to cast our eyes backwards. We cannot afford to leave history in the past.”
D’Abrera suggests that if universities want to continue offering the subjects, they should be honest about what they’re offering and move the subjects to “more suitable” departments, such as sociology or gender studies.
“Any student hoping a university education will grow their historical understanding of humanity will be greatly disappointed,” she said.
Kevin Donnelly, the senior fellow at the Australian Catholic University’s Glynn Institute, said university institutions had been particularly affected by politically correct ideology and wokeness.