Search results

Middle level teachers, at times, link historical content with relevant English literature in interdisciplinary units. Elementary teachers periodically employ history-themed literature during reading time. Interconnections between language arts and history are formed with developmentally appropriate literature for students. Historical misrepresentations, however, proliferate in children’s literature and are concealed behind engaging narratives. Since literacy and historical thinking are essential skills, children’s literature should be balanced within, not banished from, the classroom. Using America’s peculiar institution of slavery as a reference point, this article examines children’s literature, identifies almost a dozen areas of historical misrepresentation, and proffers rich primary source material to balance the various misrepresentations. We provide teachers with reason for caution when including such literature; but also model how to locate, use, and, at times, abridge primary source material within an elementary or middle level classroom. Such curricular supplements provide balance to engaging but historically-blemished children’s literature and enable educators to attain the rigorous prescriptions of Common Core.

Common Core State Standards Initiative mandates increased readings of informational texts within English Language Arts starting in elementary school. Accurate, age-appropriate, and engaging content is at the center of effective social studies teaching. Textbooks and children’s literature—both literary and informational—are prominent in elementary classrooms because of the esoteric nature of primary source material. Many research projects have investigated historical accuracy and representation within textbooks, but few have done so with children’s trade books. We examined children’s trade books centered on three historical figures frequently incorporated within elementary school curricula: Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, and Helen Keller. Findings revealed various forms of historical misrepresentation and differing levels of historicity. Reporting such lacunae is important for those involved in curricular decisions. We believe children’s books, even those with historical omissions and misrepresentations, provide an unique opportunity for students to incorporate and scrutinize diverse perspectives as they actively assemble historical understandings. All secondary narratives, even historically representative children’s books, can benefit from primary source supplementation. We guide teachers interested in employing relevant and rich primary source material.

Effective teaching, while supplemented by best practice methods and assessments, is rooted in accurate, age-appropriate, and engaging content. As a foundation for history content, elementary educators rely strongly on textbooks and children’s literature, both fiction and non-fiction. While many researchers have examined the historical accuracy of textbook content, few have rigorously scrutinized the historical accuracy of children’s literature. Those projects that carried out such examination were more descriptive than comprehensive due to significantly smaller data pools. I investigate how children’s non-fiction and fiction books depict and historicize a meaningful and frequently taught history topic: Christopher Columbus’s accomplishments and misdeeds. Results from a comprehensive content analysis indicate that children’s books are engaging curricular supplements with age-appropriate readability yet frequently misrepresent history in eight consequential ways. Demonstrating a substantive disconnect between experts’ understandings of Columbus, these discouraging findings are due to the ways in which authors of children’s books recurrently omit relevant and contentious historical content in order to construct interesting, personalized narratives.

This paper aims to problematize the dominant narrative forms of disciplinary histories of management thought. Specifically, the authors explore the narrative mode of emplotment used in Wren’s (and later Wren and Bedeian’s) 50-year encyclical on the history of management thought, namely, The Evolution of Management Thought (EMT).

The authors propose that management histories operate as powerful narratives that shape our understanding of management thought and, consequently, our disciplinary futures. This paper explores the textual narrative of EMT. Additional data are drawn from other scholars’ observations of this text. This paper is positioned in the debates of management history.

While acknowledging the wealth of historical facts in EMT, the authors argue that the umbrella narrative orders events of the past in such a manner that the historical knowledge follows a form of Darwinian evolutionism. Thus, the narrative leads to problematic representations suffering from progressivism, presentism and universalism.

Disciplinary scholars in management and organization studies need to carefully reflect on how we construct our representations of the past and histories. This will allow us to better craft transparent and reflexive histories.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to propose a remedy, albeit a partial remedy, which we believe is needed to avoid adverse epistemological consequences associated with the use of problematic narratives in management and organizational histories.

