Pseudohistory  

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{{Template}} {{Template}}
:''[[pseudo-]]'' :''[[pseudo-]]''
-'''Pseudohistory''' is a pejorative term applied to texts which purport to be [[history|historical]] in nature but which depart from standard [[Historical method|historiographical conventions]] in a way which undermines their conclusions. +'''Pseudohistory''' is a pejorative term applied to texts which purport to be [[history|historical]] in nature but which depart from standard [[Historical method|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.
-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.+
==Examples== ==Examples==
Line 8: Line 7:
The following are some commonly cited examples of pseudohistory: The following are some commonly cited examples of pseudohistory:
*[[Catastrophism]] *[[Catastrophism]]
-**[[Immanuel Velikovsky]]'s book ''[[Worlds in Collision]]''<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fritze|first=Ronald H,.|title=Invented knowledge: false history, fake science and pseudo-religions|year=2009|publisher=Reaktion Books|isbn=978-1861894304|page=169}}</ref>+**[[Immanuel Velikovsky]]'s book ''[[Worlds in Collision]]''
*Alternative [[chronology|chronologies]] - revised sequences of events or other alterations to the timeline of ancient history. *Alternative [[chronology|chronologies]] - revised sequences of events or other alterations to the timeline of ancient history.
-**[[Anatoly Fomenko]]'s theory ''[[New Chronology (Fomenko)|New Chronology]]''<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Novikov|first=S. P.|title=Pseudohistory and pseudomathematics: fantasy in our life|journal=Russian Mathematical Surveys|year=2000|volume=55}}</ref>+**[[Anatoly Fomenko]]'s theory ''[[New Chronology (Fomenko)|New Chronology]]''
*[[Psychohistory]] The ill-fated attempt to merge psychology with history, replacing historical method. *[[Psychohistory]] The ill-fated attempt to merge psychology with history, replacing historical method.
*[[Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact]] *[[Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact]]
-**[[Gavin Menzies]]'s book ''[[1421: The Year China Discovered the World]]'', which argues for the idea that Chinese sailors discovered America.<ref>Fritze, Ronald H,. (2009). Invented knowledge: false history, fake science and pseudo-religions. Reaktion Books. p. 11.ISBN 978-1861894304.</ref>+**[[Gavin Menzies]]'s book ''[[1421: The Year China Discovered the World]]'', which argues for the idea that Chinese sailors discovered America.
*Religious history (see also [[scientific foreknowledge in sacred texts]]) *Religious history (see also [[scientific foreknowledge in sacred texts]])
-**[[Priory of Sion]]: works such as ''[[Holy Blood, Holy Grail]]'', which conjecture that [[Jesus Christ]] may have married [[Mary Magdalene]], who later moved to France and gave birth to the line of [[Merovingian]] Kings<ref>{{Cite book|title=Secrets of the Code|year=2006|publisher=Vanguard Press|isbn=978-1593152734|author=Laura Miller|editor=Dan Burstein|page=405}}</ref>+**[[Priory of Sion]]: works such as ''[[Holy Blood, Holy Grail]]'', which conjecture that [[Jesus Christ]] may have married [[Mary Magdalene]], who later moved to France and gave birth to the line of [[Merovingian]] Kings
-**The writings of author [[David Barton (author)|David Barton]] and others postulating that the [[United States of America]] was founded as an exclusively [[Christian]] nation.<ref>{{Cite journal+**The writings of author [[David Barton (author)|David Barton]] and others postulating that the [[United States of America]] was founded as an exclusively [[Christian]] nation.
- | last = Specter+**See also [[Searches for Noah's Ark]]
- | first = Arlen+
- | authorlink = Arlen Specter+
- | coauthors =+
- | title = Defending the wall: Maintaining church/state separation in America+
- | journal = Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy+
- | volume = 18+
- | issue = 2+
- | pages = 575–590+
- | publisher =+
- | location =+
- | date = Spring 1995+
- | url = http://connection.ebscohost.com/content/article/1027400469.html+
- | doi =+
- | id =+
