Sifting Fact from Fiction | Professional Development Course 2025

There is fact. And there is fiction. And it is a fact that the two are incompatible.

There is, of course, the fiction of literature which often helps to contextualise, corroborate and humanise the facts of history. Even then, literary fiction, by itself, can never be the basis for historical fact as one must weigh a product of the imagination against bias and verifiability. It becomes a serious concern however when another kind of fiction takes the place of fact in the study of History. Fiction here refers to ignoring and/or twisting the truth to create what Prof Tanika Sarkar calls a ‘post-truth past.’ This is a trend that is increasingly evident today where factual objectivity is being sacrificed to unverified, agenda-driven versions of the past that play on emotions and personal and communal beliefs.

And while History continues to be an unpopular subject with students in the classroom, paradoxically…