2013-14 - Public History Thread
"Public history describes the many and diverse ways in which history is put to work in the world." - (NCPH)
Every historical marker by the roadside, every war memorial, every historical article in a magazine, every exhibition at a historical society is an act of public history. How does public history differ from -- but grow out of -- academic history? How can we communicate ideas about history effectively to a broad audience? What is the purpose? Look for these questions throughout the History department's new public history 'thread,' beginning in Fall 2012! What is a thread? A thread lets you knit together courses on a wide array of topics that share a common interest in the problems and techniques of public history. Lower key than a formal field, this is a purely optional way of pursuing public history that introduces you to an exciting range of issues, analysis, and assignments, all of which connect to the common theme. Questions? Please contact Victoria Morse, History Thread Tsarina, or any faculty offering threads in their courses (see below).
2013-2014 Public History Courses
[Clifford Clark (crop)]
- Cliff Clark:
- HIST 214. Rethinking the American Civil War The Civil War, in which more than 620,000 died, was a cataclysmic event that reshaped American life. Using both original sources and the most recent scholarship, we will explore the causes, leadership, battles, and consequences of the war for ordinary Americans. Topics include the war's impact on men, women, slavery, legal rights, the economy, the confederacy, the presidency, and American memory. Special attention will be paid to Civil War photography, the problems of mapping the conflict, and the attempt to understand the war through modern movies and documentaries, including those of Ken Burns. The public history component consists of an assignment to do a public poster presentation on either maps or photographs from the Civil War, much like a public exhibition that might be presented at a museum or historical society. 6 cr., HU, RAD; HI, IDS, Fall 2013-2014 C. Clark.
- Serena Zabin:
HIST 212. The Era of the American Revolution This class will examine the American Revolution as both a process and a phenomenon. It will consider the relationship of the American Revolution to social, cultural, economic, political, and ideological change in the lives of Americans from the founding fathers to the disenfranchised, focusing on the period 1750-1800. The central question of the course is this: how revolutionary was the Revolution? As a part of this course we will read both an academic monograph and a "trade" (serious nonfiction for a general audience) history to examine the different kinds of history produced for specialist and public audiences. 6 cr., HU; HI, HISTUS. Winter 2013-2014 S. Zabin. - NEW: HIST 216. U.S. History Beyond the Walls. This course will examine the world of History outside the walls of academia. Looking at secondary-school education, museums, and public policy, we will explore the ways in which both general and specialized publics learn and think about history. A central component of the course will be a civic engagement project mentoring sixth grade students at the Middle School as they research and produce projects for Minnesota History Day. 6 cr., HI, IDS, HISTUS, AMST, PUBLICHIST, Civic Engagement. Winter 2013-2014 S. Zabin.
- Amna Khalid:
HIST 259. Women in South Asia: Histories, Narratives and Representation. The objective of this course is to survey the historical institutions, practices and traditions that defined the position of women in India. We will examine the laws and religious traditions related to women in South Asia including marriage, inheritance, sati and purdah. We will also consider the role and position of European women in India. Readings will include stories and memoirs from the colonial and post-colonial period. Representations of both European and Indian women in Indian and European cinema will also be examined. The purpose of the course is to understand women in India as both the object and subject of history. Please visit: May 30, 2013, Public Exhibition. 6 cr., HU, RAD; HI, IS, HISTASIA, WGST. Winter 2013-2014 -- Amna Khalid. - NEW: HIST 262. Public Health: History, Policy and Practice. This course will examine the rise of the institution of public health in the modern period. Locating public health within the social history of medicine we will consider how concepts of health and disease have changed over time and how the modern state's concern with the health of its population cannot be separated from its need to survey, police, and discipline the public. Topics covered will include miasma, contagion, quarantine, vaccination and the connection between European imperialism and the institutionalization of public health in colonial contexts. We will also consider how certain epidemics became the major drivers for public health. 6 cr., HI, IS, WR2, HISTASIA, PUBLICHIST, HISTHEALTH, HISTERLYMODEURP, HISTUS, HISTAFRDIASPORA, ASST, ASSTSOUTH, EUST, Spring, 2013-2014. Amna Khalid.
