Pseudo History/Weird History: Nationalism and the Internet

Melleuish, Gregory C; Sheiko, Konstantin; Brown, Stephen M.

doi:10.1111/j.1478-0542.2009.00649.x

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…However, as we can see, this polarisation in favour of the Chinese will be something that Menzies delves into, thus building a version of the past that fits, in the epic and moral dimensions, with the interests and the economic importance of today's China. As Melleuish, Sheiko andBrown (2009, p. 1492) indicate, this country needs "the world to have a much larger view of its roles in shaping world history", so it is not surprising that, despite the scientific evidence against, the Chinese Communist Party supported Menzies's book (Goodman, 2006, p. 212), and that its promotion was supported from the beginning by the Chinese government (Steele, 2005, p. 278). Richardson (2008, p. 34) As we see, the political, propaganda, economic and commercial dimensions are closely intertwined in the historiographic battle, and "China's growing economic, strategic and even cultural roles have not been oblivious to the rewriting of its past, which has come to arouse certain Sinocentric exaggeration" (Taboada, 2007, p. 761).…”

Section: Gavin Menzies and His Version Of The First Voyage Around Thementioning

confidence: 99%

The fake first round about the Earth. The case of the supposed Chinese circumnavigation of 1421 from the post-truth paradigm

Muñiz-Velázquez¹,

Delmar²

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction. Five hundred years ago, Magellan undertook a trip that would end up being, in the hands of Juan Sebastián Elcano, the first round the world. But, surprising as it may seem, not everyone accepts this historical truth. Such is the case of the book 1421: The Year China Discovered the World, published with remarkable success in 2002, and with successive editions and translations. Its author, Gavin Menzies, constructs a story about this alternative fact: a Chinese expedition completed the first globe circumnavigation a century before the Spanish expedition. Methodology. A case study research of Menzies' book and its impact is proposed. To do http://www.revistalatinacs.org/074paper/1366/49en.html Pages 951 this, we will start with the study question: How and why a false story around a historical event is nowadays constructed and disseminated? And how this fake history is counteracted? To do that, we will analyze multiple sources of evidence such as discourses and documentation in online environment. Results. The study underlines that the impact of the book starts right during the beginning of the so-called post-truth era, and it increases coinciding with these propitious moments for the propagation of fake news and fake history. Once analysed the evidences, it is verified how historical alternative facts like these are created, transmitted, and maintained in time, and how commercial and also propagandistic interests can be behind of something like this. Conclusions. Not even the well-known first round the world by Magallanes-Elcano is safe from the misinformation in the current era of post-truth. It is therefore important to remember once again the need to teach and spread historical truths in a rigorous, but also attractive and seductive way. At least as much as the fake history usually does. The disruptive stories of pseudohistory and conspiracy theories always will have a huge attraction for a part of the public, a public further increasing nowadays due to the digital ecosystem in which we live.

show abstract

Section: Gavin Menzies and His Version Of The First Voyage Around Thementioning

confidence: 99%

The fake first round about the Earth. The case of the supposed Chinese circumnavigation of 1421 from the post-truth paradigm

Muñiz-Velázquez¹,

Delmar²

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Pero, como vemos, esta polarización a favor de los chinos será algo en lo que Menzies ahondará, construyendo así una versión del pasado que encajará, en lo épico y también en lo moral, con los intereses y la importancia económica de la China del presente. Esta necesita "que el mundo tenga una opinión mucho mayor de sus roles en la configuración de la historia mundial", dirán Melleuish, Sheiko & Brown (2009, p. 1492, por lo que no es de extrañar que, a pesar de las evidencias científicas en contra, el propio Partido Comunista Chino respaldara el libro de Menzies (Goodman, 2006, p. 212), y que su promoción fuera apoyada desde el inicio por el gobierno chino (Steele, 2005, p. 278). Cuenta Richardson (2008, p. 34) cómo el presidente de China llegó a defender la tesis del libro relativa a que China había descubierto Australia en el siglo XV, ante el propio Parlamento Australiano un 24 de octubre de 2003.…”

Section: Gavin Menzies Y Su Versión De La Primera Vuelta Al Mundounclassified

“…La obra de Menzies ejemplifica de manera canónica cómo incluso una verdad histórica sin sombra de duda puede verse acechada por ataques de desinformación y cuestionada por una verdad alternativa, pseudohistórica. Como afirman Melleuish, Sheiko & Brown (2009, p. 1485, los pseudohistoriadores, o escritores de Weird History, como también la llaman los autores, consideran que lo que están haciendo es escribir una historia que "corrige" los supuestos errores de los historiadores profesionales, quienes dominan el ámbito, pero están atrapados por las limitaciones metodológicas, académicas, etc.…”

Section: Pseudohistoria Y Posverdadunclassified

“…Son escritores normalmente "outsiders", por lo que sustentarán su legitimidad no sobre la confrontación con los pares, sino sobre la admiración del público que lo acoge. Otro factor de éxito que señalan Melleuish, Sheiko & Brown (2009, p. 1492) gira en torno al zeitgeist de la época. Es decir, los relatos pseudohistóricos exitosos suelen girar en torno a preocupaciones más o menos extendidas del presente, tales como identidades nacionales, catástrofes naturales, relaciones de poder, etc.…”

