@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

eharlitzkern

@eharlitzkern@historians.social

Historian and freelance writer. I teach historiography, epistemology, and ancient, medieval, and early-modern history at FIU. I blog on The Boomerang. I write on a book about the Codex Gigas (the Devil's Bible). Pro-wrestling fan. Exophonic. ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ

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eharlitzkern, to ai
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You can't hit the breaks when you're going uphill.

After playing around with ChatGPT, I have decided to allow my history students to use AI. Working out ways to stop them from using it will only create more stress and work than it's worth. I have therefore included instructions in the syllabus about how they can and cannot use AI.

And so I set sail on uncharted waters towards the endless horizon, like generations of intrepid explorers before me.

@histodons #histodons #ai #highered

AbandonedAmerica, to random
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Abandoned farm. I learned two fun facts on this trip. The first is that stinging nettles were mixed in with the weeds surrounding the barn. The second fun fact is that even if you just brush against them, stinging nettles are surprisingly painful. Anyway, here's more abandoned houses and farms if you are interested: https://www.abandonedamerica.us/abandoned-homes

eharlitzkern,
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@AbandonedAmerica I visited a lot of abandoned homes when I traveled through the MS Delta. What fascinated me the most were the things people left behind, especially the many pianos.

AbandonedAmerica, to random
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The control room in an abandoned power plant

See the rest: https://www.abandonedamerica.us/richmond-power-station

eharlitzkern,
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@AbandonedAmerica I love the 360-image. I did not expect the roof to look like that. It's like an industrial Crystal Palace.

eharlitzkern, to history
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When studying the Viking Age, one decision that needs to be made is how to relate to the sagas. Are they historical sources and can be used? Or are they literature and can't be used? Usually, my students land on the side of yes, despite all their problems, the sagas can be used. But this time around, through critical analysis, my students declared that the sagas can't be used. This is great. But, this also means that the students have declared one of our textbooks useless.
@histodons

eharlitzkern,
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@annavirrpanna @histodons The way I see it, the confusion comes from the fact that medievalists outside of Scandinavia incorporate the Viking Age into the Middle Ages, although Viking Age and medieval Scandinavia are different societies. In Sweden, e.g., which is where I got my degree, I didn't do any work on Vikings b/c that is the purview of archaeologists, mainly. Viking Age information about Vikings comes from runic inscriptions, artifacts, and testimonies from those who encountered them.

eharlitzkern,
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@peterbrown @annavirrpanna @VolkerBach @histodons Wow! That's the complete opposite of what I remember from being in Scotland during the Braveheart craze. ๐Ÿ˜

But you make a very good point about Outlander. And this is why it is such a good analogy when talking about the Icelandic sagas. If Outlander were the last books left in the world about the 18th century, we would be forced to decide whether or not they should be used as historical sources.

eharlitzkern,
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@smagnussen @VolkerBach @histodons And on top of that, the Christian influence, and to a certain extent a Greek influence as well, muddles the content further.

What really bothers me, though, is when historians only include a brief mention buried in the introduction of their problems as sources, and then write an entire book using them as if they are equal to other historical documents.

eharlitzkern,
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@VolkerBach @histodons The debate is old but it is still a binary choice among medievalists and scholars of the Viking Age. Reading the sagas for information about the Viking Age is like reading Outlander for information about the 18th century, to be blunt.

Yes, classicists read Homer all the damn time. But historians don't.

eharlitzkern, to academia
@eharlitzkern@historians.social avatar

Submitted a work order to Facilities because there is a loud white noise in one of my classrooms. I am now being CC'd on every email as my work order is being passed around among people and departments and no one wants to do the job. And for every email, more and more people are being CC'd. ๐Ÿ˜

I mean, who needs entertainment? Also, this explains SO MUCH about what is going on (or not going on) at this university.

@academicchatter #highered #academia

eharlitzkern,
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@moritz_negwer @academicchatter I have no expectations that this problem will actually be solved, at this point. Especially after reading one of the emails where the person literally said that they had never heard this complaint before and as far as they know no changes had been done to the classroom. And then they mentioned a random department as the one responsible.

eharlitzkern, to history
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This is ๐ŸŒ๐ŸŒ๐ŸŒ๐ŸŒ. A grave field from the Viking Age has been discovered in the middle of the city of Gothenburg. Right in between Sweden's largest outdoor stadium and the public bath with the Olympic pool. There is so much city activity at this location that it's hard to comprehend that these graves were somehow overlooked...? (Article in Swedish)

@histodons @histodon @academicchatter @medievodons

https://fof.se/artikel/vikingagravar-i-goteborg-overraskar-arkeologerna/

eharlitzkern, to movies
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Watched the movie THE VIKINGS (1958) starring Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Ernest Borgnine, and Janet Leigh.