Public History links:
- National Council on Public History
- Scope Program: Northfield Community Engagement Program for History Majors
- Public History Internships
- International Federation of Public History
- & please also visit our History Links of Interest page, select: Public History
Please visit our current & past Public History Exhibits
2012-2013 COURSES w/PUBLIC HISTORY THREADS
Fall, 2012-2013:
- David Tompkins: HIST 100-06: Visual Images & Socialism, Fall 2012. Exhibition of images that show how friends and enemies were portrayed in the socialist world in Weitz Center, http://apps.carleton.edu/museum/calendar/?event_id=860646&date=2012-09-14
- William North: History 137: Early Medieval Worlds, Fall 2012. A central project in this course will be the mounting of a major public exhibition in the Gould Library dedicated to the theme: If You Give a Monk a Manuscript: Scribal Worlds in the Early Middle Ages. Working in small groups on specific projects, students will learn about, design, and execute all elements of an historical exhibition using materials especially from the Gould Library’s Special Collections. History 137 Exhibit is posted: https://apps.carleton.edu/campus/viz/exhibitions/library/monk_manuscript/
[Victoria Morse 7] [Clifford Clark (crop)] [Susannah Ottaway 2011]
Winter, 2012-2013:
- Susannah Ottaway: HIST 139, Foundations of Modern Europe, Winter 2013.
- Cliff Clark: HIST 214, Rethinking the Civil War, Winter 2013. Section on "Memory and the Civil War," includes monuments and reunions as well as the changing debate over why the war was fought.
- Victoria Morse: HIST 236, Women's Lives in Pre-Modern Europe, Winter 2013. Exhibition/presentations for local schools on medieval and early modern women readers and writers.
[BrianHorrigan] [Paul Petzschmann] [Serena Zabin Photo] [Amna Khalid] [Andrew Fisher]
Spring, 2012-2013:
- Guest Professor Brian Horrigan, Curator, Minnesota Historical Society. HIST 285. Museums, Monuments, and Memory. "History" is not just the name of a department at Carleton College; "History-making" is an activity engaged in by everybody, everyday. We watch historical movies, listen to political leaders invoking history in making policy, tour historic sites and museums, etc. We listen to our elders tell us stories about their lives, and we tell ourselves stories that place our experiences into the historical continuum. This course ranges widely over the varied and sometimes risky terrain of contemporary history-making in Minnesota and beyond to examine preservation organizations, museums, archives, oral history projects, documentary films, historic sites, schools, theater, TV, and cyberspace.
- Paul Petzschmann: HIST 115. Carleton in the Archives: Studies in Institutional Memory and Culture Ours is a world of institutions - schools, corporations, government agencies - that shape the way we act, think, and remember. The memory of institutions themselves, the records they keep and the way these repositories are organized and used is crucial for their functioning and survival. What is the relationship between "official" and "individual" memory in the making of an institutional world? We will explore this and related questions through readings, discussion, and a hands-on project based on materials in Carleton's own archives. 3 cr., HI, Spring—P Petzschman. PLEASE VISIT SPRING TERM 2013 EXHIBIT.
- Serena Zabin: HIST 212. The Era of the American Revolution As a part of this course we will read both an academic monograph and a "trade" (serious nonfiction for a general audience) history to examine the different kinds of history produced for specialist and public audiences.
- Amna Khalid: HIST 259. Women in South Asia: Histories, Narratives and Representation Exhibition on role and representations of women in key social and political movements in South Asia.
- Andrew Fisher: HIST 272. The Mexican Revolution Exhibition of Mexican artwork commemorating the 90th anniversary of the assassination of Emiliano Zapata.