- | accessdate = }}</ref><ref>[http://www.baltimorechronicle.com/2008/011508Leopold.shtml House Passes, Considers Evangelical Resolutions], [[Baltimore Chronicle]]</ref><ref>[http://www.pfaw.org/media-center/publications/david-barton-propaganda-masquerading-history David Barton - Propaganda Masquerading as History], [[People for the American Way]]</ref><ref name=Pierard>[http://www.bostontheological.org/publications/pdf/2004-2005/jan252005.pdf Boston Theological Institute Newsletter Volume XXXIV, No. 17], Richard V. Pierard, January 25, 2005</ref>+
-**See also [[Searches for Noah's Ark]]<ref>Dietz, Robert S. "Ark-Eology: A Frightening Example of Pseudo-Science" in ''Geotimes'' 38:9 (Sept. 1993) p. 4.</ref>+
- +
*[[Ethnocentric]] pseudo-history (see also [[National mysticism]]) *[[Ethnocentric]] pseudo-history (see also [[National mysticism]])
-** Most [[Afrocentric]] (i.e. [[Pre-Columbian Africa-Americas contact theories]], [[Ancient Egyptian race controversy|Black Egypt]]) ideas have been identified as pseudohistorical<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://dcn.davis.ca.us/~gizmo/2001/clarence.html |title=Clarence Walker encourages black Americans to discard Afrocentrism |accessdate=2007-11-13 |last=Sherwin |first=Elisabeth |publisher=Davis Community Network }}</ref><ref name=Ortiz1997>{{Cite journal+** Most [[Afrocentric]] (i.e. [[Pre-Columbian Africa-Americas contact theories]], [[Ancient Egyptian race controversy|Black Egypt]]) ideas have been identified as pseudohistorical
- |author=Ortiz de Montellano, Bernardo & Gabriel Haslip Viera & Warren Barbour+**The [[Indigenous_Aryans#Pseudoscience_and_postmodernism|Indigenous Aryans]] theories published in [[Hindu nationalism]] during the 1990s and 2000s.
- |year=1997+**The "crypto-history" of [[Germanic mysticism]] and [[Nazi occultism]].
- |title=They were NOT here before Columbus: Afrocentric hyper-diffusionism in the 1990s+
-|journal=Ethnohistory+
- |pages=199–234+
-|no= 2+
-|volume=44+
-|doi=10.2307/483368+
- |issue=2+
- |publisher=Duke University Press+
- |jstor=483368+
-}}</ref>+
-**The [[Indigenous_Aryans#Pseudoscience_and_postmodernism|Indigenous Aryans]] theories published in [[Hindu nationalism]] during the 1990s and 2000s.<ref>{{Cite journal|first=Meera|last= Nanda|title=Response to my critics''|journal= Social Epistemology|volume= 19|issue=1|date= January - March, 2005|url=http://physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/Nanda_SocEpist.pdf|format=PDF|pages=147–191|doi=10.1080/02691720500084358|postscript=.}}+
-{{Cite book| last =Sokal | first =Alan | author-link =Alan Sokal|chapter=Pseudoscience and Postmodernism: Antagonists or Fellow-Travelers?|editor-last= Fagan|editor-first=Garrett|title=Archaeolological Fantasies: How pseudoarchaeology misrepresents the past and misleads the public|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year= 2006 |isbn=0415305926| postscript =<!-- Bot inserted parameter. Either remove it; or change its value to "." for the cite to end in a ".", as necessary. -->}}+
-</ref>+
-**The "crypto-history" of [[Germanic mysticism]] and [[Nazi occultism]].<ref>[[Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke]]. 1985. ''[[The Occult Roots of Nazism]]: Secret Aryan Cults and Their Influence on Nazi Ideology: The Ariosophists of Austria and Germany, 1890–1935''. Wellingborough, England: The Aquarian Press. ISBN 0-85030-402-4. (Several reprints.) Expanded with a new Preface, 2004, I.B. Tauris & Co. ISBN 1-86064-973-4</ref>+
**[[British_Israelism#Compatibility_with_present-day_research_findings|British-Israelism]] (Anglo-Israelism). **[[British_Israelism#Compatibility_with_present-day_research_findings|British-Israelism]] (Anglo-Israelism).
*[[Anti-semitism]] inspired (see also [[Blood libel]]) *[[Anti-semitism]] inspired (see also [[Blood libel]])
-** [[The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion]], a fraudulent work purporting to show a historical conspiracy for world domination by Jews<ref name="ushmm.org">[http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007058 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, ''Holocaust Encyclopedia'' "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", last updated 4 May 2009.]</ref>+** [[The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion]], a fraudulent work purporting to show a historical conspiracy for world domination by Jews