This chapter sets forth a plan designed to encourage and enable teachers to engage in first-person characterization in their classrooms. The author draws on his extensive background in social studies teaching, administration, and consulting to argue for the value of historical interpretation within the context of today's curricular emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This chapter then explores and explains historical interpretation from a classroom perspective, focusing on pedagogical best practices. In a first-person presentation, the presenter assumes the identity of a historical figure. The first question to be asked then is, Who is the individual I wish to represent, and why? This person should be selected from subject matter being studied in your class. Be aware that it is necessary to anticipate some element of controversy when you undertake this activity. With rare exceptions, any historical figure selected for portrayal will have something questionable in their background, and you will have to contend with this. So, the next question to ask is, Why engage in first-person interpretation in the first place? In this chapter, experienced teachers provide reasons for doing so, and consider necessary preparations for effectively implementing such a characterization. That discussion leads to examining ways to ensure successful presentations that achieve established lesson goals, followed by suggestions for debriefing and effectively bringing closure to the exercise. As the accompanying lesson extension demonstrates, a characterization can ground further study of an issue associated with the individual being depicted.

What gets measured gets done” goes the cliché. Therefore, it is imperative for corporate communicators to understand the measurement of persuasive communication, starting with its antecedents. This paper will highlight the link between audience awareness/behavior and persuasive communication through an examination of how 1920s practitioners studied the effect their communications materials (specifically film and print brochures) had on key audiences.

The author used the cultural-economic model (CEM) of public relations (PR) as a framework to examine the various socio-cultural organizational factors that affected the production and the consumption of communication materials and messages.

The intent and techniques of PR measurement have not changed much in 100 years. A contemporary practitioner might conduct a study of communications materials in a similar manner as the 1920s social hygienists, and this study adds the concept of human agency to the discussion of PR measurement. This is not to engage in historical presentism and judge past practitioners on current standards. Instead, it is a call for contemporary practitioners to take a deeper look at the moment of consumption and all the variables that go into meaning making.

Most of the field's historical case studies focus on the production of communication messages and materials, while this paper examines those facets as well as audience consumption. Implications for contemporary practitioners are discussed.

Studies on cross-culture marketing often focus on either localization or globalization strategies. Based on data from pre-communist China (1912–1949), product hybridization – defined as a process or strategy that generates symbols, designs, behaviors and cultural identities that blend local and global elements – emerges as a popular intermediate strategy worthy of further inquiry. After examining the mechanisms and processes underlying this strategy, a schema for classifying product hybridization strategies is developed and illustrated. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Critical historical research method is applied to historical data and historical “traces” from pre-communist China’s corporate documents, memoirs, posters, advertisements, newspapers and secondhand sources.

Strategic interactions between domestic and foreign companies in pre-communist China fostered products and a city (Shanghai) containing Chinese and non-Chinese elements. Informed by historical traces and data from pre-communist China (1912-1949), a 2 × 2 classification schema relating company type (i.e. foreign or domestic) to values spectrum endpoint (i.e. domestic vs foreign) was formulated. This schema reflects the value of communication, negotiation and cultural (inter)penetration that accompanies cross-culture product flows.

Cross-culture marketing strategies meant to help companies satisfy diverse marketplace interests can induce a mélange of product design elements. Because product hybridization reflects reciprocity between domestic and foreign companies that embodies multiple interests and contrasting interpretations of product meanings, researchers should examine globalization and localization synergistically.

Strategies adopted by domestic and foreign companies in pre-communist China (1912–1949) can help contemporary companies design effective cross-culture marketing strategies in a global marketplace infused with competing meanings and interests.

Examining historical strategies adopted in pre-communist China (1912–1949) can inform contemporary marketers’ intuitions. Understanding product hybridization in global marketplaces can improve marketing efficiency.

The rich primary and secondary data sources for studying historical Chinese marketing theory and practice are discussed. This paper aims to briefly address possible challenges (and their solutions) to using these sources.

A bibliographic review is used to analyze historical sources pertaining to Chinese marketing theory and practice.

Marketing scholars can draw from multiple but neglected and underused Chinese sources to glean important historical data reflecting pre-1949 Chinese marketing.

Underused Chinese multilateral historical marketing materials are inalienable to extending historical marketing study. Many studies about marketing theory and practice are amenable to such materials.

By scrutinizing these materials, contemporary marketers can formulate parallel strategies from the repertoire of historical marketing strategies.

This is the first comprehensive survey of an invaluable non-Western source for historical research in marketing.