Section: Pseudohistoria Y Posverdadunclassified

“…El conspiracionismo, ligado a menudo a la pseudohistoria, es algo que cuando arraiga, lo hace férreamente (Gottschall, 2012), y los argumentos racionales y empíricos en contra pueden no ser suficientes (Melleuish, Sheiko & Brown, 2009). Entre los relatos que más fascinan al ser humano destacan aquellos que cuentan un buen conflicto, una lucha ardua entre protagonistas y antagonistas.…”

Section: Conclusionesunclassified

See 2 more Smart Citations

La falsa primera vuelta al mundo. El caso de la supuesta circunnavegación china de 1421 desde el paradigma de la posverdad

Velázquez

Delmar

2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

World, publicado con notable éxito en 2002, y con sucesivas ediciones y traducciones. Su autor, Gavin Menzies, construye un relato en torno al hecho alternativo de que no fue Elcano, sino una expedición china la que un siglo antes de la expedición española completara la primera circunnavegación del globo. Metodología. Se propone el caso de estudio del libro de Menzies. Para ello, la pregunta de estudio de partida es: ¿cómo y por qué el relato de una falsa primera vuelta al mundo es construida y diseminada? ¿Cómo un caso de fake history es contrarrestado? Para responder a dichas preguntas, analizamos múltiples fuentes de evidencia, tales como los discursos y documentación tanto online como offline en torno al caso. Asimismo, se construye un modelo de análisis desde el paradigma contemporáneo de las noticias falsas y la posverdad. Resultados. El estudio subraya que el impacto del libro arranca justo con el inicio de la llamada era de la posverdad, y que su incremento coincide con el momento propicio de la posverdad en el mundo digital. Una vez analizadas las evidencias, se verifica cómo unos "hechos alternativos" históricos como estos son creados, trasmitidos y mantenidos en el tiempo, y cómo intereses comerciales y propagandísticos pueden estar detrás de algo así. [ENG] Introduction. 500 years ago, Magallanes undertook a trip that would end up being, in the hands of Juan Sebastián Elcano, the first round the world. But, surprising as it may seem, not everyone accepts this historical truth. Such is the case of the book 1421: The Year China Discovered the World, published with remarkable success in 2002, and with successive editions and translations. Its author, Gavin Menzies, constructs a story about this alternative fact: a Chinese expedition completed the first globe circumnavigation a century before the Spanish expedition. Methodology. A case study research of Menzies' book and its impact is proposed. To do this, we will start with the study question: How and why a false story around a historical event is nowadays constructed and disseminated? And how this fake history is counteracted? To do that, we will analyze multiple sources of evidence such as discourses and documentation in online environment. Results. The study underlines that the impact of the book starts right during the beginning of the so-called post-truth era, and it increases coinciding with these propitious moments for the propagation of fake news and fake history. Once analyzed the evidences, it is verified how historical alternative facts like these are created, transmitted, and maintained in time, and how commercials and also propagandistic interests can be behind of something like this. Conclusions. Not even the well-known first round to the world by Magallanes-Elcano is safe from the misinformation in the current era of post-truth. It is therefore important to remember once again the need to teach and spread historical truths in a rigorous, but also attractive and seductive way. At least as much as the fake history usually does. The disruptiv...

show abstract

The Internet and the Democratisation of Knowledge Production: An Africanist Historian's Perspective

Sharp

2014

Afr. res. doc.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The end of the Cold War is said to have brought an end to the sanctity of national sovereignty in sub-Saharan Africa, by opening up authoritarian regimes to international pressures for economic and political reform (Konings, 2011). Donor conditionalities of good governance coincided with protests from local populations, who increasingly formed part of a global civil society constituted by transnational activist networks (Keck and Sikkink, 1998; Comaroff and Comaroff, 1999). Within these intertwined processes of globalisation and democratisation, Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) were seen to play a crucial role (Wasserman, 2011). In particular, the internet formed the basis for a new “digital public sphere”, which could circumvent the political and territorial restrictions of authoritarian African states (Mudhai, Tettey, & Banda, 2009). Whilst the initial optimism of this “netaphoria” was significantly tempered by the turn of the millennium, it has recently been resurrected with the “social media revolutions” in the Arab world (Khondker, 2011).

show abstract

Pseudo History/Weird History: Nationalism and the Internet

Cited by 7 publications

References 1 publication

The fake first round about the Earth. The case of the supposed Chinese circumnavigation of 1421 from the post-truth paradigm

The fake first round about the Earth. The case of the supposed Chinese circumnavigation of 1421 from the post-truth paradigm

La falsa primera vuelta al mundo. El caso de la supuesta circunnavegación china de 1421 desde el paradigma de la posverdad

The Internet and the Democratisation of Knowledge Production: An Africanist Historian's Perspective

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About