Let's put it this way. THE VIKINGS did better with the knowledge about Vikings available in 1958 than THE NORTHMAN did with the knowledge available in 2022. In other words, I enjoyed this movie a lot more than I expected.

@histodons @histodon

eharlitzkern, to history
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As a historian I am of course tickled pink that muslin, the cotton fabric at the center of the Industrial Revolution, has been given its own research center. ๐Ÿ˜œ @histodons

eharlitzkern, to academicchatter
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Update!

I have a key. I have been able to enter the office and explore. There are chairs. There is a phone. Keyboards and computer mouses.

Still no desks or harddrives so that I can actually do some work. But it smells nice. Thatโ€™s good. Better than the opposite. @academicchatter

eharlitzkern, to histodons
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After the second day of the professional development workshop, I can with confident state the following:

  1. Teachers make the worst students.

  2. Especially when those teachers are also historians.

๐Ÿ˜Ž

@academicchatter @histodons @histodon

eharlitzkern, to history
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Shout out to the ILL department at FIU. Once again they have come through. I found this book in the catalog of the National Library in Sweden. Placed a request through FIUโ€™s ILL, thinking that they would not be able to get it, or it would take forever. Three days later, I get a notification that the book has arrived. ๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿผ

The fact that they got the book to me from UC Berkley in only a few days is ๐ŸŒ๐ŸŒ๐ŸŒ.
@academicchatter @histodons

eharlitzkern, to history
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Best team name ever in my summer course Medieval Culture goes to this year's group doing research on medieval England:

Serf and Turf.

๐Ÿ˜Ž

@medievodons @histodons

eharlitzkern, to history
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Executioner Johan Olofsson's receipt for the cost of executing Gertrud Jonsdotter, aged 50, and Sigrid Eriksdotter, aged 70, for witchcraft in Sveg's parish, Hรคrjedalen, Sweden. The receipt is dated January 12, 1674.

@histodons @tag@relay.fedi.buzz #histodons @academia @history @academicchatter #earlymodern #sweden #WomensHistory

eharlitzkern, to history
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In my course The History of History, the students do research on the Pulitzers in History and Biography. One consistent result is an increase of books on Black history, while the authors' ethnicity remains the same.
The winner and the runners up of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for History are about Black history. All three authors are White. The Pulitzer for Biography shared between two books on Black history. One author is White, one Asian-American.

@histodons
https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2024

eharlitzkern, to movies
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Saw THE BEEKEEPER (2024) last night. I, of course, loved this movie. I will watch anything with Jason Statham (I'm not the only one as it turned out after the movie was over last night. ๐Ÿ˜†).

I also got a kick out of the movie as a medievalist. Apparently, there is a secret society of assassins called Beekeepers, who protect human civilization based on the idea that it is like a beehive.

#movies #bees #histodons @histodons @medievodons #middleages

eharlitzkern, to history
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The Honors College has given me an office. In an interesting turn of events, I am back where I started. This space used to be the adjuncts' office before the Dept of History moved out. I have no idea how the Dept of History squeezed in four desks, a bookcase, overhead cabinets, and desk chairs while up to three people could be working here at the same time. Either way, I'm grateful to the Honors College for giving me a space.

@histodons @academicchatter

eharlitzkern, to history
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Fantastic new volume out now from Routledge: "Viking Heritage and History in Europe. Practices and Recreations," edited by Sara Ellis Nilsson (Linneaus University) and Stefan Nyzell (Malmรถ University).
@histodons
https://www.routledge.com/Viking-Heritage-and-History-in-Europe-Practices-and-Re-creations/Ellis-Nilsson-Nyzell/p/book/9780367628628#

eharlitzkern, to history
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Something that struck me when I watched THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF LONGING was how Tilda Swinton's character was content because her life was dedicated entirely to her scholarship. It was her romantic love. I recognize the feeling of a life centered on scholarship as a good life, but haven't felt it in a long time. But it's also a dangerous feeling because if you're not careful you will end up isolated, like Swinton's character, and only be able to relate to a djinn. @histodons

eharlitzkern, to Florida
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This week on The Boomerang. My review of Rebecca Renner's stellar non-fiction debut, GATOR COUNTRY.

"Gator Country takes seriously what Floridians already know, and few people outside the state understand, that living in Florida is living on the edgeโ€“of the swamp, of the North American continent, of life. "
@bookstodon https://ehkern.com/2024/02/23/poachers-alligators-and-the-sublime-beauty-of-the-florida-swamps/

eharlitzkern, to history
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A photo a student sent me.

Greetings from Aarhus, Denmark.

#history #vikings #scandinavia #fun #traffic @histodons #histodons

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