-**[[Holocaust denial]]: claims of writers such as [[David Irving]] that the [[Holocaust]] did not occur or was exaggerated greatly.<ref>Deborah E. Lipstadt, Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory, Plume, 1994, Page 215, ISBN 0452272742</ref>+**[[Holocaust denial]]: claims of writers such as [[David Irving]] that the [[Holocaust]] did not occur or was exaggerated greatly.
*[[Ancient Astronauts]], [[Archaeoastronomy]] and [[Lost lands]] (see also [[Atlantis location hypotheses]]) *[[Ancient Astronauts]], [[Archaeoastronomy]] and [[Lost lands]] (see also [[Atlantis location hypotheses]])
-** The theory of [[Lemuria (continent)#Kumari_Kandam_and_Lemuria|Lemuria and Kumari Kandam]].<ref>Fritze, Ronald H,. (2009). Invented knowledge: false history, fake science and pseudo-religions. Reaktion Books. p. 11.ISBN 978-1861894304.</ref>+** The theory of [[Lemuria (continent)#Kumari_Kandam_and_Lemuria|Lemuria and Kumari Kandam]].
-**''[[Chariots of the Gods?]]'' and other books by [[Erich von Daniken]], which claim ancient visitors from outer space constructed the pyramids and other monuments.<ref>Fritze, Ronald H,. (2009). Invented knowledge: false history, fake science and pseudo-religions. Reaktion Books. p. 201. ISBN 978-1861894304.</ref>+**''[[Chariots of the Gods?]]'' and other books by [[Erich von Daniken]], which claim ancient visitors from outer space constructed the pyramids and other monuments.
-**Publications by [[Christopher Knight (author)|Christopher Knight]], such as ''[[Uriel's Machine]]'' (2000), claiming ancient technological civilizations.<ref>Merriman, Nick, editor, ''Public Archaeology'', Routledge, 2004 page 260</ref><ref>Tonkin, S., 2003, [http://www.astunit.com/astrocrud/uriel.htm Uriel's Machine – a Commentary on some of the Astronomical Assertions.]</ref>+**Publications by [[Christopher Knight (author)|Christopher Knight]], such as ''[[Uriel's Machine]]'' (2000), claiming ancient technological civilizations.
-* The [[Shakespeare authorship question]], which claims that someone other than [[William Shakespeare]] of [[Stratford-upon-Avon|Stratford]] wrote the works traditionally attributed to him.<ref>Hope, Warren and Kim Holston. ''The Shakespeare Controversy'' (2009) 2nd ed., 3: "In short, this is a history written in opposition to the current prevailing view".</ref><ref>Potter, Lois. “Marlowe onstage” in ''Constructing Christopher Marlowe'', James Alan Downie and J. T. Parnell, eds. (2000, 2001), paperback ed., 88-101; 100: “The possibility that Shakespeare may not really be Shakespeare, comic in the context of literary history and pseudo-history, is understandable in this world of double-agents . . .”</ref><ref>Aaronovitch, David. “The anti-Stratfordians” in ''Voodoo Histories'' (2010), 226-229: “There is, however, a psychological or anthropological question to be answered about our consumption of pseudo-history and pseudoscience. I have now plowed through enough of these books to be able to state that, as a genre, they are badly written and, in their anxiety to establish their dubious neo-scholarly credentials, incredibly tedious. . . . Why do we read bad history books that have the added lack of distinction of not being in any way true or useful . . .”</ref><ref>Kathman, David. [http://shakespeareauthorship.com/harpers.html Shakespeare Authorship Page]: “. . . Shakespeare scholars regard Oxfordianism as pseudo-scholarship which arbitrarily discards the methods used by real historians. . . . In order to support their beliefs, Oxfordians resort to a number of tactics which will be familiar to observers of other forms of pseudo-history and pseudo-science.”</ref>+* The [[Shakespeare authorship question]], which claims that someone other than [[William Shakespeare]] of [[Stratford-upon-Avon|Stratford]] wrote the works traditionally attributed to him.
- +
==See also== ==See also==
* [[Historical Revisionism (negationism)]] * [[Historical Revisionism (negationism)]]

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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.

Examples

Template:See The following are some commonly cited examples of pseudohistory:

See also





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